Amesj's thread of News (click here if you want to read links that fuel my paranoia)

[alkemical]

http://www.freemarketnews.com/WorldNews.asp?nid=7404

NSA HIRES NEWS AGENCIES


In a recent letter released under the Freedom of Information Act, the NSA Director of Policy said that the National Security Agency (NSA) has contracts to pay news agencies for information, according to Narcosphere News. However, NSA authorities refused to reveal details of the contracts or what information is being purchased.

The NSA letter gave as little information as possible, but it did reveal the names of two wire services that it is paying - Reuters and the Associated Press. In response to a request about the nature of the contracts, the letter also reportedly said, “The NSA contract with these companies precludes our release of this information. Violation of these contracts could prevent the government from obtaining similar information in the future.”

http://www.alternet.org/rights/31929

Move over, McGruff. The trench-coated canine mascot of the National Crime Prevention Council has some youthful competition in the battle for the hearts and minds of America's children. Now in virtual training on the website of the National Security Agency are the CryptoKids, the code-makers and code-breakers of America's future.


http://www.defensetech.org/archives/002163.html

Someday the U.S. military could drive a trailer to a spot just beyond insurgent fighting and, within minutes, reconfigure part of the atmosphere, blocking an enemy's ability to receive satellite signals, even as U.S. troops are able to see into the area with radar.

In the past, NASA's fringe science arm has looked into tweaking Mother Nature, to throw hurricanes off their course. But those were just computer simulations. No one actually tried to go out a build some weather control machine



http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,70181-0.html?tw=wn_index_3

Super Vision Sans Bionics
At the heart of PixelOptics' technology are tiny, electronically-controlled pixels embedded within a traditional eyeglass lens. Technicians scan the eyeball with an aberrometer -- a device that measures aberrations that can impede vision -- and then the pixels are programmed to correct the irregularities.




http://www.cerebellum.tv/stories/yeakey.php

The Terrance Yeakey Cover-Up

Terrance Yeakey was the first police officer to arrive at the Murrah Building following the Oklahoma City bombing. Terrance called his wife that morning and cried to her over the phone. He told her repeatedly "It's not true. It's not what they are saying. It didn't happen that way." Apparently, Officer Yeakey saw something he wasn't supposed to. He was harassed for a full year after the bombing and expressed his belief to loved ones that he would be murdered because of what he knew. One evening, Yeakey called his then ex-wife to inform her that he was being followed by what he thought were federal agents and he was going to try and lose them. His patrol car was found abandoned along a dirt road near El Reno, the front seat soaked with blood. Officer Yeakey himself was found a mile and a half away on federal property, he had been severely beaten with gashes on both arms and his throat, rope burns on his wrists and neck, plus a gunshot through the back of his head leaving no powder burns. Local police searched the area for hours but were unable to find any murder weapons. When federal authorities arrived they briskly escorted the local police off the premises and claimed to find a .38 hand gun next to Terrance Yeakey's body. The gun that was supposedly found has never been seen by anyone except the federal officers that "found" it.



http://www.capitolhillblue.com/artman/publish/article_8143.shtml

Is the President above the law?

Roberts, a staunch defender of Bush's right to spy on who he wants, whenever he wants and however he wants, told Russert that Bush can, and should, ignore the law when he feels it is in the best interest of national security.





http://www.eff.org/news/archives/2006_02.php#004400

Google Copies Your Hard Drive - Government Smiles in Anticipation
Consumers Should Not Use New Google Desktop

San Francisco - Google today announced a new "feature" of its Google Desktop software that greatly increases the risk to consumer privacy. If a consumer chooses to use it, the new "Search Across Computers" feature will store copies of the user's Word documents, PDFs, spreadsheets and other text-based documents on Google's own servers, to enable searching from any one of the user's computers. EFF urges consumers not to use this feature, because it will make their personal data more vulnerable to subpoenas from the government and possibly private litigants, while providing a convenient one-stop-shop for hackers who've obtained a user's Google password.



http://www.cnn.com/2006/LAW/02/10/political.whodunit.ap/index.html

Police: Candidate's charge opponent killed wife was right

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama (AP) -- More than five years ago, Rod Spraggins made a sensational charge at a candidate forum, publicly accusing a political opponent of murder with nothing to back up the allegation except, it turns out, a vision.

[alkemical]

http://telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/02/15/waland15.xml&sSheet=/news/2006/02/15/ixnewstop.html

Tiny island that's ready to stop Europe in its tracks
By David Rennie in Mariehamn
(Filed: 15/02/2006)

In the decade since they voted to join the European Union the islanders of the Aland archipelago in the Baltic Sea have been outvoted and overruled by Brussels, time and again.

Now Aland, a unique, autonomous region of Finland, is about to teach Brussels a lesson in democracy it may never forget.




http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/15/international/asia/15web.html?ex=1140670800&en=959550917ad43740&ei=5059&partner=AOL

China Says Web Controls Follow the West's Lead
By JOSEPH KAHN
BEIJING, Feb. 14 — Chinese authorities are determined to stop "harmful information" from spreading through the Web, but the controls it places on Web sites and Internet service providers do not differ much from those employed by the United States and European countries, a senior official responsible for managing China's Internet said Tuesday.

The official, Liu Zhengrong, who supervises Internet affairs for the information office of China's State Council, or cabinet, did not directly dispute the contention of many critics that China operates a vast and technologically sophisticated firewall to protect the ruling Communist Party against what it views as Web-based threats to its authority.



http://www.ij.org/private_property/new_jersey/index.html

State of New Jersey v. One 1990 Ford Thunderbird
Policing & Prosecuting for Profit: New Jersey Ex-Sheriff Fights Civil Forfeiture Abuse

New Jersey’s civil forfeiture law dangerously transforms law enforcement priorities from fair and impartial administration of justice to the pursuit of property and profit. New Jersey police departments and prosecutors’ offices are entitled to keep money and property confiscated through the state’s civil forfeiture law, thus giving them a direct financial stake in these forfeitures.





http://www.lp.org/media/printer_284.shtml

Press Releases
Congress Attempts to Kill the "Third-Party Threat"

The bill, ironically named the "Let the People Decide Clean Campaign Act," would mandate public funds (taken from the U.S. Treasury) to candidates for the House of Representatives and forbid candidates from taking private funds such as contributions from individual donors.

The ambiguously-written bill provides funds for candidates of the "two major parties" but essentially scuttles any campaign efforts of third-party or independent candidates.



http://blog.sciam.com/index.php?title=kill_rfid_by_cell_phone&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1

How to Kill RFID Tags with a Cell Phone
Radio frequency identification (RFID) tags--tiny wireless circuits that derive their power from radio waves and cost just pennies to make--have quickly found their way into identification badges, shipping containers, even ordinary store products. Because, unlike barcodes, the tags can be read surreptitiously, a number of groups have raised privacy concerns. To address these concerns, leading RFID makers have created so-called "Gen 2" chips that will divulge their data only after a reader transmits the correct password. The new chips can also be triggered by a different password to silently self-destruct, for example as a customer leaves a store.

Encryption protects the password transmission. But renowned cryptographer Adi Shamir of Weizmann University claims to have found a way to bypass the encryption scheme and obtain the self-destruct password using technology no more sophisticated than that in a common cell phone.

[alkemical]

some good stuff, and it's not all conspiracy!

[Hotrod]

Press Releases
Congress Attempts to Kill the "Third-Party Threat"

The bill, ironically named the "Let the People Decide Clean Campaign Act," would mandate public funds (taken from the U.S. Treasury) to candidates for the House of Representatives and forbid candidates from taking private funds such as contributions from individual donors.

The ambiguously-written bill provides funds for candidates of the "two major parties" but essentially scuttles any campaign efforts of third-party or independent candidates.

That right there is BS. It just shows that we really dont have much of a say in who gets elected anymore. Something the two parties can agree on is they want to keep the power themselves.

[alkemical]

I know hotrod - it always reminds me of this line from king of the hill -

"Hank you and your worms are living in the past, of a democratically elected congress and black and white tv"

[alkemical]

http://www.apfn.org/apfn/reserve.htm

secrets of the fed. reserve

[alkemical]

http://channels.netscape.com/celebrity/story.jsp?floc=ns-tos-popc-h-13&idq=/ff/story/0002/20060216/1823111126.htm&maxstories=5&storyterm='rock+and+stapp'&maxphotos=5&phototerm='kid+rock'

LOS ANGELES (Billboard) - A videotape showing Kid Rock and former Creed frontman Scott Stapp engaging in explicit sexual activity with four female fans on a tour bus has been acquired by California company Red Light District, the distributor of the notorious 2004 Paris Hilton sex tape "One Night in Paris."

[alkemical]

http://www.strike-the-root.com/61/plummer/plummer1.html

On Privacy Rights

Isn't it fascinating how a clever propagandist can spin almost any topic to their advantage? Isn't it amazing to watch so many people fall for the manipulation?

Faced with the increasingly invasive / unconstitutional actions of our Federal government, the apologists for Soviet style "security" triumphantly ask: "If you haven't done anything wrong, why do you care?"

With that question they're making a clear statement: "Only criminals desire (and benefit from) a right to privacy." However, as is often the case with propaganda, the exact opposite is true. History has demonstrated that only criminals seek (and benefit from) a right to violate the rights of others.

In short, the correct question isn't: "If you haven't done anything wrong, why do you care?" Rather, it is: "If I haven't done anything wrong, what right do you have?"




http://www.theonion.com/content/node/45360

Study: Dolphins Not So Intelligent On Land
GAINESVILLE, FL—Although dolphins have long been celebrated for their high intelligence and for appearing to have a complex language, a team of researchers at the University of Florida reported Monday that these traits are markedly less evident on dry land. :giggle:



http://www.capitolhillblue.com/blog/2006/02/patriot_act_headed_for_permane.html

Patriot Act headed for permanent renewal
The USA Patriot Act is headed toward renewal with most of its onerous individual rights violations intact and broad Senate support for a White House-brokered compromise that adds a few token new civil liberties protections to the terror-fighting law.



http://www.kten.com/Global/story.asp?S=4508858

HOUSTON Houston's police chief is suggesting putting surveillance cameras in apartment complexes, downtown streets and even private homes. Chief Harold Hurtt today said it's another way of combatting crime amid a shortage of officers.


http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/february2006/160206privatehomes.htm

"The telescreen received and transmitted simultaneously. Any sound that Winston made, above the level of a very low whisper, would be picked up by it, moreover, so long as he remained within the field of vision which the metal plaque commanded, he could be seen as well as heard."




http://articles.news.aol.com/news/article.adp?id=20060216144409990001&cid=2194

White House Defends Sale of Port Operations to Arab Firm

WASHINGTON (Feb. 17) - The Bush administration on Thursday rebuffed criticism about potential security risks of a $6.8 billion sale that gives a company in the United Arab Emirates control over significant operations at six major American ports.

[alkemical]

http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_3529716

Mystery blob eating downtown
By Dana Bartholomew, Staff Writer



A mysterious black blob attacked downtown Los Angeles on Monday with a tar-like goo that oozed from manholes, buckled a street and unmoored a Raymond Chandler-era brick building, firefighters said.
About 200 residents were forced to flee as a hazardous materials team and dozens of firefighters worked throughout

And a pressurized liquid shot from every street orifice located above what used to be a historic oil field downtown.




http://www.consumeraffairs.com/automotive/f150_fires.htm

Ford F150 Engine Fires
The damage caused by Ford's fire-prone trucks is immense, as our growing collection of complaints demonstrates. Consumers have lost their lives, livelihoods, homes and, of course, their trucks.



http://www.local6.com/news/7284699/detail.html

Minister Buys Lap Dances To Tell Strippers About God
Ex-Stripper Founded J.C.'s Girls Girls Girls


RIVERSIDE, Calif. -- Ex-stripper Heather Veitch still goes to topless clubs -- but she's not looking for work.

She's looking for converts. The Southern California woman is spreading her evangelical message among an unlikely flock: strippers and sex workers.

Vietch, a 31-year-old married mother of two, is a co-founder of her own ministry, J.C.'s Girls Girls Girls. Veitch even pays for lap dances, so she can talk to the strippers about God.





http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/ICTS.html

All 9/11 Airports Serviced by One Israeli Owned Company

To make the situation worse, a private security company called ICTS, owned by an Israeli, Ezra Harel, and registered in the Netherlands, was employed at Charles de Gaulle airport to screen passengers boarding US planes. Most of its personnel are ex-Shin Bet officers. The company covers security at Boston’s Logan airport, where the American Airlines plane came down after flight attendants and passengers overpowered Reid.

[alkemical]

http://www.usapa.army.mil/pdffiles/r210_35.pdf

US army's civillian inmate labor program

[alkemical]

http://www.prospect.org/web/page.ww?section=root&name=ViewPrint&articleId=11188

Bush vs. Constitution
President Bush's conception of his own powers is even more dangerous than his specific abuses.

The president claims an inherent power to imprison American citizens whom he has determined to be this country’s enemies without obtaining a warrant, letting them hear the charges against them, or following other safeguards against wrongful punishment guaranteed by the Bill of Rights. Under his administration, the government has engaged in inhumane treatment of prisoners that amounts to torture, and when Congress passed legislation to ban such treatment, he declared he would simply interpret the law his own way. Although the Constitution says treaties are the “supreme law of the land,” the president has abrogated them on his own. And, we now know, he ordered a secret program of electronic surveillance of Americans without court warrants.




http://www.usapa.army.mil/pdffiles/r210_35.pdf

This regulation provides guidance for establishing and managing civilian inmate labor programs on Army installations. It addresses recordkeeping and reporting incidents related to the Civilian Inmate Labor Program and/or prison camp administration.



http://www.unknownnews.org/0602210217propaganda.html

The US is losing the propaganda war against al-Qaeda and other enemies, defense chief Donald Rumsfeld has said. It must modernize its methods to win the minds of Muslims in the "war on terror", as "enemies had skillfully adapted" to the media age, he said. Washington and the army must respond faster to events and learn to exploit the internet and satellite TV, he said.





http://www.americanfreepress.net/html/secret_global_meeting.html

THE HUNT FOR SECRET GLOBAL MEETING IS ON

American Free Press is busily engaged in the annual ritual of hunting down the Bilderberg Group, which will hope to meet in secret this spring. When the last rock is turned over and their location and meeting times unearthed, AFP readers will be the first in America to know.

Some sources believe Bilderberg will meet near Innsbruck, Austria, as it did in 1988. Others think somewhere in North America, as Bilderberg has a number of times over the years. Adding weight to this theory is that it is North America’s “turn” to host Bilderberg.





http://www.guardian.co.uk/Columnists/Column/0,,1714256,00.html

When it won't need a tyranny to deprive us of our freedom
The creeping extension of implantation technology will eventually break down all the barriers between us and the state.

[alkemical]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060222/ap_on_re_us/homeless_beatings

Teens Plead Not Guilty in Homeless Attacks

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - Three teenagers accused in a series of brutal beatings that killed a homeless man and seriously injured two others the same night pleaded not guilty Wednesday to charges of murder and attempted murder.


http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article346735.ece

US threatens to cut aid to Iraq if new government is sectarian

The US and Britain are pressuring Iraq's dominant Shia community to relinquish two key ministries in negotiations for a new government, as the country was hit by a wave of bombings that killed at least 24 people.

The US ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad, warned yesterday that Washington might cut aid to the Iraqis if the new government included sectarian politicians, pointing out that the US had spent "billions" in building up the police and the army.



http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-02-14-chicago-cameras_x.htm

Daley wants security cameras at bars
By Judy Keen, USA TODAY
CHICAGO — Surveillance cameras — aimed at government buildings, train platforms and intersections here — might soon be required at corner taverns and swanky nightclubs.




http://www.surfsantamonica.com/ssm_site/the_lookout/news/News-2006/February-2006/02_17_06_Council_Approves_Contract.htm

Council Approves Contract for Surveillance Cameras

By Olin Ericksen
Staff Writer

February 17 -- Nearly six months after local police warned that Santa Monica could be a target for terrorists, City Council members Tuesday unanimously approved a plan to install 123 video cameras in public places.



http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Police_Cameras.html

Houston eyes cameras at apartment complexes
By PAM EASTON
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

HOUSTON -- Houston's police chief on Wednesday proposed placing surveillance cameras in apartment complexes, downtown streets, shopping malls and even private homes to fight crime during a shortage of police officers.

[Hotrod]

Ok thats way to many cameras watching our every move. Of course they are using the boogie man to perfection to get these put into place.

The craziest thing in you last post is the thought of cutting off aid to Iraq. Correct me if Im wrong here but the first things cut if that were to happen would be schools/roads/electric/trash that should make the moderates real happy. :nono: Great plan for winning the 'hearts and minds'

[alkemical]

I know hotrod -

if our prez drills in our head for the last x years on terror, doesn't shut down teh boarders and turns over port mgmt to a country (UAE) who funds terror - it makes me believe that this 'security' isn't about terrorism.....

[alkemical]

http://www.unknownnews.org/0602240221Bush-Heritage.html

Heritage Foundation brokered $1.2-million bribe to arrange meeting with President Bush, says former Malaysian Prime Minister

Former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad admits that “somebody” paid a lobby fee -- purportedly US$1.2 million -- to arrange his meeting with United States president George W. Bush in 2002.




http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/internet/02/23/myspace.guns.ap/index.html?section=cnn_tech

DENVER, Colorado (AP) -- A 16-year-old boy was arrested Wednesday after postings on the popular Web site MySpace.com allegedly showed him holding handguns, authorities said.

The teen was being held at a juvenile detention center facing three misdemeanor charges of juvenile possession of a handgun, said district attorney spokeswoman Pam Russell. He is due in court February 27.



http://www.livescience.com/technology/ap_050713_phasers.html

Military Mulls Use of 'Star Trek' Weapons
ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) -- For years, the U.S. military has explored a new kind of firepower that is instantaneous, precise and virtually inexhaustible: beams of electromagnetic energy. "Directed-energy'' pulses can be throttled up or down depending on the situation, much like the phasers on "Star Trek'' could be set to kill or merely stun.

Such weapons are now nearing fruition. But logistical issues have delayed their battlefield debut -- even as soldiers in Iraq encounter tense urban situations in which the nonlethal capabilities of directed energy could be put to the test.




http://www.upi.com/SecurityTerrorism/view.php?StoryID=20060223-051657-4981r

UAE terminal takeover extends to 21 ports
WASHINGTON, Feb. 24 (UPI) -- A United Arab Emirates government-owned company is poised to take over port terminal operations in 21 American ports, far more than the six widely reported.

The Bush administration has approved the takeover of British-owned Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Co. to DP World, a deal set to go forward March 2 unless Congress intervenes.

P&O is the parent company of P&O Ports North America, which leases terminals for the import and export and loading and unloading and security of cargo in 21 ports, 11 on the East Coast, ranging from Portland, Maine to Miami, Florida, and 10 on the Gulf Coast, from Gulfport, Miss., to Corpus Christi, Texas, according to the company's Web site.

[Hotrod]

http://www.upi.com/SecurityTerrorism/view.php?StoryID=20060223-051657-4981r

WTF

"A United Arab Emirates government-owned company is poised to take over port terminal operations in 21 American ports, far more than the six widely reported."

"unloading and security of cargo in 21 ports, 11 on the East Coast, ranging from Portland, Maine to Miami, Florida, and 10 on the Gulf Coast, from Gulfport, Miss., to Corpus Christi, Texas, according to the company's Web site."

Well that makes things better might as well give them the keys to every port and boarder crossing in America :nono:

[alkemical]

http://www.upi.com/SecurityTerrorism/view.php?StoryID=20060223-051657-4981r

WTF

"A United Arab Emirates government-owned company is poised to take over port terminal operations in 21 American ports, far more than the six widely reported."

"unloading and security of cargo in 21 ports, 11 on the East Coast, ranging from Portland, Maine to Miami, Florida, and 10 on the Gulf Coast, from Gulfport, Miss., to Corpus Christi, Texas, according to the company's Web site."

Well that makes things better might as well give them the keys to every port and boarder crossing in America :nono:


First: You know hotrod - i am actually happy people read this thread. I don't want to 'lead' people anywhere, i just want to present them with some information and it's up to them to decide what they want to believe or pursue. I believe in choice - i may be a bit subversive in info i post, but i always try to give the source, and i try not to post the whole article (simple reading too) -

Second: I think there is more than this that we don't even know about - and i'm with you - is outsourcing america's security to the highest/lowest bidder good for america?

It's like saying we have an immigration problem with illegal mexicans, yet allowing the mexican army to patrol our boarder and wondering why we'd have an immigration problem from mexico...

[alkemical]

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/2/27/123118/193

Diebold Whistleblower charged with 3 Felonies

Two Years ago Stephen Heller, an actor in LA who worked part time for the law firm of Jones Day, discovered that one of the firm's clients, Diebold, was possibly going to disenfranchise thousands of voters in the next election.

Heller did the honorable thing, and provided this information to the California Attorney General and then Secretary of State Kevin Shelley - which ultimately resulted in the decertication of Deibold in California.

But last year Kevin Shelley was forced to resign as Secretary of State due to a fundraising scandal. Ah-nald promptly appointed a new Republican Secretary of State who has proceeded to Temporarily certify Deibold despite the information provided by Stephen Heller, and Heller himself is now facing criminal charges.




http://start.localnet.com/article.php?article=D8FVFTSG0.html

In Surprising Discovery, Researchers Find Virus in Some Men With Prostate Cancer

In a surprising discovery, researchers say they have found a virus in some prostate cancer patients, a finding that opens new research avenues in the most common major cancer among men in the United States.

The virus, closely related to one previously found only in mice, was found in cancerous prostates removed from men with a certain genetic defect. The researchers, with the University of California, San Francisco and the Cleveland Clinic, warn that they have not discovered any links between the virus and prostate cancer, but they were nonetheless excited about prospects for future research.




http://bellaciao.org/en/article.php3?id_article=10594

February Saturday 25th 2006 (02h32) :
Verizon Faces New $20 Billion Suit over NSA Spying Complicity

Upping the ante in what may be a high-stakes legal battle, an Upstate New York lawyer filed a $20 billion class-action lawsuit against Verizon last week, charging that the company violated customer confidentiality in aiding warrantless eavesdropping by a federal spy agency.

[alkemical]

http://www.livescience.com/humanbiology/060227_happiness_keys.html

The Keys to Happiness, and Why We Don't Use Them

Psychologists have recently handed the keys to happiness to the public, but many people cling to gloomy ways out of habit, experts say.

Polls show Americans are no happier today than they were 50 years ago despite significant increases in prosperity, decreases in crime, cleaner air, larger living quarters and a better overall quality of life.

So what gives?

Happiness is 50 percent genetic, says University of Minnesota researcher David Lykken. What you do with the other half of the challenge depends largely on determination, psychologists agree. As Abraham Lincoln once said, "Most people are as happy as they make up their minds to be."




http://wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=49012

Dubai funds Neil Bush's company

Investors from the United Arab Emirates helped fund the $23 million Neil Bush raised for Ignite!, the learning systems company that holds lucrative No Child Left Behind Act contracts in Florida and Texas. The "Cow" is an Ignite! portable computer designed to work in a classroom, providing interactive instruction aimed at improving students' scores on standardized tests. If you loved Billy Carter and "Billy Beer," you're certain to love Neil Bush and the "Ignite! Cow."



http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,186232,00.html

Army to Reimburse Halliburton for Iraq Work
WASHINGTON — The Army has decided to reimburse a Halliburton subsidiary all but $9 million of $222 million in costs that Pentagon auditors questioned for oil industry work in Iraq, Army officials said Monday.




http://www.halliburton.com/default/main/halliburton/eng/news/source_files/news.jsp?newsurl=/default/main/halliburton/eng/news/source_files/press_release/2006/kbrnws_012406.html

KBR AWARDED U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY CONTINGENCY SUPPORT PROJECT FOR EMERGENCY SUPPORT SERVICES


ARLINGTON, Virginia – KBR announced today that its Government and Infrastructure division has been awarded an Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract to support the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facilities in the event of an emergency. KBR is the engineering and construction subsidiary of Halliburton (NYSE:HAL).
With a maximum total value of $385 million over a five-year term, consisting of a one-year based period and four one-year options, the competitively awarded contract will be executed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Fort Worth District. KBR held the previous ICE contract from 2000 through 2005.



http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/022606H.shtml

A plan for 700 miles of Mexican border wall heads for Senate - its future is not assured.
A proposal to build a double set of steel walls with floodlights, surveillance cameras and motion detectors along one-third of the U.S.-Mexican border heads to the Senate next month after winning overwhelming support in the House.

The wall would be intended to prevent illegal immigrants and potential terrorists from hiking across the southern border into the United States. It would run along five segments of the 1,952-mile border that now experience the most illegal crossings.

The plan already has roiled diplomatic relations with Mexico. Leaders in American border communities are saying it will damage local economies and the environment. And immigration experts say that - at a cost of at least $2.2 billion - the 700-mile wall would be an expensive boondoggle.

[TheDave]

http://wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=49012

Dubai funds Neil Bush's company

Investors from the United Arab Emirates helped fund the $23 million Neil Bush raised for Ignite!, the learning systems company that holds lucrative No Child Left Behind Act contracts in Florida and Texas. The "Cow" is an Ignite! portable computer designed to work in a classroom, providing interactive instruction aimed at improving students' scores on standardized tests. If you loved Billy Carter and "Billy Beer," you're certain to love Neil Bush and the "Ignite! Cow."


this needs it's own thread!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[alkemical]

No doubt -

[alkemical]

http://www.nysun.com/article/28232


Patriot Act E-Mail Searches Apply to Non-Terrorists, Judges Say

Two federal judges in Florida have upheld the authority of individual courts to use the Patriot Act to order searches anywhere in the country for e-mails and computer data in all types of criminal investigations, overruling a magistrate who found that Congress limited such expanded jurisdiction to cases involving terrorism.



http://news.com.com/Senators%2Bback%2Bnew%2Bbroadband%2Btaxes/2100-1034_3-6044165.html

WASHINGTON--New broadband taxes may be on the horizon, if an influential senator and his like-minded colleagues get their way.

At a Tuesday hearing convened by the Senate Commerce Committee, several senators from largely rural states called for expansion of the Universal Service Fund (USF), a multibillion-dollar pool of money that's currently used to subsidize telecommunications services in rural and other high-cost areas, schools and libraries.


Several senators said they want to change that by making USF contributions "technology neutral," which for many means scooping up broadband services both as contributors to--and benefactors of--the fund. The debate reflects Congress's broader attempt this year to update the 1996 Telecommunications Act, which critics have deemed outdated because it fails to account for the explosion of the Internet.


http://news.pacificnews.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=9c2d6a5e75201d7e3936d dc65cdd56a9

10-Year U.S. Strategic Plan For Detention Camps Revives Proposals From Oliver North

News Analysis/Commentary, Peter Dale Scott,
New America Media, Feb 21, 2006


The Halliburton subsidiary KBR (formerly Brown and Root) announced on Jan. 24 that it had been awarded a $385 million contingency contract by the Department of Homeland Security to build detention camps. Two weeks later, on Feb. 6, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff announced that the Fiscal Year 2007 federal budget would allocate over $400 million to add 6,700 additional detention beds (an increase of 32 percent over 2006). This $400 million allocation is more than a four-fold increase over the FY 2006 budget, which provided only $90 million for the same purpose.



http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/concentration.html

Concentration Camps in America:
Are They For You?

[alkemical]

http://www.strike-the-root.com/61/chuong/chuong1.html

At the End of the Day, It Is We the People Who Must Be Responsible

During the past month I have received a lot of response from readers around the world. I am honored by all the advice and support. Among these responses were two letters that have made me think again. Those came from John McCarthy and Gary MacMahon. Both of them are Vietnam War Veterans, the former was a GI and the latter was a Digger. I visited their websites and I felt uneasy.



http://www.strike-the-root.com/61/votlucka/votlucka2.html

Taxation Is Extortion

I sometimes wonder which is worse: the government or the Mafia. Oh wait; they may as well be the same thing.

If you’re wondering how the logic of this admittedly brash remark works itself out, try the following. It’s simple; just publicly refuse to pay your taxes. The government will come for you and the police will try to throw you in jail. If you resist, you will be shot. Pay up, or get a bullet in your head. It’s essentially the same tactic employed by Mafia thugs.



http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/25/AR2006022501431.html

Va. Teen Killed When Off-Duty Officer Fires at Approaching SUV

An 18-year-old was killed by police early yesterday after he and a group of friends left an Alexandria restaurant without paying, got into an SUV and then tried to hit an off-duty police officer, who fired at the vehicle, striking a passenger, police said.




http://cbs4.com/topstories/local_story_033170755.html

Police Station Intimidation-Parts 1 and 2
Undercover Video You'll Find hard To Believe
I-Team Uncovers Imtimidation In Complaint Process
See The Reaction From Police Officials

Look for Mike Kirsch's Follow-Up report later this week on CBS4

Most police officers are a credit to the badge, serving the community and the people who pay their salary, getting criminals off the street, making the community safer for everyone.

But on occasion, a police officer and a member of the public they serve don’t see eye to eye, and the citizen feels a need to complain. In many departments around the country, the process starts out simply: a person just requests a complaint form.



http://cbs4.com/local/local_story_053001510.html

Officer Takes Action Against CBS4 After Story Airs

(CBS4 News) FT. LAUDERDALE After CBS4's Mike Kirsch aired a piece where several South Florida police officers were caught on camera intimidating would-be complainants against their police departments, one officer has taken action against the station in court.

Sergeant Peter Schumanich, of the Lauderhill Police Department, filed an injunction in a Broward County court to stop the airing of the story where he appears on the air and online.

Schumanich was caught on camera cursing and screaming at a member of a police watchdog group who went to his department asking to file a complaint against an unspecified officer. The officer was caught on camera literally chasing down the man out of the police station and off the block, after he did not act the way Schumanich wanted him to.

Judge Goldstein denied the temporary injunction.

Another hearing is scheduled for March 3rd.



http://articles.news.aol.com/news/article.adp?id=20060227234409990001

Convicted Ex-Congressman Kept 'Bribe Menu'
Prosecutors Say Cunningham Priced His Illegal Services

(Feb. 28) - Prosecutors call it a corruption case with no parallel in the long history of the U.S. Congress. And it keeps getting worse. Convicted Rep. Randall "Duke" Cunningham actually priced the illegal services he provided.

Prices came in the form of a "bribe menu" that detailed how much it would cost contractors to essentially order multimillion-dollar government contracts, according to documents submitted by federal prosecutors for Cunningham's sentencing hearing this Friday.





http://movies.msn.com/movies/hitlist/2-24-06?GT1=100

Willis Is Mad As Hell...

Bruce Willis loses it at the "16 Blocks" junket. Plus, "Brick" and casting news


"I'm sick of answering this [expletive] question," he says. "I'm a Republican only as far as I want a smaller government, I want less government intrusion. I want them to stop [expletive] on my money and your money and tax dollars that we give 50 percent of... every year. I want them to be fiscally responsible and I want these [expletive] lobbyists out of Washington. Do that and I'll say I'm a Republican... I hate the government, OK? I'm a-political. Write that down. I'm not a Republican."



http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,70265-0.html?tw=wn_index_16

BioBouncer Might Make Bars Safer

A new security system for nightclubs uses facial recognition technology to identify troublemakers -- and share their faces with other clubs in a security network.

Jeff Dussich, the 24-year-old cofounder of JAD Communications & Security, likes to party as much as the next guy. But he also understands that one hothead can screw up a good evening out. And at clubs and bars, troublemakers can cause major problems over time -- frightening off customers, and even forcing the place to close.



http://rawstory.com/news/2006/U.S._signs_38_million_deal_for_0302.html

U.S. signs $38 million deal for depleted uranium tank shells

The U.S. Army quietly placed an order for $38 million in depleted uranium rounds last week, bringing the total order from a West-Virginia based company to $77 million for fiscal year 2006, RAW STORY has learned.


http://www.shns.com/shns/g_index2.cfm?action=detail&pk=RAISEALARM-02-28-06

Pay too much and you could raise the alarm
They just paid a hefty chunk of their credit card balance. And they learned how frighteningly wide the net of suspicion has been cast.

After sending in the check, they checked online to see if their account had been duly credited. They learned that the check had arrived, but the amount available for credit on their account hadn't changed.

So Deana Soehnge called the credit-card company. Then Walter called.

"When you mess with my money, I want to know why," he said.

They both learned the same astounding piece of information about the little things that can set the threat sensors to beeping and blinking.

They were told, as they moved up the managerial ladder at the call center, that the amount they had sent in was much larger than their normal monthly payment. And if the increase hits a certain percentage higher than that normal payment, Homeland Security has to be notified. And the money doesn't move until the threat alert is lifted.



http://www.watchermagazine.com/?p=3839

INVESTORS from the United Arab Emirates helped fund the $23 million Neil Bush raised for Ignite!, the learning systems company that holds lucrative No Child Left Behind Act contracts in Florida and Texas.

Neil Bush’s frequent travels to Dubai are documented by Datamatix, a Dubai-based information technology company that has featured Neil Bush as a speaker. The Datamatix website features several prominent photographs of Neil Bush addressing a Dubai conference, identifying Neil Bush as “the brother of U.S. President George Bush.”



http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/news/world/13985117.htm

Group with White House ties launches ads to bolster war support

WASHINGTON - In an early sign of the imagery that may flood the nation's television screens as congressional elections approach this fall, a conservative political group closely aligned with the Bush administration has launched a blitz of television ads to shore up sagging public support for the war in Iraq.
The television commercials feature vivid portraits of smoke pouring from the World Trade Center and the aftermath of terrorist attacks in Madrid and London as veterans of the Iraq war and parents of fallen soldiers make the case for continuing the U.S. military campaign in Iraq.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2006/03/02/bush-admin-decreasing_n_16624.html


Bush Admin. Decreasing Major Fines For Mine Safety Violations...

In its drive to foster a more cooperative relationship with mining companies, the Bush administration has decreased major fines for safety violations since 2001, and in nearly half the cases, it has not collected the fines, according to a data analysis by The New York Times.
Federal records also show that in the last two years the federal mine safety agency has failed to hand over any delinquent cases to the Treasury Department for further collection efforts, as is supposed to occur after 180 days.



http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2006/03/01/3b-in-cuts-to-nasa-majo_n_16616.html

$3B In Cuts To NASA, Major Projects To Be Shelved...

Some of the most highly promoted missions on NASA's scientific agenda would be postponed indefinitely or perhaps even canceled under the agency's new budget, despite its administrator's vow to Congress six months ago that not "one thin dime" would be taken from space science to pay for President Bush's plan to send astronauts to the Moon and Mars.

The cuts come to $3 billion over the next five years, even as NASA's overall spending grows by 3.2 percent this year, to $16.8 billion.



http://nationalpriorities.org/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=182

Cost of War

Below is a running total of the U.S. taxpayer cost of the Iraq War. The number is based on Congressional appropriations.
The War in Iraq Costs
$244,659,019,000




(Today's picture is Neil Bush @ Dubai/Datamatix)

[alkemical]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060302/ap_on_bi_ge/wal_mart_medicaid

Many Wal-Mart Workers in Pa. on Medicaid
HARRISBURG, Pa. - Almost one in six Wal-Mart employees in Pennsylvania was enrolled in the state's health care program for the poor and disabled last year, a newspaper reported Thursday. Wal-Mart had the highest percentage of employees on Medicaid out of the state's 10 largest private-sector employers, according to data provided to The Philadelphia Inquirer
by the state Department of Public Welfare.The company, which is Pennsylvania's largest private-sector employer, had 7,577 of its
48,000 employees, or nearly 16 percent, on Medicaid, according to the figures. The annual cost to the state was $15 million, the newspaper said.



http://news.ft.com/cms/s/60414c4c-a95e-11da-a64b-0000779e2340.html

Bill Clinton helped Dubai on ports deal
By Stephanie Kirchgaessner in Washington
Published: March 1 2006 23:50 | Last updated:

March 1 2006 23:50

Bill Clinton, former US president, advised top officials from Dubai two weeks ago on how to address growing US concerns over the acquisition of five US container terminals by DP World.



http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060302/ap_on_go_co/federal_debt

Senate GOP Faces Vote to Increase Debt

WASHINGTON - Republicans in the Senate face a difficult but necessary vote in coming weeks to allow the Treasury to pad the $8.2 trillion national debt by another $781 billion.The need to increase the legal limit on the debt has Democrats eager to use the debate to blast President Bush and his GOP allies in Congress for their fiscal stewardship.



http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=topNews&storyid=2006-03-02T135017Z_01_L02207710_RTRUKOC_0_US-POPE-ASSASSINATION.xml&rpc=22

Soviet Union ordered Pope shooting: Italy commission

ROME (Reuters) - Leaders of the former Soviet Union were behind the assassination attempt against Pope John Paul II in 1981, an Italian
parliamentary investigative commission said in a report.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4754446.stm

Bomb blasts hit Iran oil citiesTwo bombs have exploded in the southern
Iranian cities of Dezful and Abadan, according to Iranian reports.
In both cities, the devices were planted in the governor's offices, the official Irna news agency says. No serious injuries were reported. Iran accused British army forces across the border in southern Iraq of co-operating with
bombers who carried out January's attacks in Ahwaz. The UK Foreign Office rejected the allegation.




http://news.ft.com/cms/s/7a358db2-a8a9-11da-aeeb-0000779e2340.html

AOL accused of planning ‘two-tier’ internet
AOL, the internet service provider, has been accused of planning to introduce an “e-mail tax” that could lead to a two-tiered internet. AOL said its CertifiedEmail programme was not a tax but an optional, voluntary way for
large e-mail senders to pay to deliver authenticated, legitimate mail. It said it
intended to launch the service within the next 30 days.



http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/03/02/ntsun02.xml&sSheet=/news/2006/03/02/ixhome.html

Millions given to tsunami 'sitting in bank accounts'

Millions of pounds of taxpayers' money given by the Government to the Asian tsunami appeal could still be sitting in the bank accounts of UN agencies and charities, spending watchdogs have found.

http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1524619/20060221/rollins_henry.jhtml?headlines=true

Rollins Angry About Terror Accusation, Stoked About Talk Show

Henry Rollins has been getting a lot of attention these days from the Australian media — after all, it's not every day that some American punk icon calls Australia's prime minister a "sissy." Prime Minister John Howard caught Hank's wrath during the rocker's most recent trip to Australia. On the flight from New Zealand, Rollins said he was reading a copy of Wall Street Journal correspondent Ahmed Rashid's book "Jihad: The Rise of Militant Islam in
Central Asia." The man sitting next to him took objection to the book and reported Rollins to the Australian government.

"The guy phoned me in to their, like, anti-terrorist board, and they found me — they looked me up," he said. "They looked up the flight and found out who was sitting in seat 10A and they got to me. And they said, 'OK, you're now a person of interest. The man next to you does not agree with your politics and he didn't like the book you were reading.' This kind of provocation, I don't respond very well to. I was furious. And so I wrote back, 'You can tell everyone at your office, including your boss, to go f---
themselves. This book has been read by a ton of people — I am not a threat to your state or any state or any republic.


http://cnn.netscape.cnn.com/news/story.jsp?idq=/ff/story/0001%2F20060303%2F0528516190.htm&sc=1110

Calif. School Suspends 20 Over Web Site

COSTA MESA, Calif. (AP) - A middle school student faces expulsion for allegedly posting graphic threats against a classmate on the popular MySpace.com Web site, and 20 of his classmates were suspended for viewing the posting, school officials said.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/usatoday/femacriticsshirtgetshimtangledupinticket

FEMA critic's shirt gets him tangled up in ticket Ridiculing the Federal Emergency Management Agency is high art in the Gulf Coast areas where Hurricane Katrina hit last year. George Barisich, president of the United
Commercial Fisherman's Association, has been selling anti-FEMA T-shirts since last fall, a reflection of his frustration with the federal government's response to the storm that left him homeless and unemployed.
But on Feb. 1, when he handed a shirt to a fellow Katrina victim as he was picking up canned goods at a charity's relief tent, Barisich found himself in trouble with the government. He was cited by a group of Homeland Security officials for selling a T-shirt on federal property - in this case, near a FEMA
center in the parking lot of a Wal-Mart in Chalmette, La.Barisich, 49, says he didn't sell the shirt, which said: "Flooded by Katrina! Forgotten by FEMA! What's Next, Mr. Bush?" He says he gave it away.


http://www.startribune.com/535/story/267143.html
Midwest Oil fined for selling gas too cheaplyThe Minnesota Commerce Department on Thursday announced plans to fine a gas station chain
$140,000 for repeatedly selling gas below the state's legal minimum price.
The fine against Midwest Oil of Minnesota is twice as large as any imposed on a company since 2001, when the state established a formula based on wholesale prices, fees and taxes to determine a daily floor for gas prices.




http://www.rense.com/general69/starve.htm

"Money is the lifeblood of terrorist operations," President Bush said in the
aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. He was so right: in 2004, CBS News reported that Halliburton, Conoco-Philips and General Electric were operating "offshore
subsidiaries" doing business with "rogue countries". Halliburton, CBS reported, "sells about $40 million worth of oil field services to the Iranian government".



http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Mar2006/20060302_4370.html

CENTCOM Team Engages 'Bloggers'

MACDILL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla., March 2, 2006 – The widespread use of Web logs, or "blogs," by online writers has proliferated information on topics as varied as the authors. Blogs, in essence, are online journals or forums for their authors, known as "bloggers." Public affairs officials here said thousands
of blogs are created each day, and they estimate that more than 21 million blogs are posted on the World Wide Web today. Blogs sometimes include information -- accurate and otherwise -- about the U.S. military's global war on terror. U.S. Central Command officials here took notice and created a team to engage these writers and their electronic information forums.



http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/02/AR2006030202146.html?referrer=email

Ethics Office For Hill Rejected
Bipartisan Defeat For Independent Lobbying Overseer

A Senate committee yesterday rejected a bipartisan proposal to establish an independent office to oversee the enforcement of congressional ethics and lobbying laws, signaling a reluctance in Congress to beef up the enforcement of its rules on lobbying. The Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs voted 11 to 5 to defeat a proposal by its chairman, Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), and its ranking Democrat, Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (Conn.), that would have created an office of public integrity to
toughen enforcement and combat the loss of reputation Congress has suffered after the guilty plea in January of former lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Democrats joined Republicans in killing the measure.


http://articles.news.aol.com/news/article.adp?id=20060303035709990014&_ccc=6&cid=842

Katherine Harris Caught Up in Bribery Scandal
Campaign Donations From Defense Contractor

Under Scrutiny

TAMPA, Fla. (March 3) - U.S. Rep. Katherine
Harris said Thursday she did not knowingly do anything wrong in her associations with a defense contractor who prosecutors say illegally funneled thousands of dollars to her campaign in 2004. Questions about the donations have arisen as Harris, the former Florida secretary of state who oversaw the 2000 presidential election recount, tries to unseat U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla.

[alkemical]

up for the weekend

[bendog]

cialis?

[Bronx33]

cialis?


Just don't tell the wife ya took it. ;D

[alkemical]

http://www.capitolhillblue.com/blog/2006/03/bush_declares_war_on_freedom_o.html

Using many of the questionable surveillance and monitoring techniques that brought both questions and criticism to his administration, President George W. Bush has launched a war against reporters who write stories unfavorable to his actions and is planning to prosecute journalists to make examples of them in his "war on terrorism."


http://bellaciao.org/en/article.php3?id_article=10723

FREAKING & LEAKING : BUSH & CHENEY VOW TO JAIL REPORTERS



http://www.choicechanges.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=442

New Mexico leads back to Paper Ballots
The Governor of New Mexico signed a law requiring paper ballots for elections. These will be fed into tabulation machines. I am not certain of the security of tabulation programs, but at least there will be paper ballots to check in the event of a hand recount. Until our election equipment is guarenteed secure and auditable, this is an important step towards eventing electronic election fraud.



http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/bushdrugs.php

Former DEA Agent Wants George H. Bush, Negroponte And Other Higher-Ups Held Accountable For Illegal Drug Smuggling

Cele Castillo played it tough with the "Big Boys" for a long time until the forrmer DEA agent couldn't take it any more. For 12 long years he fought hard against the drug lords in South America, finally realizing in the late 1980's his fight was essentially for nothing. After raiding jungle cocaine labs in the Amazon, conducting aerial eradication operations in Guatemala and assembling and training anti-narcotics units in several countries, Castillo finally went public and blew the whistle after realizing the real kingpin drug dealers worked in the White House, not in the jungles of Central and South America.

http://www.madcowprod.com/12072005.html

CUNNINGHAM SCANDAL FIGURE LINKED TO IRAN CONTRA COCAINE TRAFFICKING

San Diego businessman Brent Wilkes, a key figure in the Randy “Duke” Cunningham bribery scandal—as well as the Justice Department investigation of Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff—worked in Honduras during the 1980’s
for a company accused by federal prosecutors of deep involvement in cocaine trafficking. Over the weekend the San Diego Union-Tribune, Cunningham’s hometown paper, reported that Brent Wilkes has a two decade long history of close links with the CIA. The company which provided Wilkes his initial entree into the world of lucrative government defense contracts, said the paper, was World Finance Corp.

World Finance Corp., the MadCowMorningNews has learned, achieved notoriety during the Iran Contra Scandal for highly questionable activities in Honduras. "It was drugs, it was money-laundering, it was everything," South Florida detective James Rider told Robert Parry of The Consortium at the time. "I know the CIA was in there somewhere."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,,-5666666,00.html

Judge Rejects Long Delay in Abramoff Case
MIAMI (AP) - A federal judge Monday refused to allow a lengthy delay in the sentencing of lobbyist Jack Abramoff, even though lawyers for both sides said the move could jeopardize a federal corruption investigation involving Congress and the Bush administration.


http://observer.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1723807,00.html

How we move ever closer to becoming a totalitarian state

The Prime Minister claims to be defending liberty but a barely noticed Bill will rip the heart out of parliamentary democracy But in the dusty cradle of Committee A, a monster has been stirring and will, in due course, take flight to join the other measures in the government's attack on parliamentary democracy and the rights of the people. The 'reform' in the title allows
ministers to make laws without the scrutiny of parliament and, in some cases, to delegate that power to unelected officials. In every word, dot and comma, it bears the imprint of New Labour's authoritarian paternity.



http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/06/AR2006030600635_pf.html

Treasury Dept. Moves to Avoid Debt Limit


WASHINGTON -- Treasury Secretary John Snow notified Congress on Monday that the administration has now taken "all prudent and legal actions," including tapping certain government retirement funds, to keep from hitting the $8.2 trillion national debt limit. In a letter to Congress, Snow urged lawmakers to pass a new debt ceiling immediately to avoid the nation's first-ever default on its obligations.


http://www.local6.com/news/7695412/detail.html

Coast Guard Hunts Prankster Behind 'Sinking' Distress Calls

POSTED: 10:24 pm EST March 4, 2006
UPDATED: 10:40 pm EST March 5, 2006

The U.S. Coast Guard is searching this weekend for the person who radioed several distress calls reporting that vessels were sinking after the transmissions were determined to be pranks, according to a Local 6 News report.

(Sounds like someone was distracting the coast guard from their booty)




http://narcosphere.narconews.com/comments/2006/2/6/152017/9363/1#1

NSA contracts with AP, Reuters are a big deal

by Bill Conroy on Mon Feb 6th, 2006 at 07:43:37 PM EST


Jeremy Bigwood shares the following with Narco News readers concerning a recent Freedom of Information Act request he made involving the National Security Agency (NSA):

… In a letter dated February 2, 2006 and signed by its Director of Policy, the NSA revealed that it has contracts with at least two of the major mainstream press wire services, Reuters and Associated Press (AP), and that the information that it had received from these wire services could not be released to the public. Here in part is what the letter said:

“Information provided to NSA by Reuters and AP is protected against disclosure pursuant to 5 U.S.C. Section 552(b)(4). The NSA contract with these companies precludes our release of this information. Violation of
these contracts could prevent the government from obtaining similar information in the future.”

… If Reuters and AP are only supplying the NSA with the same news that it is supplying the rest of us through our news media outlets – why can’t this information – apparently “old news” in this case – be released? Since this happens all the time and does not represent a very large chunk of these
journalists' income, it seems to be no big deal. But this response from the NSA is certainly intriguing.




http://tpr.typepad.com/thepeacockreport/2006/03/us_to_spend_hal.html

U.S. To Spend Half-Billion to Fight Corruption -

The U.S. government plans to spend $500,000,000 over the next five years to fight political corruption, according to a federal planning document obtained by The Peacock Report. However, the document makes clear that the feds will not spend a single penny from this newly uncovered half-billion-dollar project within the United States. Leading by example, Washington, D.C. is going global with its “International Governmental Integrity & Anticorruption Technical Assistance Services” initiative. The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) will coordinate this endeavor to combat corruption, which it officially defines as “the abuse of entrusted authority for private gain.”



http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=washingtonstory&sid=al.9n5U5HFSw

Bush, an Opponent of Raising Taxes, Proposes $47 Bln in Fees
By Brian Faler
March 1 (Bloomberg) -- While President George W. Bush is adamantly against raising taxes, he's increasingly comfortable with imposing billions of dollars in new government fees, as the airline, commodities and shipping industries have discovered. Bush's 2007 budget proposal would raise more than $47 billion over the next five years by imposing, raising or extending expiring fees
on everything from airline tickets to oil drilling to commodity transactions to ships passing through the St. Lawrence Seaway. ``It's a way for the administration to get around its `we'll never-raise-taxes' attitude,'' said Stan Collender, managing director of the Washington office of Financial Dynamics, a business-consulting firm.

http://www.ashlandcitytimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060306/NEWS0202/603060333

Cameras would keep eye on behavior in Metro Parks

Sex acts prompt proposal, but ACLU fears it
endangers privacy Many cities use surveillance cameras to deter
vandalism and theft, but a Metro Parks proposal to aim lenses into three Nashville parks to stop public sex acts would break new ground.Melissa Ngo, staff counsel with the Washington-based Electronic Privacy Information Center, said she knew of no other city in the country using cameras for this purpose.

[baja]

http://www.capitolhillblue.com/blog/2006/03/bush_declares_war_on_freedom_o.html


"This flamboyant use of the forces of criminal prosecution to threaten whistle-blowers and intimidate journalists are nothing more than the naked tactics of street thugs and authoritarian juntas."

The Germans didn't see this coming until it was too late either.

[alkemical]

http://www.askmen.com/toys/top_10_100/125_top_10_list.html

Anyone who has seen Star Wars knows all about the Sith, an ancient order of Force-practitioners devoted to the dark side. As fictional as these lightsaber-wielders may seem, they actually have a basis in reality. Genuine secret societies have existed for centuries, conducting their business in darkened backrooms, and more often than not, exerting a mysterious influence upon our culture.

From political organizations to college frats, these groups require their members to conceal their activities -- and sometimes even their identities -- from the public. Go behind closed doors as we examine 10 of the world's most prominent secret societies, both past and present.

[alkemical]

http://www.newyorker.com/critics/books/articles/060313crbo_books

On May 4, 1886, several anarchists had addressed a crowd in the Haymarket, a square in Chicago two blocks long where farmers sold produce. When nearly a hundred and eighty policemen arrived to break up the rally, someone threw a bomb, and the police opened fire. At least seven patrolmen died, and at least four civilians. Over the next few weeks, the authorities rounded up and detained hundreds of the city’s anarchists. Eight men were put on trial for murder, the most prominent of whom were Albert Parsons and August Spies (pronounced “Spees”). Parsons led the city’s English-speaking anarchists, and Spies the German-speaking ones. Aside from Parsons and a teamster named Samuel Fielden, the defendants were of German ethnicity: Michael Schwab had assisted Spies in editing the movement’s German-language newspapers; George Engel and Adolph Fischer had belonged to a militant cell; Louis Lingg, a wild young man, had dabbled in bomb-making; and Oscar Neebe, a yeast-maker, had served on a few anarchist committees.


http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle.asp?xfile=data/theworld/2006/March/theworld_March94.xml&section=theworld&col=

London store in talks with police to build in-store jail cells

LONDON — One of London’s premier department stores is in talks with police to build jail cells inside the store to hold shoplifters and identity thieves, police said yesterday.


Metropolitan Police said they were in early negotiations for the construction of jail cells at the Selfridges store’s flagship Oxford Street location in London.




http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1591390/posts

NJ Bill Would Prohibit Anonymous Posts on Forums...

2. The operator of any interactive computer service or an Internet service provider shall establish, maintain and enforce a policy to require any information content provider who posts written messages on a public forum website either to be identified by a legal name and address, or to register a legal name and address with the operator of the interactive computer service or the Internet service provider through which the information content provider gains access to the interactive computer service or Internet, as appropriate.






http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2006/03/08/us-spending-59b-in-iraq_n_16980.html

US Spending $5.9B In Iraq Per Month...

As the U.S. enters its fourth year in Iraq this month, the annual cost of military operations is growing -- even as the Pentagon assumes the number of troops there will shrink.

Monthly expenditures are running at $5.9 billion; the U.S. commitment in Afghanistan adds roughly another $1 billion. Taken together, annual spending for the two wars will reach $117.6 billion for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30 -- 18% above funding for the prior 12 months.




http://www.wanttoknow.info/050520schooldietchange

School Diet Change Brings Improved Behavior, Healthier, More Focused Students
"Before the Appleton Wisconsin high school replaced their cafeteria's processed foods with wholesome, nutritious food, the school was described as out-of-control. There were weapons violations, student disruptions, and a cop on duty full-time. After the change in school meals, the students were calm, focused, and orderly. There were no more weapons violations, and no suicides, expulsions, dropouts, or drug violations. The new diet and improved behavior has lasted for seven years, and now other schools are changing their meal programs with similar results."
-- Jeffrey M. Smith, Author of Seeds of Deception





http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/march2006/080306targetedassassination.htm

Police Re-Authorize Targeted Assassination on Streets Of Britain
De Menezes murder cover-up continues

The Association of Chief Police Officers in Britain has concluded in its inquiry that the shoot to kill policy which was carried out in the murder of Jean Charles de Menezes is acceptable and should not be altered. Since de Menezes' behavior gave no sign whatsoever that he was a potential suicide bomber, this is a strong statement of intent.




http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/08/politics/08nsa.html?_r=3&hp&ex=1141794000&en=7b6645b10226f272&ei=5094&partner=homepage&oref=slogin&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

G.O.P. Senators Say Accord Is Set on Wiretapping
WASHINGTON, March 7 — Moving to tamp down Democratic calls for an investigation of the administration's domestic eavesdropping program, Republicans on the Senate Intelligence Committee said Tuesday that they had reached agreement with the White House on proposed bills to impose new oversight but allow wiretapping without warrants for up to 45 days.

"We'll pretend it's legal and President Bush will pretend Congress still matters."





http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/07/AR2006030701736.html

Retirement Fund Tapped to Avoid National Debt Limit

The Treasury Department has started drawing from the civil service pension fund to avoid hitting the $8.2 trillion national debt limit. The move to tap the pension fund follows last month's decision to suspend investments in a retirement savings plan held by government employees.

In a letter to Congress this week, Treasury Secretary John W. Snow said he would rely on the Civil Service Retirement and Disability Fund to avoid bumping up against the statutory debt limit. He said the Treasury is suspending investments and will redeem a portion of the money credited to the fund.




http://www.canadafreepress.com/2006/cover030806.htm

Company working for China secret police to issue passports to Americans

In an era where Americans will have commercial operations at six key ports operated by Dubai Ports World, their future passports will be issued from a contractor for the China secret police.

US courts forced the U.S. government to allow OTI in on the USA biometric `epassport' program just weeks ago. OTI is the contractor for China secret police for the biometric ID card now coming online, (www.smartcardalliance.org./newsletter/April 2003.cfm).

That means that the same company that works for the China secret police will have a role in providing all U.S. citizens with their future passports—by court order.

[baja]

School Diet Change Brings Improved Behavior, Healthier, More Focused Students
"Before the Appleton Wisconsin high school replaced their cafeteria's processed foods with wholesome, nutritious food, the school was described as out-of-control. There were weapons violations, student disruptions, and a cop on duty full-time. After the change in school meals, the students were calm, focused, and orderly. There were no more weapons violations, and no suicides, expulsions, dropouts, or drug violations. The new diet and improved behavior has lasted for seven years, and now other schools are changing their meal programs with similar results."
-- Jeffrey M. Smith, Author of Seeds of Deception

It would be hard to find a truer statement than "You are what you eat"

[alkemical]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11732069/

‘For speed trap’ note on check angers mayor
Comment riles leader of town that gets 30 percent of revenue from
tickets

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - After motorist T. Allen Morgan got a speeding

ticket in Coopertown — a town known for its heavy-handed traffic

enforcement — he tried to pay his ticket like a good citizen.

But he added a little note on his check that angered Mayor Danny

Crosby. The mayor refused to accept the check, sparking the

Tennessee Bureau of Investigation to launch an investigation Monday.

Crosby told Morgan that he had to either write another check that

didn't have the words "for speed trap" written in bold letters or

face the charges in traffic court




http://news.ft.com/cms/s/1aa3ffec-af6f-11da-b417-0000779e2340.html


Trade gap widens to $68.5bn in the US

The US trade deficit widened to a record $68.5bn in January, with exporters unable to match the blistering pace of import growth.


The deficit was up $3.4bn on the previous month. The politically sensitive bilateral deficit with China accounted for much of the deterioration, with the shortfall increasing from $16.3bn to $17.9bn.

Overall, exports grew by $2.8bn to $114.4bn but

[alkemical]

I have been told the mayor accepted the check.

[alkemical]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11751418/

Pentagon admits errors in spying on protesters
MSNBC and NBC News
Updated: 8:45 a.m. ET March 10, 2006
The Department of Defense admitted in a letter obtained by NBC News on Thursday that it had wrongly added peaceful demonstrators to a database of possible domestic terrorist threats. The letter followed an NBC report focusing on the Defense Department’s Threat and Local Observation Notice, or TALON, report.


http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/10/politics/10abramoff.html?n=Top%2fReference%2fTimes%20Topics %2fPeople%2fS%2fShenon%2c%20Philip&_r=1&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&adxnnlx=1142013103-ATsRnuy7XU0xhxaNHVl1wg

$25,000 to Lobby Group Is Tied to Access to Bush

WASHINGTON, March 9 — The chief of an Indian tribe represented by the lobbyist Jack Abramoff was admitted to a meeting with President Bush in 2001 days after the tribe paid a prominent conservative lobbying group $25,000 at Mr. Abramoff's direction, according to documents and interviews.



http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/08/politics/08nsa.html?_r=1&hp&ex=1141880400&en=7402b982a1503c71&ei=5094&partner=homepage&oref=slogin

G.O.P. Senators Say Accord Is Set on Wiretapping

WASHINGTON, March 7 — Moving to tamp down Democratic calls for an investigation of the administration's domestic eavesdropping program, Republicans on the Senate Intelligence Committee said Tuesday that they had reached agreement with the White House on proposed bills to impose new oversight but allow wiretapping without warrants for up to 45 days.


"Congress cannot legally bypass the Constitution. If they wish to change the Bill of Rights, Congress can initiate a change by a 2/3 vote in both chambers followed by ratification of 3/4 of the states. Absent that, Congress saying it's legal for Bush to wiretap without warrants doesn't make it so.
The Constitution is the original "contract with America". When the government acts outside the Constitution, it ceases to be the legal government of this land. "




http://www.wired.com/news/columns/0,70357-0.html?tw=wn_index_3

Why Data Mining Won't Stop Terror

In the post-9/11 world, there's much focus on connecting the dots. Many believe data mining is the crystal ball that will enable us to uncover future terrorist plots. But even in the most wildly optimistic projections, data mining isn't tenable for that purpose. We're not trading privacy for security; we're giving up privacy and getting no security in return.

Most people first learned about data mining in November 2002, when news broke about a massive government data mining program called Total Information Awareness. The basic idea was as audacious as it was repellent: suck up as much data as possible about everyone, sift through it with massive computers, and investigate patterns that might indicate terrorist plots.

Americans across the political spectrum denounced the program, and in September 2003, Congress eliminated its funding and closed its offices.

But TIA didn't die. According to The National Journal, it just changed its name and moved inside the Defense Department.




http://www.thememoryhole.org/cia/films_at_nara.htm

CIA Films at the National Archives

>>> After a certain number of years, the CIA, like many other agencies, turns over its films and other documents to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA).

The lengthy list of CIA films at the Archives has never been publicly released, but researcher Michael Ravnitzky requested and received a copy from NARA. It's posted in two formats at the link above (the plain text version looks better online). Many of the films were created by the CIA, and some - such as news reports and the occasional Hollywood movie - were not. Unfortunately, there's no indication of authorship in the list, though you can sometimes tell by the title.

You can request a copy of any of the films under the Freedom of Information Act.

[alkemical]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,1729396,00.html

Former top judge says US risks edging near to dictatorship

Sandra Day O'Connor, a Republican-appointed judge who retired last
month after 24 years on the supreme court, has said the US is in danger of edging towards dictatorship if the party's rightwingers continue to attack the judiciary. in a strongly worded speech at Georgetown University, reported by
National Public Radio and the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin, Ms O'Connor took aim at Republican leaders whose repeated denunciations of the courts for alleged liberal bias could, she said, be contributing to a climate of violence against judges.



http://www.umich.edu/news/index.html?Releases/2006/Mar06/r030606

Can tax policy curb workaholism?

Ann Arbor, MICH.—Tax policy may moderate workaholism, just as cigarette excise taxes can curtail smoking, says a University of Michigan economist.
"High-income, highly educated people are particularly likely to suffer from workaholism with regard to deciding when to retire—going cold turkey on their addictive behavior," said Joel Slemrod, professor of business economics and public policy at U-M's Stephen M. Ross School of Business and director of the Office of Tax Policy Research. Workaholism, he says, has been linked to a variety of health problems, including exhaustion, stress and high blood pressure, and can take an emotional and mental toll on a worker's family.
Unlike cigarette excise taxes, which are highly regressive (those
with lower incomes pay a greater proportion of income in taxes), the
appropriate corrective policy for workaholics—who tend to make more
money—might involve a more progressive income tax burden (those with
higher incomes pay a higher proportion of income in taxes) than
otherwise, Slemrod says.





http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,1728616,00.html?gusrc=rss

US religious charities win $2.15bn in state grants

The Bush administration channelled $2.15bn (£1.25bn) to faith-based
charities last year, advancing its mission to increase the share of
government aid money given to religious organisations.
The figure, contained in a White House report unveiled on Thursday,
does not account for all of the grants awarded by an administration
determined to increase the involvement of churches and religious
organisations in social services provision. The revelation deepened concerns among aid professionals and civil liberty groups about the quality of services offered by some of the religious groups - especially at a time when funds for social programmes are being cut. There are also charges that the Bush
administration is underwriting proselytising campaigns by the Christian right.


http://www.mises.org/story/2078

The Truth About Dubai

The uproar over Dubai Ports World's planned purchase of franchises
at several American port facilities continues. Being owned by the
United Arab Emirates (UAE) is enough to make the company a subject
of demagoguery in Washington, DC. The nation's capital is a place
where people seem unable to comprehend the profit motive. And Dubai
Ports could not possibly build a profitable global ports operation if it had a reputation for lax security. The instigators of the current furor, captive to anti-Arab stereotypes, seem entirely ignorant of reality in the city of Dubai,
the second largest emirate within the UAE. As I discovered on a recent trip to Dubai, the city is the furthest thing one could imagine from being a hotbed of Islamic extremism. Dubai is rapidly evolving into the leading financial and commercial center in the Middle East.



http://antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=8680

Dubai and Demagoguery

The Huffington-Hastert united front against doing business with Arabs

Americans are going to regret going into one of their periodic fits of xenophobic hysteria – this time over the Dubai port management issue – as the Islamists chalk up an important propaganda victory in their campaign to alienate the Muslim world from the West. But not to worry: as long as Arianna Huffington is happy, and Hillary Clinton, too, it's all worth it – right?
In her latest anti-Arab rant, Arianna – who is fast becoming the Daniel Pipes of the Bush-haters – takes on Jack Kemp, who knows too much about economics to be fooled by the protectionist blather of the Dubai-bashers. Kemp, it seems, is connected to a think tank (or is it a company?), Free Market Global, that is connected to an investor in Dubai. Therefore, according to this McCarthyite "logic," Kemp has been "bought off." "It's all about money," she blithers – and why not? After all, if we're trading with Arab peoples, then we have less incentive to slaughter them, as we are doing in Iraq. But Arianna seems to have forgotten what free-market economics she ever knew: she has taken on her new leftie coloration as easily as she changes her evening dress. I particularly like her comment that the old categories of "Left" and "Right" are "irrelevant" because
disparate groups of ideologues are "getting together" on the Dubai
issue.



http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060310/ap_on_el_se/hillary_clinton_wal_mart

Clinton Quiet About Past Wal-Mart Ties
NEW YORK - With retail giant Wal-Mart under fire to improve its labor and health care policies, one Democrat with deep ties to the company — Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton — has started feeling her share of the political heat.
Clinton served on Wal-Mart's board of directors for six years when
her husband was governor of Arkansas. And the Rose Law Firm, where
she was a partner, handled many of the Arkansas-based company's legal affairs. Clinton had kind words for Wal-Mart as recently as 2004, when she
told an audience at the convention of the National Retail Federation that her time on the board "was a great experience in every respect."

But in recent months, as the company has become a target for Democratic activists, she has largely steered clear of any mention of Wal-Mart. And late last year, Clinton's re-election campaign returned a $5,000 contribution from Wal-Mart, citing "serious differences with current company practices."
As Clinton sheds her Arkansas past and looks ahead to a possible 2008 presidential run, the Wal-Mart issue presents an exquisite dilemma: how to reconcile the political demands she faces today with her history at a company many American consumers depend upon but many Democratic activists revile.


http://prorev.com/2006/03/recovered-history-how-cia-fouled-our.htm

RECOVERED HISTORY: How the CIA fouled our literature

The C.I.A., it seems, was worried that the public might be too influenced by Orwell's pox-on-both-their-houses critique of the capitalist humans and Communist pigs. So after his death in 1950, agents were dispatched (by none other than E. Howard Hunt, later of Watergate fame) to buy the film rights to "Animal Farm" from his widow to make its message more overtly anti-Communist. Rewriting the end of "Animal Farm" is just one example of the often absurd lengths to which the C.I.A. went, as recounted in a new book,
"The Cultural Cold War: The C.I.A. and the World of Arts and Letters" (The New Press) by Frances Stonor Saunders, a British journalist. . .
As it turns out, "Animal Farm" was not the only instance of the C.I.A.'s dabbling in Hollywood. Ms. Stonor Saunders reports that one operative who was a producer and talent agent slipped affluent-looking African-Americans into several films as extras to try to counter Soviet criticism of the American race problem. The agency also changed the ending of the movie version of "1984," disregarding Orwell's specific instructions that the story not be
altered. In the book, the protagonist, Winston Smith, is entirely defeated by the nightmarish totalitarian regime. In the very last line, Orwell writes of Winston, "He loved Big Brother." In the movie, Winston and his lover, Julia, are gunned down after Winston defiantly shouts: "Down with Big Brother!" . . .

(See prev. post about the CIA's movie list)


http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060312/ts_nm/warcrimes_milosevic_dc_16

Milosevic might have committed suicide - Del Ponte

THE HAGUE (Reuters) - Chief U.N. war crimes prosecutor Carla del
Ponte said on Sunday she could not rule out that Slobodan Milosevic might have committed suicide but said she wanted to wait for the results of an autopsy.



http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/11/AR2006031101342.html

Army Guard Refilling Its Ranks

The Army National Guard, which has suffered a severe three-year recruiting slump, has begun to reel in soldiers in record numbers, aided in part by a new initiative that pays Guard members $2,000 for each person they enlist.
The Army Guard said Friday that it signed up more than 26,000
soldiers in the first five months of fiscal 2006, exceeding its target by 7 percent in its best performance in 13 years. At this pace, Guard leaders say they are confident they will reach their goal of boosting manpower from the current 336,000 to the congressionally authorized level of 350,000 by the end of the year.


http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article350787.ece

Donald Rumsfeld makes $5m killing on bird flu drug

Donald Rumsfeld has made a killing out of bird flu. The US Defence Secretary has made more than $5m (£2.9m) in capital gains from selling shares in the biotechnology firm that discovered and developed Tamiflu, the drug being bought in massive amounts by Governments to treat a possible human pandemic of the disease.



http://www.safehaven.com/article-4759.htm

The Fed Officially Kicks Off the Next Recession
by Robert McHugh


It is official. A recession is coming. How do I know? Because this week new Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke gave an official warning to bankers about commercial real estate loans. That is always the kickoff to a recession. It is the starter's gun, the national anthem before a ballgame, the opening hymn at a church service. Here is how it works. The Fed has three official tools to control the money supply: Setting reserve requirements (telling banks how much of their deposits they cannot lend. The higher the reserve
requirements, the less loans, the less money creation by the economy). The second tool is open market operations. Here they set the amount of money in the system by buying or selling securities. Third is setting the discount rate, the rate of interest banks must pay to borrow money at the Fed. Theoretically, the higher the rate, the less money banks will borrow, the less they have to lend, and the less money that is created by the banking system.

[alkemical]

http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/03/12/060312073150.7l3arbf5.html


The weekend disappearance of a Nepalese boy whom supporters hail as a reincarnation of the Buddha has sparked a nationwide search.

Supporters have showered 16-year old Ram Bahadur Bomjan with money and gifts for allegedly sitting in motionless meditation in the roots of a pipal tree without taking food or water, or using the toilet, since May 16 last year.

The youth, dubbed "Buddha Boy" by the media, left the site in southern Nepal because the thousands of devotees who flocked there had disturbed his meditation, media reported Sunday.

"He left as there was a lot of noise in the meditation area," his friend Prem Lama told the Kathmandu Post.

A search using plain-clothes police and civilians failed to find the boy, but he had been glimpsed in the jungle surrounding the meditation site at Bara district 250 kilometres (150 miles) south of Kathmandu, the Himalayan Times reported.

Inspector Kamal Acharya told AFP he was "90 percent sure" the boy disappeared voluntarily. "It does not seem likely that it was an abduction," said Acharya. a police inspector from Bara.

Police believed the youth had left the site with a close friend Sahila Tamang, who was also missing, Acharya said.

"The boy disappeared at around three in the morning Saturday while the people who guard the site were sleeping," Shankar Acharya, a journalist from Bara, told AFP.

The thousands of visitors who have flocked to see the boy were kept at least 15 metres (50 feet) away.

The boy's followers did not permit visitors to see him during the night, raising scepticism about claims that he had been surviving without food and water.

Ram's meditation spawned a mini-industry with the site jammed with food and souvenir vendors.

Rupees were stuffed in collection boxes around the site and a member of a committee looking after the site said foreign Buddhist groups had donated 40,000 dollars for its upkeep.

The boy had told supporters through a friend that he was not a reincarnation of Buddha but was an "austere sage."

Gautama Siddhartha, who later became known as Buddha or the Enlightened One, is believed to have been born in the same region near the border with India in around 500 BC.

[alkemical]

http://www.strike-the-root.com/61/macgregor/macgregor4.html

The Conspiracy/Paranoia Trap
I recall, back in the early 80s, how I got "hooked" by a number of serious conspiracy theory books. Everything from tomes on the Illuminati and the Freemasons, to a Jewish global financial hegemony and New World Order. There were the small conspiracies. Then there were the large conspiracies. And finally, there were the conspiracies within conspiracies, and even the super- conspiracies. Of the latter much has been written of late - including putting all these "lesser" conspiracies under the umbrella of a super-cosmic one, involving aliens from other planets. Take your pick, or pick them all.



http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/14084455.htm

Pa. seizes paper's computer hard disksThe Attorney General's Office says they may show evidence of a felony: unauthorized use of a restricted Web site

In an unusual and little-known case, the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office has seized four computer hard drives from a Lancaster newspaper as part of a statewide grand-jury investigation into leaks to reporters.
The dispute pits the government's desire to solve an alleged felony - computer hacking - against the news media's fear that taking the computers circumvents the First Amendment and the state Shield Law.



http://kurtnimmo.com/?p=289

Booking First & Fourth Amendment Fifth Columnists
Sunday March 12th 2006, 9:40 pm


In the near future—maybe next week—it may be a good idea to stay away from John Young’s Cryptome website. Young’s site often posts articles on surveillance, cryptography, and information on the military and intelligence community. It appears Sen. Mike DeWine, R-Ohio, along with Sens. Olympia Snowe of Maine, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, are pushing legislation to prosecute anyone who “intentionally discloses information identifying or describing” the NSA snoop program or any other snoop program conducted under a 1978 surveillance law, according to the Associated Press.

Under “boosted penalties,” those found guilty could face fines of up to $1 million, 15 years in jail or both. In fact, according to Kate Martin, director of the Center for National Security Studies, the language of the proposed legislation does not specify that the information has to be harmful to national security or classified. Lucy Dalglish, executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, told the Associated Press the legislation would allow the government to prosecute even “if you read a story in the paper and pass it along to your brother-in-law…. As a practical matter, would they use this to try to punish any newspaper or any broadcast? It essentially makes coverage of any of these surveillance programs illegal… I’m sorry, that’s just not constitutional.”




http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002157186

Days of DeWine and Ruses? Reporters May Be Exempt from Eavesdropping Bill

WASHINGTON Reporters who write about government surveillance could be prosecuted under proposed legislation that would solidify the administration's eavesdropping authority, according to some legal analysts who are concerned about dramatic changes in U.S. law.

But an aide to the bill's chief author, Sen. Mike DeWine, R-Ohio, said that is not the intention of the legislation.

"It in no way applies to reporters — in any way, shape or form," said Mike Dawson, a senior policy adviser to DeWine, responding to an inquiry Friday afternoon. "If a technical fix is necessary, it will be made."


The draft would add to the criminal penalties for anyone who "intentionally discloses information identifying or describing" the Bush administration's terrorist surveillance program or any other eavesdropping program conducted under a 1978 surveillance law.


"The bill would make it a crime to tell the American people that the president is breaking the law, and the bill could make it a crime for the newspapers to publish that fact," said Martin, a civil liberties advocate.



http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2006/03/14/national/w124730S39.DTL

200,000 People in U.S. Terror Database

Police and other government workers in the U.S. have come in contact with terrorists or people suspected of foreign terror ties more than 6,000 times in the past 28 months, the director of the federal Terrorist Screening Center said Tuesday.


The encounters in traffic stops, applications for permits and other situations have resulted in fewer than 60 arrests, said Donna Bucella, whose agency maintains a list of 200,000 people known or suspected to be terrorists. The list contains an additional 150,000 records that have only partial names, Bucella said.




http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/14/AR2006031401520.html

FBI Took Photos of Antiwar Activists in 2002

By Dan Eggen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, March 15, 2006; Page A05

An FBI agent in Pittsburgh photographed members of an antiwar activist group in 2002, according to documents released yesterday by the American Civil Liberties Union, which said the disclosure marks the latest incident in which the FBI has monitored left-leaning groups.

An FBI report from November 2002 indicates that an agent photographed members of the Thomas Merton Center as they handed out leaflets opposing the impending war in Iraq. The report called the group a "left-wing organization advocating, among many political causes, pacifism."



http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4808466.stm

Mexico discovers 'huge' oil field

Mexican President Vicente Fox has announced the discovery of a new deep-water oil field, which is believed to contain 10bn barrels of crude. The field is in the Gulf of Mexico, and Mexico says it could be bigger than its largest oil field, Cantarell.





http://www.dailyreckoning.com/Featured/Bill3806.html

The Rich Get Richer

Why do the rich get richer and the poor get poorer?

Because rich people have capital and capital is mobile, says Lila. Labor can’t move...at least not easily.




http://www.lp.org/yourturn/archives/000241.shtml


Louisiana Sheriff Getting Paranoid About His Neighbors

The Anderson Cooper 360 blog had a posting today about a sheriff in Louisiana who's getting paranoid about his neighbors.

Steve Prator, the sheriff of Caddo Parish, Louisiana wants to run background checks on scores of Hurricane Katrina evacuees living in his jurisdiction. Sheriff Prator thinks a lot of the evacuees living in nearby FEMA-provided housing might be criminals.

According to the Anderson Cooper 360 blog, the sheriff was able to obtain 33 evacuee names from an informant and then ran background checks on them. He found all of them had a previous criminal history with a combined total of 340 prior arrests.

Just from this random, scientific sampling, Sheriff Prator was able to deduce that the evacuees living in FEMA housing constitute a cesspool of criminality. Amazing.



http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/15/technology/15tag.html?ei=5090&en=24f421ff24864376&ex=1300078800&adxnnl=1&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&adxnnlx=1142431614-f8M1dOYM1cto8YLkXdDiOQ&pagewanted=print

Study Says Chips in ID Tags Are Vulnerable to Viruses

A group of European computer researchers have demonstrated that it is possible to insert a software virus into radio frequency identification tags, part of a microchip-based tracking technology in growing use in commercial and security applications.

In a paper to be presented today at an academic computing conference in Pisa, Italy, the researchers plan to demonstrate how it is possible to infect a tiny portion of memory in the chip, which can hold as little as 128 characters of information.

Until now, most computer security experts have discounted the possibility of using such tags, known as RFID chips, to spread a computer virus because of the tiny amount of memory on the chips.




http://kurtnimmo.com/?p=292

DynCorp May Replace Cops in St. Bernard Parish

It’s a good thing I don’t live in St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana. If I did, I’d refuse to accept the authority of DynCorp, the renta-cop and mercenary corporation that may soon replace the police in the storm-ravaged parish. Chances are I’d end up injured or dead at a checkpoint because DynCorp, a for-profit private military contractor, has a reputation “for brutality and recklessness,” according to Jeremy Scahill, writing for the Nation magazine. “DynCorp has even been rebuked by the U.S. State Department for its ‘aggressive behavior’ in interactions with European diplomats, NATO forces and journalists. A BBC News correspondent even witnessed one of the guards slapping an Afghan government minister.” If DynCorp thugs slap around Afghan ministers, imagine what they would do to a non-cooperative American commoner.

[alkemical]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11832024/site/newsweek/

Big Brother's Big Business
In a world of fear, American cities and corporations are spending billions on high-tech surveillance equipment. A look at the economic engine and privacy concerns surrounding 'smart cameras' and other devices.

March 15, 2006 - When the Spotsylvania School Board resolved a year and a half ago to install a vast network of high-tech surveillance cameras in and around the county's 28 public schools, a silent sigh of relief swept through this northern Virginia county of 112,000. Civil liberties didn't seem to be this community's major concern. Rather, with memories of the Washington-area sniper shootings still sharp in their minds (two of the victims were shot there), many welcomed the sense of security. "That [year of the shootings] was the worst fall I have ever spent in my 36-year career as a school teacher and administrator," said Donald Alvey, secondary education director for the school district, who said parents and school officials were terrified of students' vulnerability during sports functions, recess or simply walking home from school. "It was a no-brainer after that that we needed to put cameras in the schools to help kids and parents feel safer."



http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,1731037,00.html

Pentagon's new weapon - cyborg flies that are spies
Julian Borger in Washington
Wednesday March 15, 2006
The Guardian


The Pentagon is trying to develop "insect cyborgs" able to sniff out explosives, or "bug" conversations by lurking unseen in enemy hideouts with micro-transmitters strapped to their bodies.
The cyborgs - half insect, half robot - would be created by inserting tiny devices into the bodies of flying, hopping or crawling insects while in their larva or pupa stage, so that the mechanisms become part of their bodies and ultimately allow them to be moved by remote control.



http://capmag.com/article.asp?ID=507

Pat Robertson Supports Forced Abortions in China, But Opposes Voluntary Abortions in America
by Jeff Jacoby (April 28, 2001)

In a CNN interview on April 16, 2001, [Pat] Robertson, the founder of the Christian Coalition and head of the Christian Broadcasting Network, was asked how he reconciles his support for close ties with China with Beijing's ruthless one-child policy, which has forced unwanted abortions on tens of millions of women.

"I don't agree with it," Robertson said. "But ... they've got 1.2 billion people, and they don't know what to do. If every family over there was allowed to have three or four children, the population would be completely unsustainable.... They're doing what they have to do."

It would be hard to overstate the moral bankruptcy of those words. China's population-control laws are a horror. Couples are forced to sign "one-child" agreements, and may not have that child until they are issued a government quota. Couples who evade the rule are heavily fined, publicly humiliated, and often sterilized. Women found to be pregnant without a permit are forced to undergo abortion. Often they are in their eighth or ninth month.




http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/november2005/181105eldiablo.htm

Pat Robertson Displays Satanic 'El Diablo' Sign During 700 Club Show

Pat Robertson, the so-called voice of Christian America, has again been caught 'El Diablo red handed' flashing occult and satanic hand signals during his show.

During Thursday morning's 700 Club program Robertson could clearly be seen displaying the El Diablo hand gesture towards the end of the broadcast.




http://www.cbc.ca/ottawa/story/ot-vessels20060315.html

U.S. puts machine-guns on Great Lakes coast guard vessels
Last updated Mar 15 2006 04:56 PM EST
CBC News


For the first time since 1817, U.S. Coast Guard vessels on the Great Lakes are being outfitted with weapons – machine-guns capable of firing 600 bullets a minute.

Until now, coast guard officers have been armed with handguns and rifles, but the vessels themselves haven't been equipped with weapons.

The War of 1812 saw violent battles on Lake Erie and Lake Huron between U.S. troops and British forces, which were largely composed of militias from Britain's colonies in what is now Canada. After the war, the United States and Britain – and later Canada – agreed to demilitarize the Great Lakes waters.

The Rush-Bagot Treaty of 1817 allowed each country to station four vessels, each equipped with an 18-pound cannon, to safeguard the Great Lakes.

The antiquated treaty has recently been reinterpreted because of U.S. concerns about customs violations, human smuggling and international terrorism.

[alkemical]

http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/Speed_voting_House_flies_through_91.9_0320.html

Speed voting: House flies through $91.9 billion spending bill

By unanimous consent, the House Thursday used two-minute vote times to get through an emergency spending bill, according to Roll Call.


http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/031906B.shtml

The Letter of the Law
By Chitra Ragavan
US News & World Report

27 March 2006 Issue


The White House says spying on terror suspects without court approval is ok. What about physical searches?
In the dark days after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, a small group of lawyers from the White House and the Justice Department began meeting to debate a number of novel legal strategies to help prevent another attack. Soon after, President Bush authorized the National Security Agency to begin conducting electronic eavesdropping on terrorism suspects in the United States, including American citizens, without court approval. Meeting in the FBI's state-of-the-art command center in the J. Edgar Hoover Building, the lawyers talked with senior FBI officials about using the same legal authority to conduct physical searches of homes and businesses of terrorism suspects - also without court approval, one current and one former government official tell US News. "There was a fair amount of discussion at Justice on the warrantless physical search issue," says a former senior FBI official. "Discussions about - if [the searches] happened - where would the information go, and would it taint cases."

FBI Director Robert Mueller was alarmed by the proposal, the two officials said, and pushed back hard against it. "Mueller was personally very concerned," one official says, "not only because of the blowback issue but also because of the legal and constitutional questions raised by warrantless physical searches." FBI spokesman John Miller said none of the FBI's senior staff are aware of any such discussions and added that the bureau has not conducted "physical searches of any location without consent or a judicial order."




http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,13509-2093921,00.html


Vatican change of heart over 'barbaric' Crusades
From Richard Owen in Rome

THE Vatican has begun moves to rehabilitate the Crusaders by sponsoring a conference at the weekend that portrays the Crusades as wars fought with the “noble aim” of regaining the Holy Land for Christianity.




http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000087&sid=ak3gHkUGPtpY&refer=top_world_news

U.S. War Spending to Rise 44% to $9.8 Bln a Month, Report Says
March 17 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. military spending in Iraq and Afghanistan will average 44 percent more in the current fiscal year than in fiscal 2005, the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service said.
Spending will rise to $9.8 billion a month from the $6.8 billion a month the Pentagon said it spent last year, the research service said. The group's March 10 report cites ``substantial'' expenses to replace or repair damaged weapons, aircraft, vehicles, radios and spare parts.




http://www.palmbeachpost.com/state/content/state/epaper/2006/03/19/a7a_harris_0319.html


Harris tells Christian group she believes God wants her in public service
By Brian E. Crowley

Palm Beach Post Political Editor

Sunday, March 19, 2006

FORT LAUDERDALE — Finding inspiration from God, The Last of the Mohicans and The Lord of Rings, Katherine Harris told hundreds of conservative Christians Saturday that she is "a work in progress."

Harris, who told a national television audience Wednesday that she would be spending $10 million to win Florida's U.S. Senate race, said she never would have entered politics if she did not believe that God wanted her to make public service part of her life.




http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=49317

Time Warner promotes terrorism and anti-Christian bigotry in new leftist movie, 'V for Vendetta'
It has only been two weeks since the Oscar ceremony celebrated left-wing politics and anti-Christian bigotry with such movies as "Brokeback Mountain" and "Syriana."

Today, Time Warner is continuing that policy by releasing "V for Vendetta" – a vile, pro-terrorist piece of neo-Marxist, left-wing propaganda filled with radical sexual politics and nasty attacks on religion and Christianity.

The ending of "V for Vendetta" celebrates terrorism when the movie's three most sympathetic characters carry out an evil plan to blow up England's Parliament building, one of Western Civilization's most enduring symbols of democracy and republican government with a small "r."




http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060403/editors

An American Inquisition?

'Richard Rogers, or Lord Rogers of Riverside, as he is styled in Britain, is one of the most distinguished architects in the world. From the day the Centre Pompidou opened its doors in Paris in 1977, his career has been a series of triumphs: the headquarters of Lloyds insurance in London, the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, the Millennium Dome in Greenwich, Madrid's new Barajas airport and, most recently, the Welsh Assembly. Rogers is famous not just for his iconic buildings but also for his progressive politics and his extraordinary network of friends, associates and admirers. So when he agreed in February to host the London inaugural meeting of Architects and Planners for Justice in Palestine, the event went unnoticed here.

'That is, it went unnoticed until early March, when Rogers found that even a casual association with the Palestinian cause placed all his New York work in jeopardy. Rogers, who'd been awarded the $1.7 billion expansion of the Jacob Javits Convention Center and a commission to redevelop the Lower East Side riverfront, was summoned to New York to explain himself to Empire State Development Corporation chair Charles Gargano. Sheldon Silver, speaker of the New York Assembly, demanded that Rogers be fired from publicly funded projects; he also threatened that Silvercup Studios, a film studio and office complex in Queens, would be unlikely to get tax credits with Rogers as architect. Malcolm Hoenlein, executive vice chair of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, labeled Rogers's involvement "an affront...to the legacy of Senator Javits," noting that the late Republican had been a staunch defender of Israel.'

[alkemical]

http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,1735482,00.html

General Motors in crisis talks to cut 35,000 jobs

Richard Wray in New York
Tuesday March 21, 2006
The Guardian


General Motors is trying to stave off the possibility of collapse by thrashing out a last-minute job reduction plan with its former subsidiary and now major parts supplier, Delphi, and the powerful United Auto Workers union.
The plan on the table is believed to involve offering up to 35,000 employees in both companies cash incentives of up to $35,000 (£20,000) to take early retirement.

Delphi went bankrupt last autumn as it lost out to nimbler rivals, especially from overseas. But GM, which employs 325,000 people worldwide and demerged Delphi in 1999, guaranteed worker's pensions and benefits. GM, which yesterday said talks were continuing, has estimated it could be landed with a bill for $12bn if it failed to reach a settlement.




http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000085&sid=anl3653L5Mcc&refer=europe

15 Million Brits Losing Savings in Blair's Supposed Safe Bet
March 21 (Bloomberg) -- About 15 million British citizens who were forced to invest in the domestic bond market are losing their savings, and the government is telling them: Too bad!

Prime Minister Tony Blair and Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown forced the U.K.'s 760 billion pound ($1.3 trillion) pension industry to increase investments in sterling-denominated bonds starting in 2004 after the collapse of funds left tens of thousands of workers without retirement savings.



http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4803570.stm

Death raises concern at police tactics
By Matthew Davis
BBC News, Washington



Some say police units increasingly resemble military teams

The recent killing of an unarmed Virginia doctor has raised concerns about what some say is an explosion in the use of military-style police Swat teams in the United States.

Armed with assault rifles, stun grenades - even armoured personnel carriers - units once used only in highly volatile situations are increasingly being deployed on more routine police missions.

Dr Salvatore Culosi Jr had come out of his townhouse to meet an undercover policeman when he was shot through the chest by a Special Weapons and Tactics force.

[BroncoBuff]

No Right to Remain Silent

You have the right to remain silent — unless you’re asked your name when you aren’t even charged with a crime. That’s right: it can now be a crime to refuse to tell a policeman your name. What’s happening to America?

Nevada and 20 other states have criminalized remaining silent in the face of a policeman’s question “What’s your name?” By a 5-4 vote the U.S. Supreme Court said that’s okay — it’s no violation of the Fourth Amendment prohibition against unreasonable searches or the Fifth Amendment prohibition against compulsory self-incrimination.

“Obtaining a suspect’s name in the course of a Terry stop serves important government interests,” wrote Justice Anthony Kennedy for the majority, referring to an earlier case (Terry) that permits the police to detain people on the basis of a suspicion that falls short of the traditional standard of “probable cause” for arrest. It may serve “important government interests.” But some of us in the United States still harbor the impression that the rights and interests of individuals trump the interests of state.


I'm a staunch libertarian, even radically liberal when it comes to individual liberties, but this one is a red herring, ames .... I'm not saying you're "paranoid" like the thread title infers, but as an attorney who won two "Book Awards" in Constitutional Law in law school, let me explain this one:

For a police officer to even approach a private citizen, he needs to have demonstrable some cause. Everybody's heard of "probable cause," but what you may not understand is that "PC" is a VERY high strandard. PC means the coip can arrest you, search you, take you into custody ....

(It's important to understand that PC is determined by what the cop KNOWS, and NOT the citizen's behavior. For example, a traffic cop who pulls you over for speeding has the same PC as a cop who sees a guy hold up a liquor store with a gun. PC has nothing to do with the severity of the crime, but instead with how certain the cop is that a crime has occurred.)

In this case, though, we're not talking "Probable Cause." We're talking a lesser standard called "Reasonable Suspicion." It was started by the liberal Earl Warren Supremem Court in the late 60's in a case called "Terry v. Ohio" I think: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_v._Ohio

Anyway, if the cop, "in his professional opinion based upon his experience and training," has "reasonable suspicion that criminal activity is afoot," then he has Reasonable Suspicion. Now, RS does not give a cop the same authority as PC. A cop cannot arrest for RS, cannot search for RS (except for officer safety, within the "arm's reach" of the suspect ... Buie v. Maryland: http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=US&vol=494&invol=325 ) What RS gives the cop is only the authority to BRIEFLY detain a suspect while he investigates (that detention is called a Terry stop... California Courts say 90 minutes tops), and to undertakle "CURSORY QUESTIONING," like, for example, 'what's yer name, bub?'

So there you have it .... it may seem like a conspiracy, but it makes sense.

Besides, the guy here wasn't charged with any additional crime, he was just made subject to a search.... the REAL complaint is that the cop used his silence as a reason to escalate to probable cause, thuse permitting him to search.

[Pezman]

Ames, I have a friend who used to design tech for quite a few defense contractors in the 70's and 80's. He had a disscussion with me the other day, stating that the Government had tested some sort of beam that was tested in a few small towns in South Dakota and North Dakota that supposedly pacified the population.
He did not really go into further detail, but I thought maybe you have heard more about this? I'm pretty disturbed hearing that, but as always, take everything with a grain of salt.

What are your thoughts of this secret "brainfreeze" beam and its practice in the US in the 70's?

[Odysseus]

When I first got started in computers the systems that were available had a monsterous 2 GB hard drive. What we have coming out in the next 20 years is that same quantum leap in technology. A 2 terrabyte drive on a thumbstick as it were.

We are very close to being able to reprogram people. There was in article in Businessweek describing algorhythms they are using to do predictive behaviour analysis. Uber marketing as it were. They know what to say, how to say it and to whom. The notion of heightened intelligence integrating with machines is rapidly becoming a common as steroids. A lot of old concepts are getting ready to be erased.

I am slowly getting used to this idea of privacy being a non entity and self as an impertinent idea. It's like a revelation realizing that our walls are no longer there and that everything we do is naked on a database somewhere and that I am nothing more than a data compilation that can be emulated.

Cool thread.

[BroncoBuff]

I am nothing more than a data compilation that can be emulated.

You don't give yourself enough credit!


that was a VERY heavy post ....

[alkemical]

I'm a staunch libertarian, even radically liberal when it comes to individual liberties, but this one is a red herring, ames .... I'm not saying you're "paranoid" like the thread title infers, but as an attorney who won two "Book Awards" in Constitutional Law in law school, let me explain this one:

For a police officer to even approach a private citizen, he needs to have demonstrable some cause. Everybody's heard of "probable cause," but what you may not understand is that "PC" is a VERY high strandard. PC means the coip can arrest you, search you, take you into custody ....

(It's important to understand that PC is determined by what the cop KNOWS, and NOT the citizen's behavior. For example, a traffic cop who pulls you over for speeding has the same PC as a cop who sees a guy hold up a liquor store with a gun. PC has nothing to do with the severity of the crime, but instead with how certain the cop is that a crime has occurred.)

In this case, though, we're not talking "Probable Cause." We're talking a lesser standard called "Reasonable Suspicion." It was started by the liberal Earl Warren Supremem Court in the late 60's in a case called "Terry v. Ohio" I think: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_v._Ohio

Anyway, if the cop, "in his professional opinion based upon his experience and training," has "reasonable suspicion that criminal activity is afoot," then he has Reasonable Suspicion. Now, RS does not give a cop the same authority as PC. A cop cannot arrest for RS, cannot search for RS (except for officer safety, within the "arm's reach" of the suspect ... Buie v. Maryland: http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=US&vol=494&invol=325 ) What RS gives the cop is only the authority to BRIEFLY detain a suspect while he investigates (that detention is called a Terry stop... California Courts say 90 minutes tops), and to undertakle "CURSORY QUESTIONING," like, for example, 'what's yer name, bub?'

So there you have it .... it may seem like a conspiracy, but it makes sense.

Besides, the guy here wasn't charged with any additional crime, he was just made subject to a search.... the REAL complaint is that the cop used his silence as a reason to escalate to probable cause, thuse permitting him to search.


Thanks for the clarification. I have however been pulled over and detained for fitting the description (to let everyone know, i am white and i live outside my state's capital). This has not happened just once either for the record. I guess my point of this article is how the abuse of rules can be bent by the powers of the state.

[alkemical]

Ames, I have a friend who used to design tech for quite a few defense contractors in the 70's and 80's. He had a disscussion with me the other day, stating that the Government had tested some sort of beam that was tested in a few small towns in South Dakota and North Dakota that supposedly pacified the population.
He did not really go into further detail, but I thought maybe you have heard more about this? I'm pretty disturbed hearing that, but as always, take everything with a grain of salt.

What are your thoughts of this secret "brainfreeze" beam and its practice in the US in the 70's?


I haven't heard about that instance of a brainfreese beam. But on darpa's webpage, they have a whitepaper on 'implanting' thoughts into people using a radiosignals though.....

I will have to look into that.

[alkemical]

When I first got started in computers the systems that were available had a monsterous 2 GB hard drive. What we have coming out in the next 20 years is that same quantum leap in technology. A 2 terrabyte drive on a thumbstick as it were.

We are very close to being able to reprogram people. There was in article in Businessweek describing algorhythms they are using to do predictive behaviour analysis. Uber marketing as it were. They know what to say, how to say it and to whom. The notion of heightened intelligence integrating with machines is rapidly becoming a common as steroids. A lot of old concepts are getting ready to be erased.

I am slowly getting used to this idea of privacy being a non entity and self as an impertinent idea. It's like a revelation realizing that our walls are no longer there and that everything we do is naked on a database somewhere and that I am nothing more than a data compilation that can be emulated.

Cool thread.


Is it good or bad getting used to no privacy?

[alkemical]

http://money.netscape.cnn.com/story.jsp?flok=ns-tos-news-h-03&idq=/ff/story/0001/20060322/1039558550.htm&sc=1333

Delphi, GM, UAW Reach Agreement on Buyout
By DEE-ANN DURBIN


DETROIT (AP) - General Motors Corp. and the auto parts supplier it once owned, Delphi Corp., announced deals Wednesday with the United Auto Workers that would offer buyouts to 13,000 hourly Delphi employees and up to 100,000 hourly GM workers represented by the United Auto Workers.

GM workers will be eligible for payouts of between $35,000 and $140,000 depending on their years of service. At Delphi, up to 5,000 workers will be eligible to return to GM, Delphi's former parent, while 13,000 U.S. hourly workers will be eligible for a lump sum payment of up to $35,000 to retire.



http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060321/pl_afp/usiraqintelligencefm

Saddam's FM was on CIA payroll
WASHINGTON (AFP) - Iraq's foreign minister under Saddam Hussein spied for the CIA before the US-led invasion in 2003 in return for a 100,000 dollar payment, a US television station reported.

In September 2002, Iraq's top diplomat Naji Sabri traded information on Hussein's alleged weapons program for cash in a French-sponsored New York City hotel room meeting, NBC reported, citing intelligence sources.

US intelligence agents believe Sabri was fully aware he was selling information to the CIA, it said.

During the cloak-and-dagger meeting, Sabri told the CIA's middleman that Saddam possessed chemical weapons and wanted a nuclear bomb but needed much more time to build one than the CIA estimate of several months to a year.



http://www.wrmea.com/archives/July_Aug_2004/0407027.html

2004 Top Ten Career Recipients of Pro-Israel PAC Funds

[alkemical]

http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/march2006/230306googlecensoring.htm

Google Caught Censoring Charlie Sheen 9/11 Story Quickly re-indexes pages during live radio discussion

Paul Joseph Watson & Alex Jones/Prison Planet.com | March 23 2006 Google is again embroiled in a censorship scandal after being caught blocking information about Charlie Sheen's 9/11 comments, despite the fact that every other major search engine had indexed the pages.For days, major search engines like Yahoo and others contained tens of thousands of web pages relating to Sheen's comments first broadcast on the Alex Jones Show on Monday afternoon. Last night CNN aired a piece on the issue and by early this morning both the New York Post and the Boston Herald ran articles.


http://www.macon.com/mld/macon/news/politics/14144311.htm

House OKs Bible study in public high schools

GREG BLUESTEIN Associated Press

ATLANTA - A bill that allows public high schools to offer classes on the Bible sped through the House Monday, passing overwhelmingly with no debate.
The legislation, which passed 151-7, would allow high schools to form elective courses on the history and literature of the Old Testament and New Testament eras. The classes would focus on the law, morals, values and culture of the eras. State Rep. James Mills, the proposal's House sponsor, said the legislation would withstand a court challenge because it treats the
bible as an educational supplement


http://www.unionleader.com/article.aspx?headline=Granite%20Status%3A%20Meridi an%20to%20guide%20Coburn%20race%20for%20governor&articleId=1a0f8a86-a086-40a6-8963-65395f7767fc


CALLING KEN?
In the days before and after the state Republican Party’s 2002 Election Day phone-jamming scheme, the man who now chairs the Republican National Committee was the White House director of political affairs. And a Democratic-affiliated advocacy group says that court records show Ken Mehlman’s office received more than 75 telephone calls from now-convicted phone-jam conspirator James Tobin from Sept. 30 to Nov. 22 of that year.
Former state GOP executive director Chuck McGee admitted masterminding the scheme and served seven months in jail last year for it. Tobin was found guilty in December of federal telephone harassment charges for acting as a middle man. An appeal is expected if the trial court in Concord turns down his request for a new trial. “All we have is the phone number and the fact that calls were made to the White House,” says SMP executive director Mike Gehrke, a former high-level Clinton administration staffer. “But we also know from the court record that a lot of other calls about the scheme were going on. For a period of time, this was the hot topic. “With that many calls, I elieve it’s inconceivable that there wasn’t some knowledge of this at the White House,” Gehrke said. “At the very least, it is evidence that there needs to be a bigger net cast here before the end of this case.”


http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-jalon8mar08,0,2280342.story?coll=la-news-comment-opinions

A break-in to end all break-ins
In 1971, stolen FBI files exposed the government's domestic spying program.
By Allan M. Jalon, ALLAN M. JALON is a longtime contributor to The
Times and other publications on issues of culture and media.
March 8, 2006


THIRTY-FIVE YEARS ago today, a group of anonymous activists broke into the small, two-man office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Media, Pa., and stole more than 1,000 FBI documents that revealed years of systematic wiretapping, infiltration and media manipulation designed to suppress dissent. The Citizens' Commission to Investigate the FBI, as the group called itself, forced its way in at night with a crowbar while much of the country was watching the Muhammad Ali-Joe Frazier fight. When agents
arrived for work the next morning, they found the file cabinets virtually emptied.


http://www.nydailynews.com/boroughs/story/401710p-340275c.html

Annoying noise real hum-dinger



BY JOTHAM SEDERSTROM
DAILY NEWS WRITER

Ear-itated Bay Ridge residents are struggling to name that tone - a round-the-clock humming noise they say is depriving them of sleep. The noise - compared to the roar of an engine and the honk of a fog horn - has been blowing in from near the Bay Ridge Channel for nearly a year, but nobody has been able to pinpoint its source. "The problem is it's constant, 24 hours a day," said Dr. Concetta Butera, a chiropractor who lives on Colonial Road. "It's messed up my life really badly." For Butera, who has lived in her sixth-floor apartment for 18 years, the sound is more than just a nuisance. Besides spending the night at her office, she has sunk more than $2,000 into muffling the noise.


http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,11069-2097540,00.html

Deserters hunted down 30 years after Vietnam
By Tim Reid

The Pentagon is arresting old soldiers as thousands of US servicemen are going on the run THIRTY-SIX years after he deserted from the US Marines to avoid being sent to Vietnam, Ernest “Buck” McQueen believed that the
military had long ago given up looking for him. But on January 12 his past caught up with him. After his brother-in-law inadvertently tipped off an undercover investigator about his whereabouts, Mr McQueen, 55, was arrested in a burger bar close to his home in Fort Worth and shipped off to a Marine jail in California.


http://in.today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2006-03-3T151836Z_01_NOOTR_RTRJONC_0_India-241864-1.xml

Pragmatism, not love, draws Russia and China closer

By Chris Buckley and Emma Graham-Harrison
BEIJING (Reuters) - China and Russia tightened a strategic embrace this week when Russian President Vladimir Putin unveiled a clutch of energy deals in Beijing, but Moscow remains wary of drawing too near to its rising neighbour, analysts said. "It's a booming relationship, but starting from a very low point," Bobo Lo, an expert on Russian foreign policy at Chatham House in London, told Reuters. "Putin's visit shows a much more business-like approach to relations, but there's the paradox that the better the relationship becomes, the more Russians worry about China." Putin and Chinese President Hu Jintao oversaw announcements of plans to pipe gas and possibly oil to China, as well as deals giving Russian firms access to their neighbour's refining sector and Beijing a chance to explore for oil in Russia.
Gas monopoly Gazprom said it would sign a commercial agreement this
year for a network eventually expected to send 60 to 80 billion cubic metres of gas across the border, with the first supplies flowing in 2010.


http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/Bushs_uncle_earns_millions_from_co
mpany_0323.html

Bush uncle set to earn millions from company that profited from Iraq war

As President Bush embarks on a new effort to shore up public support for the war in Iraq, an uncle of the chief executive is collecting $2.7 million in cash and stock from the recent sale of a company that profited from the war.
A report filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission shows that William H.T. Bush collected a little less than $1.9 million in cash plus stock valued at more than $800,000 as a result of the sale of Engineered Support Systems Inc. to DRS Technologies of New Jersey. The $1.7 billion deal closed Jan. 31. Both businesses have extensive military contracts.
The elder Bush was a director of Engineered Support Systems. Recent SEC filings show he was paid cash and DRS stock in exchange for shares and options he obtained as a director. Missouri-based ESSI experienced record growth prior to its purchase by DRS through expanded U.S. military contracts -- many to supply current U.S. efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan -- and an aggressive buyout strategy targeted at other defense contractors.



http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0322/p13s01-lire.html

Christians ready to refute 'Da Vinci Code' movie

Rather than organize protests or boycotts, Evangelicals and Catholics are mobilizing 'truth squads.' In a world accepting of docudramas and reality TV shows that aren't real, how does one counter a blockbuster movie whose theme challenges the orthodox religious history of the Western world?
That's the task facing Christians already distressed by Dan Brown's wildly popular novel, "The Da Vinci Code," and his claim that the thriller is based on historical facts.


http://www.strike-the-root.com/61/herman/herman6.html

Live Free or Die: Is Liberty an Illusion?

No man is free who does not realize he is foremost a prisoner. Imprisoned by unfulfilled desires, as Buddha described, and selfish worldly aspirations. Not to mention bills, bodily functions, jobs, duties, obligations, allegiances, plus hunger and thirst. Diogenes sought an honest man; Jesus explained that no man is good; Marx theorized no one is free until they have cast off their chains. I’ve yet to meet a free man, a good man, an honest man. Perhaps such a saint exists, although they would be the first to deny their goodness and question saintliness. Ask any American citizen if they are “free.” The answers might surprise, amuse and confound you. I asked several people that
question. Here are some responses.




http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11951695/

Grants flow to Bush allies on social issues
Federal programs direct at least $157 million to conservative groups

For years, conservatives have complained about what they saw as the
liberal tilt of federal grant money. Taxpayer funds went to abortion rights groups such as Planned Parenthood to promote birth control, and groups closely aligned with the AFL-CIO got Labor Department grants to run worker-training programs. In the Bush administration, conservatives are discovering that turnabout is fair play: Millions of dollars in taxpayer funds have flowed to groups that support President Bush's agenda on abortion and other social issues.

http://contactmusic.com/new/xmlfeed.nsf/mndwebpages/dept.%20of%20homeland%20security%20shoots%20down%2 0movie%20script_22_03_06

DEPT. OF HOMELAND SECURITY SHOOTS DOWN MOVIE SCRIPT A Los Angeles screenwriter is claiming that the Department of Homeland Security has informed him that he may not use the agency's name "or any of the Department's official visual identities" in the script for his film, Lady Magdalene, despite the fact that the film presents a positive image of the DHS. The writer, J. Neil Schulman, said Tuesday that he had received a notice from Bobbie Faye Ferguson, director of the NHS's office of multimedia, informing him that his "project does not fit within the DHS mission and that it is not something we can participate in." In response, Schulman wrote to
Ferguson that he had already received assistance from a special agent of the NHS's air marshal service while he was preparing his screenplay and that the agency's notice to him now represents a violation of his First Amendment rights. "Merely the claim that you have the power to restrict such official images is chilling to the process of writing and producing a movie -- and certainly to an independent film in pre-production with a start date for principal photography only six weeks away," Schulman wrote.



http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4824530.stm

Nepalese Buddha Boy 'reappears'

A missing Nepalese teenager popularly known as "Buddha Boy" reappeared briefly on Sunday, his followers say. The committee managing the meditation site of Ram Bomjan, 16, released video of its members purportedly meeting the boy near his village in southern Nepal. The boy's meditation and apparent 10-month fast attracted global attention before he vanished in March.
Large numbers of devotees flocked to see him to leave offerings. A massive search operation is still under way.

http://www.cryptomundo.com/bigfoot-report/cryptozoo-action-figures/

Cryptozoology Action Figures

Bigfoot and Mothman and Nessie, oh my! Do you have any? Huh, huh, do
ya? What’s in your collection? There have been some pretty cool cryptozoology action figures over the years. The Mezco Cryptozoology series were anticipated for quite some time before being eventually released. Supposedly, they were delayed due to negotiations over the licensing of a videogame that was to feature their likeness. I don’t know if the videogame was ever released or not. The figures, when finally released, were much smaller than they were originally touted to be. The figures were released in 2003 and are now out of production.

[alkemical]

http://money.cnn.com/2006/03/09/magazines/fortune/cubicle_howiwork_fortune/index.htm

Cubicles: The great mistake
Even the designer of the cubicle thinks they were maybe a bad idea, as millions of 'Dilberts' would agree.

NEW YORK (FORTUNE Magazine) - Robert Oppenheimer agonized over building the A-bomb. Alfred Nobel got queasy about creating dynamite. Robert Propst invented nothing so destructive. Yet before he died in 2000, he lamented his unwitting contribution to what he called "monolithic insanity."

Propst is the father of the cubicle. More than 30 years after he unleashed it on the world, we are still trying to get out of the box. The cubicle has been called many things in its long and terrible reign. But what it has lacked in beauty and amenity, it has made up for in crabgrass-like persistence.




http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-cboulis24mar24,0,4547612.story?coll=sfla-news-broward

Lobbyist Abramoff gets subpoenaed in Boulis murder case

Fallen super-lobbyist Jack Abramoff and his former business partner soon will be subpoenaed by defense attorneys to give sworn statements in the Konstantinos "Gus" Boulis murder case.

The attorney for murder suspect Anthony "Big Tony" Moscatiello filed paperwork this week asking to question Abramoff and Long Island businessman Adam Kidan about the SunCruz Casino founder's gangland-style slaying. Broward Circuit Judge Michael Kaplan granted the request Thursday after prosecutors agreed to it.




http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2006-03-23T083023Z_01_T226916_RTRUKOC_0_US-NUCLEAR-JAPAN-IRAN.xml

US asks Japan to stop Iran oil development-paper

TOKYO (Reuters) - The United States has informally asked Japan to suspend its plans to develop an Iranian oil field as part of world efforts to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, a Japanese newspaper said on Thursday.

Resource-poor Japan has been planning to develop Iran's Azadegan oil field, estimated to hold the world's second-biggest single oil reserve, despite objections from Washington.




http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2006/03/24/bush_shuns_patriot_act_requirement/

Bush shuns Patriot Act requirement
In addendum to law, he says oversight rules are not binding
By Charlie Savage, Globe Staff | March 24, 2006

WASHINGTON -- When President Bush signed the reauthorization of the USA Patriot Act this month, he included an addendum saying that he did not feel obliged to obey requirements that he inform Congress about how the FBI was using the act's expanded police powers.




http://www.alternet.org/story/33855

Orwell's Internal Revenue Service

Someday, not long from now, we will tell our grandkids about the good old days, when if someone used a word you didn't understand, you just had to crack open your Webster's dictionary to nail it down. For example, what would we have thought it meant if someone had issued a notice with the following headline:

"IRS Issues Proposed Regulations to Safeguard Taxpayer Information."

The word "safeguard" is the key. Webster's says it means:


Safeguard: a precautionary measure, stipulation, or device; a technical contrivance to prevent accident.

Well, I'm for that! Unfortunately, the Bush administration has not only shoved aside the U.S. Constitution, but Webster's as well. The words sound the same. They are spelled the same, but their meanings are now, well, flexible.




http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newyork/ny-bc-ny--surveillancecamer0322mar22,0,103665.story?coll=ny-region-apnewyork

Police to install 505 surveillance cameras around city

NEW YORK (AP) _ The Police Department will use federal funds to install 505 surveillance cameras around the city and is hoping to secure more funding to increase security in Lower Manhattan, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly says.

Testifying Tuesday at a City Council budget hearing, Kelly warned that Lower Manhattan "remains a prime target for terrorists intent on attacking the United States."




http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,70430-0.html?tw=wn_index_26

Grow Your Own Oil, U.S.

Researchers hoping to ease America's oil addiction are turning sawdust and wood chips into bio-oil, a thick black liquid that could become a green substitute for many petroleum products.

Bio-oil can be made from almost any organic material, including agricultural and forest waste like corn stalks and scraps of bark. Converting the raw biomass into bio-oil yields a product that is easy to transport and can be processed into higher-value fuels and chemicals.



http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-ap-missing-girl-found,0,6949663.story?coll=sns-ap-nation-headlines

Woman Missing for 10 Years Speaks Out

MCKEESPORT, Pa. -- Since the day she ran away 10 years ago, Tanya Nicole Kach says her home was a bedroom she was rarely allowed to leave. A man more than twice her age kept her there, she says, where she had only a bucket for a bathroom.

The two had met at her middle school, where they kissed in a stairwell when he caught her skipping class, according to a criminal complaint. A few months later they devised a plan for her to leave home, and when she moved in, a sexual relationship began, she told police.

[alkemical]

http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,18603654%5E662,00.html


No sign of life on 'ghost ship'

THERE is no sign of anyone aboard an 80-metre "ghost ship" found floating in Australian waters, Customs officials say.
The tanker, Jian Seng, was about 180km south-west of Weipa in the Gulf of Carpentaria when Customs officers boarded it

yesterday morning.

There was no sign of recent human activity aboard, nor any signs it had been engaged in illegal fishing or people smuggling.

Customs believes the vessel was under tow when it broke free and was subsequently abandoned. It is believed the ship has been

adrift for at least a week.




http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/24/AR2006032401919.html

Court Grants Request to Question Abramoff in SunCruz Slaying Trial

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., March 24 -- A judge has approved subpoenas for ex-lobbyist Jack Abramoff and a former business partner

to answer questions about the mob-style slaying of the owner of a gambling fleet they bought. Abramoff and Adam Kidan have insisted, through their attorneys, that they know nothing about the slaying of Konstantinos
"Gus" Boulis, who was ambushed in his car by a gunman in Fort Lauderdale a few months after the pair bought SunCruz Casinos from him.




http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0%2C5744%2C18614238%5E2702%2C00.html

Child drugs linked to heart attack
Clara Pirani, Medical reporter
March 27, 2006
CHILDREN as young as five have suffered strokes, heart attacks, hallucinations and convulsions after taking drugs to treat

attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Documents obtained by The Australian reveal that almost 400 serious adverse reactions have been reported to the Therapeutic

Goods Administration, some involving children as young as three.

Cases include the sudden death of a seven-year-old, and a five-year-old who suffered a stroke after taking Ritalin. Children

also experienced heart palpitations and shortness of breath after taking Dexamphetamine.

Others taking Ritalin or Dexamphetamine - the two most commonly used ADHD drugs - experienced hair loss, muscle spasms,

severe abdominal pain, tremors, insomnia, severe weight loss, depression and paranoia.




http://www.cei.org/gencon/004,05214.cfm

“But now all the stations are silenced, ’cause they ain’t got a government license”
Why Unlicensed Broadcasting Should Not Be a Crime

Broadcasting has come a long way since the pioneer punk band The Clash blasted Britain's radio regulators with that line in

1979, but in some American state capitals, lawmakers seem stuck in the 1970s.

In the state of Florida, operating an unlicensed radio station—already a federal misdemeanor—is now a third-degree felony,

punishable by up to five years in prison and up to $5,000 in fines, under a law in effect since July 2004. There were

approximately 18 arrests under the new statute in 2005, and at least one conviction (though in that case the accused plea

bargained to a lesser charge). 1 This strong-arm approach may soon be coming to other states. In January, New Jersey enacted

a similar bill, making it a fourth-degree felony to produce “ a radio transmission of energy in this State unless the person

obtains a license, or an exemption from licensure, from the Federal Communications Commission.” Under the Garden State

statute, unlicensed broadcasters can be fined up to $10,000 and imprisoned for up to 18 months.



http://www.virginianewssource.com/VNS/terrorismrpt.html

VIRGINIA BEACH (March 21 2006) - - A state training manual on terrorism has apparently been written by a bunch of

under-educated bureaucratic 'goons' or 'thugs' while wearing Nazi hobnailed boots as they stomped on the Constitution.

More incredibly is it is being used to train state employees how to recognize terrorists. "Now boys here is what you look

for...".

You might be a terrorist if....!

Under the definitions of the state's training manual on terrorism, you're a terrorist if you are:

In any anti-government and militia movements
Are property-rights activists
Are in any racist, separatist and hate groups
Are an environmental and animal rights activist
Are a religious extremist
Are in a street gang

This designation probably won't sit well with many organizations who operate in Virginia, such as all mainstream Christian

churches, Jewish synagogues and property rights groups working with the General Assembly to tighten up laws that provide

eminent domain, commonly referred to as condemnation.

According to the Official Virginia "Terrorism & Security Awareness Orientation for State Employees" publication even the

Tidewater Libertarian Party (TLP) and the Virginia Beach Taxpayer Alliance can be classified as terrorists.



http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/printstory.mpl/ap/politics/3743815

Meatpacker Sues Feds Over Mad Cow Test

WASHINGTON — A Kansas meatpacker sued the government on Thursday for refusing to let the company test for mad cow disease in every animal it slaughters. Creekstone Farms Premium Beef says it has Japanese customers who want comprehensive testing. The Agriculture Department threatened criminal prosecution if Creekstone did the tests, according to the company's lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Washington.



http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2006/03/25/bushs-no-child-left-behi_n_17889.html

Bush's No Child Left Behind Forcing Schools To Cut Subjects Beyond Reading and Math...
Thousands of schools across the nation are responding to the reading and math testing requirements laid out in No Child Left

Behind, President Bush's signature education law, by reducing class time spent on other subjects and, for some

low-proficiency students, eliminating it.

Schools from Vermont to California are increasing — in some cases tripling — the class time that low-proficiency students

spend on reading and math, mainly because the federal law, signed in 2002, requires annual exams only in those subjects and

punishes schools that fall short of rising benchmarks.


http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/oem_wtc.html

The OEM Issued a WTC Collapse Warning

Again, times are a little fuzzy initially for me. A few minutes
later, John came to me and said you need to go find Chief Ganci and
relay the following message: that the buildings have been
compromised, we need to evacuate, they're going to collapse. I said
okay. I went down Vesey Street towards West.

Q. You were by yourself?

A. I was by myself, me and my helmet and my radio. I got to the
corner of Vesey and West. I found some EMS vehicles. I think I saw
Chief Gombo there. I'm not really sure. I mentioned to the EMS
people there, again, not knowing who they were, I said you need to
get away from here, the building might collapse, we need to leave
this spot. As I was walking towards the Fire command post, I found Steve
Mosiello. I said, Steve, where's the boss? I have to give him a message. He said, well, what's the message? I said the

buildings are going to collapse; we need to evac everybody out. With a very confused look he said who told you that? I said I

was just with John at OEM. OEM says the buildings are going
to collapse; we need to get out.

[alkemical]

http://channels.netscape.com/pf/story.jsp?idq=/ff/story/0001/2006032

8/1246145000.htm

Judge Drops Counts Against Lay, Skilling



HOUSTON (AP) - A federal judge on Tuesday dropped three of the 31
counts against former Enron Chief Executive Jeffrey Skilling and one of the seven counts against company founder Kenneth Lay. As the prosecution rested its case Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Sim Lake dropped two counts of securities fraud and one count of wire fraud against Skilling, leaving him with 28 criminal counts against him; the judge also dropped one securities fraud count against Lay, said Skilling lawyer Daniel Petrocelli.



http://www.mises.org/story/2089

The Utopia of Liberty: A Letter to Socialists (1848)
by Gustave de Molinari

We are adversaries, and yet the goal which we both pursue is the same. What is the common goal of economists and socialists? Is it not a society where the production of all the goods necessary to the maintenance and embellishment of life shall be as abundant as possible, and where the distribution of these same goods among those who have created them through their labor shall be as just as possible? May not our common ideal, apart from all distinction of schools, be summarized in these two words: abundance and justice? Such, none among you can deny, is our common goal. Only we approach this goal by different paths; you proceed along the hitherto unexplored dark passage of the organization of labor, while we proceed along the broad and well-known highway of liberty. Each of us is attempting to drag behind him a hesitating and groping society that scans the horizon seeking, but in vain, the pillar of light that formerly guided the slaves of the Pharaohs to the Promised Land.




http://www.wtopnews.com/index.php?nid=25&sid=737418

Fairfax Co. Takes Part in Unusual Wastewater Experiment

FAIRFAX, Va. - Fairfax County is taking part in an unusual White House drug study.

Wastewater from communities throughout the Potomac River Basin is
being tested for the urinary byproducts of cocaine. "Apparently, they're able to ascertain how many people may be using illicit drugs, in this case cocaine, with such studies," Board of Supervisors Chairman Gerry Connolly tells WTOP.




http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060327/NEWS11/60327007

Southfield police may start ticket quotas

The City of Southfield has proposed a policy that could force police officers to write more traffic tickets and make more arrests,
according to city and union officials. According to Southfield Police Department officials, the proposal, which the Free Press does not have a copy of, calls for officers to write a certain number of tickets and take a certain number of various other citizen-assist calls each shift. It is unclear what the required numbers would be. Officer Mark Zacks, president of the Southfield Police Officers Association, said it seems the proposal is suggesting a quota system.



http://www.informationliberation.com/?id=8657

New Anti-Terror Training Manual Says ''Property Rights Activists'' Are Terrorists

s InformationLiberation covers in great detail, those in power have used the traumatic event of September 11th as a pretext to turn America into a police state under the guise of "fighting terrorism" (or is it "the struggle against global extremism"?). The latest tool in the "war on terrorism" is a new anti-terror manual titled "Terrorism & Security Awareness Orientation for State Employees". It opens with a quote attributed to Thomas Jefferson, "The price of freedom is eternal vigilance....". Well said. The only problem is the manual's guidelines of a "terrorist" does everything it can to annihilate that freedom.




http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/anthraxsuspect.html

The FBI knows of a man who was caught entering the lab where the Anthrax used in the letters was kept, after he had been fired for a racially motivated attack on a co-worker. So, why is the FBI wasting its time with Steven Hatfill?



http://www.total411.info/

MSNBC VIDEO: Moussaoui wore 'stun belt' for new testimony
UPDATE: VIDEO LINK FIXED
If you're looking for a reason why Zacarias Moussaoui suddenly
testified today to a version of the 9/11 plotline that sounds more
like the Official story than even the official Whitewash Commission
report, this video may have the answer.
In it, NBC news reporter Pete Williams lets slip that Moussaoui is
wearing a "Stun belt" underneath his clothing controlled by US
Marshals. MSNBC host Dan Abrams gets some more details on the stun
belt.A taste of the exchange:


WILLIAMS: The old outbursts were gone... He was very docile today...
We believe that he's wearing one of those stun belts, and it may be that he was very worried about doing anything that would cause those Marshals to press the button....

ABRAMS: A stun belt? They literally have sOmething around his waist?
That they can push a button and?

WILLIAMS: [Pause] Well...





http://www.newswithviews.com/Vieira/edwin32.htm

THE CONSTITUTION LIMITS THE PRESIDENT EVEN AS "COMMANDER IN CHIEF"


Dr. Edwin Vieira, Jr., Ph.D., J.D.
February 20, 2006
NewsWithViews.com

Amidst the flood of propaganda these days on behalf of what must be

the most breathtaking expansion of Presidential power since Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal, especially glaring are the assertions of self-styled "conservative" media personalities that nothing is amiss, because: (i) the President is "Commander in Chief;" (ii) in that capacity he supposedly enjoys "inherent" power to take whatever actions he may deem necessary to protect this country from "terrorism;" (iii) assertion of this Presidential power is especially vital now, with this country engaged in a "war on terror;" and (iv) in any event, Congress has broadly authorized the President to use "force" in "the war on terror." None of these contentions can withstand even cursory scrutiny.


http://prisonplanet.com/articles/march2006/280306Terrorist.htm

Terrorist Surveillance Act Introduced in Senate

A bill recently introduced in the Senate would legalize warrantless
wiretapping at the President's discretion. Senator Mike DeWine (R-OH) introduced the bill, popularly named the Terrorist Surveillance Act of 2006, on March 16, 2006. The bill was co-sponsored by Senators Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Chuck Hagel (R-NE), and Olympia Snowe (R-ME).

According to a press release by Senator DeWine, the bill would allow the President to authorize wiretapping on international communications by American citizens suspected of being affiliated with a terrorist organization. All the President has to have is probable cause and a belief that surveillance of the individual is necessary to protect national security.

[alkemical]

http://today.reuters.com/News/newsArticle.aspx?type=domesticNews&storyID=2006-03-29T204259Z_01_N29303951_RTRUKOC_0_US-CRIME-ABRAMOFF.xml

Disgraced lobbyist Abramoff gets 6 years

MIAMI (Reuters) - Jack Abramoff, the disgraced lobbyist at the heart of a Washington influence-peddling scandal that has rattled top Republicans, was sentenced to nearly six years in prison on Wednesday for fraud in the purchase of a Florida casino cruise line. Abramoff, who is cooperating in a federal investigation into whether Washington politicians gave his clients favorable treatment in exchange for campaign contributions, Super Bowl tickets and other
illegal gifts, was also ordered to pay $21.7 million, together with a co-defendant, in restitution.
"I am much chastened and profoundly remorseful," Abramoff told the Miami court in a brief statement. "I can only hope that the Almighty and those whom I have wronged will forgive me my trespasses."




http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4855210.stm

US envoy 'calls for new Iraqi PM'

The US ambassador to Iraq has told Shia leaders that the US government does not want Ibrahim Jaafari to remain prime minister, senior Shia politicians say.
Zalmay Khalilzad said President George W Bush "doesn't want, doesn't support, doesn't accept" the retention of Mr Jaafari, Rida Jawad al-Takki said.



http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,251-2109824,00.html

US severs all ties with Hamas

The United States cut all diplomatic ties with the newly-sworn in Hamas government this evening as it pushed the Palestinian Authority further towards isolation.

An e-mail was sent to all diplomats and contractors directing them to sever contact with Hamas-appointed government ministers, even those who are not members of the Islamist organisation.

Communication will still be permitted with the office of Mahmoud Abbas, the President, and with non-Hamas members of the Palestinian parliament. The order took effect from 6pm (1600 GMT), when the President began to swear in the new 25-member Cabinet.




http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/3755295.html

DeLay says he sees war on Christianity in U.S.

WASHINGTON - American society looks down on Christianity, U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay asserted Tuesday at a conference of religious conservatives, but God and Jesus Christ have chosen Christians to stand up for faith.

DeLay, who is facing tough times of his own, offered a half-hour speech that was part history lesson and part sermon to a crowd of about 300 gathered at a Washington hotel for a two-day conference titled "The War on Christians and the Values Voter in 2006."


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12047283/

DeLay wants concealed handgun permit back

RICHMOND, Texas - Rep. Tom DeLay is fighting to regain his concealed handgun permit after it was suspended because of his indictment on felony charges.

A justice of the peace suspended DeLay’s license in January after the former majority leader was indicted last year. A judge dismissed a conspiracy charge, but DeLay still faces a felony charge of money laundering.


http://vheadline.com/readnews.asp?id=52038


US Navy prepares aircraft carrier strike group for "major training exercise"

The Virginian-Pilot (Jack Dorsey): The (US) Navy will send an aircraft carrier strike group, with four ships, a 60-plane air wing and 6,500 sailors, to Caribbean and South American waters for a major training exercise, it was announced Monday.

Some defense analysts suggested that the unusual two-month-long deployment, set to begin in early April, could be interpreted as a show of force by anti-American governments in Venezuela and Cuba.

The mission was sought by the US Southern Command, which has its headquarters in Miami and is responsible for all military activities in Latin America south of Mexico.




http://en.rian.ru/russia/20060329/44944345.html

Putin says U.S. hampering Russia's WTO accession

MOSCOW, March 29 (RIA Novosti) - President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday accused the United States of slowing down Russia's accession to the World Trade Organization.

"We have received a list of questions from our American colleagues that require additional agreements that we thought had been settled long ago," Putin told a meeting of top businessmen. "The negotiations process is being artificially set back."

"We are interested in joining [the WTO], but we will take this step if it satisfies all participants in the process, and primarily Russia and the [Russian] economy," he said.

The chief executive of steel giant Severstal, Alexei Mordashev, said Russia needed to join the WTO, but should focus on how to make the most of its prospective membership.

[alkemical]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/drugs/Story/0,,1741038,00.html

Heroin dealer was secret informer for Customs and Excise

Members of an international crime gang were allowed to move to Britain while flooding the country with heroin because their leader had secretly worked as an informer for Customs & Excise, according to evidence brought before an immigration appeals tribunal.
The Baybasin Cartel, a notorious Kurdish gang, is estimated by police to have controlled up to 90% of the heroin which entered the country after its leading members settled in the home counties in the mid-1990s.


http://aangirfan.blogspot.com/2006/03/top-heroin-gang-uk-politicians-uk.html

Top heroin gang; UK politicians; UK customs.

[alkemical]

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=49482

Marchers say gringos,
not illegals, have to go
Activists turn tables, offer no amnesty for 'non-indigenous' on 'our continent'

WASHINGTON – While debates about guest-worker programs for illegal aliens take place in the corridors of power, in the streets of America's big cities no amnesty is being offered by activists calling for the expulsion of most U.S. citizens from their own country.

While politicians debate the fate of some 12 million people residing in the U.S. illegally, the Mexica Movement, one of the organizers of the mass protest in Los Angeles this week, has already decided it is the "non-indigenous," white, English-speaking U.S. citizens of European descent who have to leave what they call "our continent."

[alkemical]

http://www.local6.com/news/8345157/detail.html

School's 'Holocaust' Experiment Upsets Parents

Local 6 News reported that eighth-graders with last names beginning with L through Z at Apopka Memorial Middle School were given yellow five-pointed stars for Holocaust Remembrance Day. Other students were privileged, the report said.

Father John Tinnelly said his son was forced to stand in the back of the classroom and not allowed to sit because he was wearing the yellow star.

"He was forced to go to the back of the lunch line four times by an administrator," Tinnelly said.

Tinnelly said the experiment upset his child.

"He was crying," Tinnelly said. "I said, 'What are you crying about?' He said, 'Daddy, I was a Jew today.'"




http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article354473.ece

The US propaganda machine: Oh, what a lovely war
The Lincoln Group was tasked with presenting the US version of events in Iraq to counter adverse media coverage. Here we present examples of its work, and the reality behind its headlines.



http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2006/03/29/admin-spends-162b-on-p_n_18147.html

Admin. Spends $1.62B On PR, Ads, "Bush Admin.'s Propaganda Effort Is Unprecedented"...

The Bush administration, amid record budget deficits, has been spending huge amounts on advertising and public relations contracts to counter a hostile media environment.

The administration spent $1.62 billion on advertising and public relations contracts over two and a half years. Most of the money was spent by the Defense Department amid its efforts to recruit soldiers for the war in Afghanistan and Iraq.




http://www.mises.org/story/2095

Soda and the Sin Tax
In the intellectual battle for liberty, sometimes it's a good idea to skip the latest high-brow attack on capitalism from the Left or Right and instead poke fun at a ridiculous news article. A recent AP story, "Scientists in food fight over soda," provides a perfect target.

The article begins by informing us of new reports in science journals that "add evidence to the theory that soda and other sugar-sweetened drinks don't just go hand-in-hand with obesity, but actually cause it." The point is important because "proving this would be a scientific leap that could help make the case for higher taxes on soda, restrictions on how and where it is sold — maybe even a surgeon general's warning on labels."

Before continuing, I note with dismay that I am old enough to remember when libertarians and conservatives would object to government interference with tobacco and alcohol by asking, "What next? Will the government start taxing fatty foods and put warning labels on fettuccine alfredo?" I can honestly remember that the proponents of the "serious" regulations dismissed this particularly slippery slope argument as absolutely absurd, that nobody would ever advocate a tax on fatty foods. And yet now, Barry Popkin at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill defends the taxes on soda by pointing out, "We've done it with cigarettes."




http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/03/24/tuttle_centos/

Oklahoma city threatens to call FBI over 'renegade' Linux maker

The heartland turned vicious this week when an Oklahoma town threatened to call in the FBI because its web site was hacked by Linux maker Cent OS. Problem is CentOS didn't hack Tuttle's web site at all. The city's hosting provider had simply botched a web server.

This tale kicked off yesterday when Tuttle's city manager Jerry Taylor fired off an angry message to the CentOS staff. Taylor had popped onto the city's web site and found the standard Apache server configuration boilerplate that appears with a new web server installation. Taylor seemed to confuse this with a potential hack attack on the bustling town's IT infrastructure.

[alkemical]

http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=domesticNews&storyID=2006-03-30T233455Z_01_N30206352_RTRUKOC_0_US-ARMS-USA-NEVADA.xml&archived=False

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon plans to detonate 700 tons of conventional high explosives in Nevada in a June 2 test designed to gauge the effectiveness of weapons against deeply buried targets, officials said on Thursday.
"I don't want to sound glib here, but it's the first time in Nevada that you'll see a mushroom cloud over Las Vegas since we stopped testing nuclear weapons," James Tegnelia, director of the Pentagon's Defense Threat Reduction Agency, told a small group of reporters.

The test, dubbed "Divine Strake," is sponsored by Tegnelia's agency and is set to be conducted at the Energy Department's Nevada Test Site in Nye County, about 65 miles



http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060330/ap_on_re_us/mob_fbi_agent

NEW YORK - A retired FBI agent was indicted on murder charges Thursday for allegedly taking bribes from a mobster to supply him with inside information that led to four underworld slayings in Brooklyn.

R. Lindley DeVecchio, 65, was arrested in a case of "confidential leaks, payoffs and death" dating back two decades, District Attorney Charles Hynes said.

DeVecchio pleaded not guilty and was released on $1 million bail. He did not speak at his arraignment. One of the two alleged mob hitmen behind the slayings was jailed without bail. The other was in Florida, awaiting extradition.




http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/nation/14221712.htm

Abramoff gets 5 years, 10 months

MIAMI -- Jack Abramoff, the once-powerful Washington lobbyist whose downfall has propelled a far-reaching congressional-corruption investigation, was sentenced Wednesday to five years and 10 months in prison for his role in the fraudulent purchase of a fleet of casino cruise boats.

U.S. District Judge Paul Huck sentenced Abramoff, 47, and his former partner, Adam Kidan, 41, to the shortest possible prison terms under sentencing guidelines after prosecutors affirmed that both men have been aiding the ongoing law-enforcement probes and expressed remorse. Abramoff's attorneys said he has reviewed "thousands of documents" in the effort, which could reach members of Congress, congressional staffers and employees of federal agencies, including the Interior Department.



http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?Date=20060331&Category=OPINION02&ArtNo=603310361&SectionCat=&Template=printart

Politics and the seat-belt bill
'Police state' bill

Gov. Ernie Fletcher and Senate President David Williams are only concerned about the $11 million in federal money and not about the well-being of Kentuckians.

The horror stories of near-fatal accidents where seat belts were not used are merely a tactic to justify the passing of their "police state" bill.

There are equally horrific stories to be told about cancer deaths and obesity disabilities, but are they planning any bills that will arrest or fine tobacco users?

Maybe bills that would ticket fast-food patrons?





http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-fin-clarity31.html


Big Brother's on the phone

GPS chips in cell phones can do a heck of a lot more than help 911 workers locate you in an emergency, as Jim Fuentes' son Eric discovered while zooming down a highway at 85 mph.

The elder Fuentes received an SMS "speed alert" on his phone telling him his son was booking it. The same alert was available via an e-mail or on a Web site,


And there's more to this system, known as "Whereabouts, Family Tracking and Navigation" developed by Aurora-based Clarity Communication Systems Inc., a start-up founded by Fuentes and seven other former Lucent wireless software engineers in 1998.

[alkemical]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2006/04/02/paid-200m-us-contract_n_18356.html

Paid $200M, U.S. Contractor Fails To Complete 122 Of 142 Health Clinics In Iraq...

A reconstruction contract for the building of 142 primary health centers across Iraq has run out of money, after two years and roughly $200 million, with no more than 20 clinics now expected to be completed, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says.

The contract, awarded to U.S. construction giant Parsons Inc. in the flush, early days of reconstruction in Iraq, was expected to lay the foundation of a modern health care system for the country, putting quality medical care within reach of all Iraqis.

Parsons, according to the Corps, will walk away from more than 120 clinics that on average are two-thirds finished. Auditors say its failure serves as a warning for other U.S. reconstruction efforts due to be completed this year.




http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/02/AR2006040200749_pf.html

Russians Sense the Heat of Cold War
Intensifying U.S. Criticism of Government and Its Role in Region Provokes Resentment

MOSCOW -- In this city, it's beginning to feel like a new Cold War, driven by what many people here see as an old American impulse: to encircle, weaken or even destroy Russia, just as the country is emerging from post-Soviet ruins as a cohesive, self-confident and global power.

The specter of a U.S. nuclear first strike even resurfaced this month. An article in Foreign Affairs magazine, published by the Council on Foreign Relations, suggested that the United States could hit Russia and China without serious risk of retaliation. That sent heads spinning here with visions of Dr. Strangelove.

"The publication of these ideas in a respectable American journal has had an explosive effect," former Russian prime minister Yegor Gaidar wrote in an article in London's Financial Times newspaper. "Even those Russian journalists and analysts who are not prone to hysteria or anti-Americanism took it as an outline of the official position of the U.S. Administration."



http://www.capitolhillblue.com/blog/2006/03/bush_declares_war_on_freedom_o.html

Using many of the questionable surveillance and monitoring techniques that brought both questions and criticism to his administration, President George W. Bush has launched a war against reporters who write stories unfavorable to his actions and is planning to prosecute journalists to make examples of them in his "war on terrorism."



Bush recently directed Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to use "whatever means at your disposal" to wiretap, follow, harass and investigate journalists who have published stories about the administration's illegal use of warrantless wiretaps, use of faulty intelligence and anything else he deems "detrimental to the war on terror."



http://politicalphysics.com/node/1479

Capitol Hill Blue Served National Security Letter
Submitted by hella troi on Mon, 03/06/2006 - 6:20am.
Doug Thompson of Capitol Hill Blue writes in his "The Rant" section that the Bush Administration, in their persuit of prosecuting reporters for receiving information from whistleblowers, has recently issued hundreds of National Security Letters.

Just how widespread, and uncontrolled, this latest government assault has become hit close to home last week when one of the FBI's National Security Letters arrived at the company that hosts the servers for this web site, Capitol Hill Blue.

The letter demanded traffic data, payment records and other information about the web site along with information on me, the publisher.

Now that's a problem. I own the company that hosts Capitol Hill Blue. So, in effect, the feds want me to turn over information on myself and not tell myself that I'm doing it. You'd think they'd know better.



http://washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/20050324-030452-8400r.htm

U.S. to create a bird flu virus mutation

Atlanta, GA, Mar. 24 (UPI) -- The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has begun a series of experiments to see how likely the bird flu virus could result in a human pandemic.

The six-month series of experiments seeks to simulate the mixing and matching of genes from the H5N1 avian flu virus that has plagued Asia and a common human flu virus that public-health experts fear could turn avian flu into a pandemic, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.





http://tvnewslies.org/blog/?p=343

60 Minutes Reinforces the 9/11 Conspiracy Theory!




http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/april2006/020406Baumgartner.htm

109 Years in Prison Sought for Peaceful Speech in America: The Dr. Elsebeth Baumgartner Case

Dr. Elsebeth Baumgartner, age 50 (as of 2006), is a former attorney and current CEO of Cleveland Genomics, Inc., which provides DNA sequencing services, and has doctorate degrees both in law and in pharmacy. Dr. Baumgartner graduated first in her class from the University of Toledo College of Law. She is a Christian and the mother of two adult daughters by her husband, pharmacist Joseph Baumgartner. She is currently facing criminal charges in the U.S. state of Ohio carrying prison sentences of 66 years and 6 months in one case, and 42 years and 6 months in another case, for peaceful political speech. Currently she is free on bail.






http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060403/ap_on_go_su_co/scotus_enemy_combatant

WASHINGTON - A divided Supreme Court turned back a challenge to the Bush administration's wartime detention powers, rejecting an appeal from U.S. citizen Jose Padilla who until recently had been held as an enemy combatant without traditional legal rights.


http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060402/NEWS24/60402016

Advisory post gave Noe voice in U.S. Mint policy
Coin dealer pushed gold pieces; Treasury Dept. conducts probe

WASHINGTON — In the months before Tom Noe came under scrutiny for his state-funded rare-coin venture, he used a federal appointment to forge relationships with U.S. Mint officials that opened doors for him on Capitol Hill, documents obtained by The Blade show.

And before he was brought down by scandal last year, the coin dealer helped persuade Congress — for the first time in the nation’s history — to authorize the minting of a 24-karat gold coin.




http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/02/washington/02missile.html?ei=5065&en=9db12f766cdead06&ex=1144558800&partner=MYWAY&pagewanted=print

Accountability Office Finds Itself Accused
By WILLIAM J. BROAD
A senior Congressional investigator has accused his agency of covering up a scientific fraud among builders of a $26 billion system meant to shield the nation from nuclear attack. The disputed weapon is the centerpiece of the Bush administration's antimissile plan, which is expected to cost more than $250 billion over the next two decades.



http://www.theledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060401/APN/604010787

Hole discovered drilled into pipe at Miami-Dade nuclear reactor

The Associated Press

FLORIDA CITY, Fla.
Officials conducting a routine inspection of a nuclear reactor at the Turkey Point power plant found a small holed drilled into a pipe that helps maintain pressure, and investigators were trying to determine if the hole was drilled accidentally or deliberately, Florida Power & Light officials said Saturday.


http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/14237872.htm

Wiseguy defendant doubled as FBI snitch
The star defendant in the murder of Konstantinos 'Gus' Boulis had secretly been playing both sides of the law.

At the same time New York mob associate Anthony Moscatiello was allegedly plotting the slaying of a Fort Lauderdale business tycoon, he was also spying on fellow gangsters and snitching to the FBI, The Miami Herald has learned.

Moscatiello -- a former advisor to the late Gambino family crime boss John Gotti -- is the star defendant in the mob-style hit on Konstantinos ''Gus'' Boulis, founder of SunCruz Casinos, a fleet of gambling ships.


"...POWERFUL FRIENDS

In the Boulis case, Moscatiello, 67, is not the only defendant, but he is by far the most infamous. The other two charged in the case -- mob wannabes Anthony ''Little Tony'' Ferrari and James ''Pudgy'' Fiorillo -- don't come with the Gotti glitter.

What's more, Moscatiello is pals with Adam Kidan.

Moscatiello advised him on his Long Island bagel chain long before Kidan teamed up with powerful Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff to buy SunCruz in 2000.

Soon after the deal, Boulis was shot dead in his BMW on a Fort Lauderdale street as he was leaving his office in February 2001. Ferrari, Fiorillo and Moscatiello were arrested Sept. 26, 2005 -- more than four years after Boulis' death.

The three men pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder and other charges.

Neither Kidan nor Abramoff has been charged in connection with his murder...."

[alkemical]

http://www.washington-report.org/archives/March_2006/0603028.html


Lobbyist Jack Abramoff’s “Charity” a Front for Terrorism

THE GUILTY plea of fabulously wealthy and highly corrupt lobbyist Jack Abramoff raised the question of whether he would roll over on congressmen involved in illegal fund-raising and other crimes with him. Some 20 Republicans on Capitol Hill are said to be in danger.

Abramoff’s dense network of illicit finances and phony charities might end some political careers in the United States. But the investigation into his activities by the FBI also shed light on the ways in which right-wing American Jews have often been involved in funding what are essentially terrorist activities by armed land thieves in Palestinian territory.



http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,8122-1596301,00.html

Food wrap linked to prostate cancer
by Jonathan Leake, Science Editor



A CHEMICAL used to make food wrapping and line tin cans could be the cause of surging prostate cancer rates in men, says a study.
Bisphenol A is widely used in the food industry to make polycarbonate drinks bottles and the resins used to line tin cans, even though it is known to leach into food and has long been suspected of disrupting human sex hormones.



The new research suggests the small but constant level of bisphenol A entering people’s diet has a particular impact on pregnant women, disastrously altering the development of unborn baby sons.



http://www.livescience.com/technology/060404_bifocals.html

The Future of Glasses: Electronic Bifocals

throw away those bifocals just yet, but scientists have developed prototype spectacles that change prescriptions with the flick of a switch.

The new glasses could benefit people suffering from presbyopia, a condition in which faraway objects are in focus but those nearby appear blurry.

Presbyopia is a natural, age-associated progressive loss, and scientists estimate that about 90 percent of people over 45 suffer from it.

Many scientists believe presbyopia is caused by reduced elasticity of the eye's lens over time. Eventually the cornea—and other eye muscles that change lens shape to focus—can't overcome the lens' rigidity.



http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12084683/

The mystery of 'The Jesus Papers'
What if everything you think you know about Jesus is wrong? Author Michael Baigent makes controversial assertions in his new book

Michael Baigent is investigating a grisly crime. He’s tracking down leads, digging for clues, and trying to shed new light on a cold case— a case that is 2,000 years old. And this isn’t just any case: It is perhaps, the most well known story in history—the crucifixion of Jesus.

(This is one of the guys that wrote holy blood/holy grail)

http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/april2006/040406mainsuspect.htm

The former head of the Star Wars missile defense program under Presidents Ford and Carter has gone public to say that the official version of 9/11 is a conspiracy theory and his main suspect for the architect of the attack is Vice President Dick Cheney.

Dr. Robert M. Bowman, Lt. Col., USAF, ret. flew 101 combat missions in Vietnam. He is the recipient of the Eisenhower Medal, the George F. Kennan Peace Prize, the President’s Medal of Veterans for Peace, the Society of Military Engineers Gold Medal (twice), six Air Medals, and dozens of other awards and honors. His Ph.D. is in Aeronautics and Nuclear Engineering from Caltech. He chaired 8 major international conferences, and is one of the country’s foremost experts on National Security.

Bowman worked secretly for the US government on the Star Wars project and was the first to coin the very term in a 1977 secret memo. After Bowman realized that the program was only ever intended to be used as an aggressive and not defensive tool, as part of a plan to initiate a nuclear war with the Soviets, he left the program and campaigned against it.




http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4876176.stm

Film-maker's death 'was murder'

James Miller was shot in the neck
The shooting of a British film maker in Gaza was "cold-blooded murder", a security expert has told an inquest.
James Miller, 34, from Devon, was shot by a soldier from the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) while making a film in a Palestinian refugee camp in 2003.



http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060401/ap_on_re_us/attacks911_calls

Tapes Reveal How Operators Handled 9/11

NEW YORK - The instructions to those trapped above where airliners had slammed into the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, sometimes sounded stern, sometimes sympathetic. But the central theme was the same: Stay put.

[alkemical]

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-04-04-house-ethics-panel_x.htm

House ethics panel not investigating DeLay, other lawmakers

WASHINGTON — The House ethics committee, inactive for more than a year because of partisan disputes, has declined to launch investigations of Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Texas, and other lawmakers accused of ethical lapses.
A six-hour meeting Thursday ended in partisan deadlock, according to one Republican and one Democrat familiar with the panel's deliberations. Both declined to be identified because of committee non-disclosure rules. At issue was whether the committee could begin investigations without interfering with ongoing criminal probes.




http://cnn.netscape.cnn.com/news/story.jsp?idq=/ff/story/0001/20060405/0854891626.htm

Powerball Winners Give $6,000 to Homeless



LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) - Three of the meat-processing plant workers who won the largest lottery jackpot in U.S. history dropped in on a homeless shelter with a $6,000 donation for people living there.

Alain Maboussou, Quang Dao and Dung Tran became multimillionaires in February when they and five co-workers won the $365 million Powerball jackpot.

On Tuesday, the three made a surprise visit to People's City Mission and announced the donation, equal to about $40 per person once distributed.

Pastor Tom Barber, who runs the mission, said one of the three had stayed a few nights at the mission before winning the jackpot.

All three men are immigrants. Dao, 56, and Tran, 34, are both refugees from Vietnam who have lived in the United States for over a decade. Maboussou, 26, came to the United States from the Republic of Congo in 1999 to flee civil war there.

``When you're down and out and you're just waiting to get work and waiting for your next paycheck, something like that happens,'' said Sherrie Allen, a resident at the mission.




http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/04/05/pigbook/index.html

'Pig Book' targets government 'pork'

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A watchdog group Wednesday accused Congress of wasting taxpayer dollars to please the people back home, despite the soaring deficit and mounting bills for hurricane damage and the war in Iraq.




http://www.cnn.com/2006/HEALTH/conditions/04/05/bird.flu.cats.ap/index.html

Scientists: Cats might spread bird flu
Researchers suggest cats should stay inside in bird flu areas

NEW YORK (AP) -- People living in areas where bird flu has been found in poultry or wild birds should keep their cats indoors, say scientists who believe the potential role of felines in spreading the virus is being overlooked.

Cats have been known to become infected with the H5N1 virus and lab experiments show they can give it to other cats, although nobody knows whether they can transmit it to people or poultry, the researchers say in Thursday's issue of the journal Nature.



http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-04-05-immigration_x.htm

Bush renews immigration reform push

WASHINGTON (AP) — Conservative Republicans tweaked their alternative to a bipartisan guest worker proposal for illegal immigrants Wednesday as Democrats pressed for a vote that would put most of those in the U.S. illegally on a path to citizenship. President Bush urged swift action.

(why?)

http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/

Fossils discovered in the Arctic region of Canada may be evidence that some fish did evolve into land animals, scientists say. The BBC and NewScientist.com report on the findings.



http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/03/30/NSGB3HTBQ61.DTL&hw=david%20ray%20griffin&sn=001&sc=1000

OUT LOUD AN INSIDE JOB?
David Ray Griffin: Theologian scoffed at 9/11 conspiracy theories, then looked closer



"When asked what the most compelling facts are to make the case that the U.S. government was complicit in the attacks, Griffin names three things. The behavior of Bush at the schoolhouse in Florida ("Secret Service should have whisked him out immediately if we're under attack but he stayed over 30 minutes. ... It's pretty clear evidence that they knew they wouldn't be attacked"), the strange pyrotechnics that brought down the World Trade Center ("fire has never brought down a steel high-rise building") and the poorly planned targeting of the West Wing of the Pentagon ("all the important people are in the East Wing -- it doesn't make any sense"). "



http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/040406J.shtml

Enron's Kazillion Dollar Bash

Former Enron president Jeffrey Skilling and the company's founder Ken Lay will testify in their own defense in a Houston courtroom this week where they've been on trial since January, charged with numerous counts of federal securities fraud, insider trading and conspiracy.

Skilling and Lay have maintained that they were unaware of the Byzantine, off-balance-sheet partnerships that caused Enron to implode in a wave of accounting scandals more than four years ago.

But a 1997 videotape featuring Skilling, Lay and several other former executives of the one-time high-flying energy company seems to suggest otherwise. The videotape was produced as a going-away present for departing executive Rich Kinder.

In the 30-minute tape, Skilling joked about Enron using accounting sleight of hand so the company could earn "a kazillion dollars" in revenue - a joke that turned out to be exactly what the government prosecutors has accused Lay and Skilling of doing during their tenure at Enron.


http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,70524-0.html?tw=wn_story_mailer

A Pretty Good Way to Foil the NSA


How easy is it for the average internet user to make a phone call secure enough to frustrate the NSA's extrajudicial surveillance program?

Wired News took Phil Zimmermann's newest encryption software, Zfone, for a test drive and found it's actually quite easy, even if the program is still in beta.

Zimmermann, the man who released the PGP e-mail encryption program to the world in 1991 -- only to face an abortive criminal prosecution from the government -- has been trying for 10 years to give the world easy-to-use software to cloak internet phone calls.




http://www.rense.com/general70/delay.htm

DeLay Implicated In FL
Gangland Casino
Boat Owner Hit


By Wayne Madsen
4-4-6

DeLay implicated in Florida gangland hit of casino boats owner. Former GOP Majority Leader Tom DeLay's surprise announcement that he will resign from Congress in a few weeks and not stand for re-election after winning the GOP primary in his Houston area district came after a bombshell was dropped in the Broward County, Florida trial of former John Gotti hit man Anthony "Big Tony" Moscatiello for the February 2001 gangland slaying of Sun Cruz casino boat owner Konstantinos "Gus" Boulis. Moscatiello is on trial with Anthony "Little Tony" Ferrari and James "Pudgy" Fiorillo in the murder of Boulis.





http://www.madcowprod.com/06202005.html

The 'secret world' of Jack Abramoff being probed by investigators today has definite connections and unmistakable links to the one inhabited during their final year in the U.S by Mohamed Atta and the other hijackers.

So as the scandal embroiling House Major Domo Tom Delay and Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff grows hotter, there may be new revelations about the 9.11 attack.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2006/04/05/delays-legacy-abuse-o_n_18509.html

DeLay's Legacy... Abuse Of Power, Strong Arm Tactics, Broken House Rules, Pay-To-Play Politics....

Under siege from state and federal probes into his actions and those of his closest aides and advisers, Rep. Tom DeLay had considered resigning on several occasions over the past four months. But he waited until after he had vanquished his challengers in the Republican primary to deny them the chance to become his successor, associates said.

DeLay's decision was also provoked by recent poll results that showed he faced a stiff challenge in November, the associates said.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2006/04/05/bush-slashes-richest-amer_n_18522.html

Bush Slashes Richest Americans' Taxes, Make $26M, Pay Same Rate As Those Making $200,000...

The first data to document the effect of President Bush's tax cuts for investment income show that they have significantly lowered the tax burden on the richest Americans, reducing taxes on incomes of more than $10 million by an average of about $500,000.

An analysis of Internal Revenue Service data by The New York Times found that the benefit of the lower taxes on investments was far more concentrated on the very wealthiest Americans than the benefits of Mr. Bush's two previous tax cuts: on wages and other noninvestment income.



http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/health/2006-04-04-mass-health-usat_x.htm

Mass. residents face required coverage

Residents of Massachusetts will be the first in the nation required to carry health insurance, just as motorists in many states are required to carry auto insurance.
After months of debate, state lawmakers approved a bill Tuesday that requires individuals to have coverage and tacks a $295 per worker annual assessment on employers who don't provide it, with the aim of reducing the state's 550,000 uninsured to near zero within three years.

The bill goes to Republican Gov. Mitt Romney. He's expected to sign it because he proposed such a measure last summer. "It's about 95% of what I wanted," he said. "We'll be the only state in America where every citizen has health insurance."

[alkemical]

http://cnn.netscape.cnn.com/news/story.jsp?idq=/ff/story/0002/20060405/0922892435.htm

Jesus may have walked on ice?
By Jim Loney


MIAMI (Reuters) - The New Testament says that Jesus walked on water, but a Florida university professor believes there could be a less miraculous explanation -- he walked on a floating piece of ice.

Professor Doron Nof also theorized in the early 1990s that Moses's parting of the Red Sea had solid science behind it.

Nof, a professor of oceanography at Florida State University, said on Tuesday that his study found an unusual combination of water and atmospheric conditions in what is now northern Israel could have led to ice formation on the Sea of Galilee.



http://georgewashington.blogspot.com/2006/04/911-7-man-job.html

9/11: a 7-Man Job
A common objection to the argument that 9/11 was an inside job is that the conspiracy would be too big to keep quiet. In other words, the argument is that it is impossible that so many people could have kept quiet for so long. SOMEONE would have talked or made a mistake, so that the conspiracy would have been discovered.




http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/77_TV_stations_aired_fake_news_0405.html

77 TV stations aired 'fake news reports'
A study by a group that monitors the media reveals that, over a ten month span, 77 television stations from all across the nation aired video news releases without informing their viewers even once that the reports were actually sponsored content, RAW STORY has found.



http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/Exclusive_Judge_finally_calls_end_to_0405.html

Exclusive: Judge finally calls end to inquiry into Clinton Administration official Cisneros

The longest-running independent counsel investigation in history -- focused on a former Clinton Administration official -- will finally come to an end, RAW STORY has learned, after a D.C. judge shot down an appeal to extend the probe last week.

The prosecutor, David Barrett, has been pursuing the case of former Clinton Administration Housing Secretary Henry G. Cisneros for ten years. His appeal appeal to extend his inquiry, which Congress okayed shutting down in January, was shot down by a D.C. judge Mar. 31.

Barrett was investigating whether Mr. Cisneros evaded paying income taxes and lied to FBI investigators during background checks. He was appointed by Clinton Attorney General Janet Reno in 1995.




http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/04/AR2006040400513.html

DeLay Departing on Own Terms
First, Congressman Wanted To Defeat GOP Challengers

By R. Jeffrey Smith and Jonathan Weisman
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, April 5, 2006; Page A01

Under siege from state and federal probes into his actions and those of his closest aides and advisers, Rep. Tom DeLay had considered resigning on several occasions over the past four months. But he waited until after he had vanquished his challengers in the Republican primary to deny them the chance to become his successor, associates said.


(No doubt you’ve heard about this, but here’s another interesting fact: "Under federal campaign rules, any reelection money a lawmaker raises can be used to pay legal fees stemming from official duties.")




http://today.reuters.com/news/newsarticle.aspx?type=domesticNews&storyid=2006-04-03T152029Z_01_N31349215_RTRUKOC_0_US-CRIME-NEWJERSEY.xml&rpc=22

Big Brother cleans up crime in New Jersey town
Mon Apr 3, 2006 11:21 AM ET

EAST ORANGE, New Jersey (Reuters) - Lenox Avenue in suburban East Orange was long a hotbed of drugs and gun mayhem and one of New Jersey's toughest streets. But Big Brother has cleaned it up.

Police here say that thanks to new technology there has not been a single violent crime in almost a year on a street where the notorious Bloods gang sold $10 hits of crack cocaine and drive-by shootings were once commonplace.

Now high-tech cameras and gunshot sensors are mounted at each end of Lenox Avenue, and on many other East Orange streets. The residential avenue of mainly multifamily homes is blocked from traffic and, with the exception of the 24-hour police presence, it looks as tranquil as most New Jersey suburbs.





http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060405/od_nm/clash_dc;_ylt=Aqe8Wt4E2Q0PPx8dHpKLhkqs0NUE;_ylu=X3 oDMTA3NW1oMDRpBHNlYwM3NTc-

Man held as terrorism suspect over punk song

LONDON (Reuters) - British anti-terrorism detectives escorted a man from a plane after a taxi driver had earlier become suspicious when he started singing along to a track by punk band The Clash, police said Wednesday.



Detectives halted the London-bound flight at Durham Tees Valley Airport in northern England and Harraj Mann, 24, was taken off.

The taxi driver had become worried on the way to the airport because Mann had been singing along to The Clash's 1979 anthem "London Calling," which features the lyrics "Now war is declared -- and battle come down" while other lines warn of a "meltdown expected."

Mann told British newspapers the taxi had been fitted with a music system which allowed him to plug in his MP3 player and he had been playing The Clash, Procol Harum, Led Zeppelin and the Beatles to the driver.

"He didn't like Led Zeppelin or The Clash but I don't think there was any need to tell the police," Mann told the Daily Mirror.

[alkemical]

http://cnn.netscape.cnn.com/news/story.jsp?idq=/ff/story/0001%2F20060407%2F1903166375.htm&sc=1120

Pa. Judge Won't Let 'God' Sign License

READING, Pa. (AP) - Regardless of how he had signed a stack of other documents, from bank records to income tax returns, a judge rejected a man's request to be allowed to legally sign his driver's license as ``God.''
Berks County Senior Judge Forrest G. Schaeffer ruled Thursday that the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation could require the man to sign his given name, Paul S. Sewell, and said documents he had signed in the past didn't prove differently. ``The so-called name you want to apply is rather a series of scribbled marks and don't establish any name at all,'' Schaeffer said. Sewell, 40, said he would appeal. Sewell said he is a self-employed bond enforcement agent and began using the signature because fugitives always prefaced their comments with, ``Oh, God,'' when he captured them.


http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/04/10/ferrari.crash.ap/index.html

Entrepreneur involved in Enzo Ferrari crash arrested

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- The Swedish video game entrepreneur involved in the 162-mph crash of a rare Ferrari has been arrested on suspicion of grand theft, officials said. Detectives concluded that the wrecked Enzo Ferrari -- one of only 400 made -- along with a Mercedes and another Enzo Ferrari in Stefan Eriksson's collection were actually owned by British financial institutions, said sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore. Eriksson apparently brought the cars to Los Angeles when he moved from Britain last year, but the financial institutions that held the titles said his payments had lapsed. Authorities have said the $600,000 Mercedes had been reported to London's Scotland Yard. The Ferrari was worth more than $1 million. All three cars have been confiscated, and Eriksson, 44, was arrested at his Bel-Air home Saturday, Whitmore said.



http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-christians10apr10,0,6204444.story?coll=la-home-headlines

Christians Sue for Right Not to Tolerate Policies
Many codes intended to protect gays from harassment are illegal, conservatives argue.

ATLANTA — Ruth Malhotra went to court last month for the right to be intolerant.

Malhotra says her Christian faith compels her to speak out against homosexuality. But the Georgia Institute of Technology,

where she's a senior, bans speech that puts down others because of their sexual orientation.


Malhotra sees that as an unacceptable infringement on her right to religious expression. So she's demanding that Georgia Tech

revoke its tolerance policy.



http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_16/b3980051.htm

Companies In The Crossfire
The politically passionate are taking aim at businesses they see as repugnant. Red or blue, they can be a PR nightmare




http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/health/healthmain.html?in_article_id=382716&in_page_id=1774

Drug firms 'hype up diseases to boost sales'

Drug companies are inventing diseases to sell more of their products, it has been claimed. Scientists have accused major

pharmaceutical firms of "medicalising" problems like high cholesterol or the symptoms of the menopause in a bid to increase

profits.
Experts from around the world will meet in Australia today to discuss what they have labelled "disease-mongering".

The group, which includes experts from Britain, will gather in Newcastle, New South Wales, where researchers have been

examining the issue. David Henry and Ray Moynihan, of Newcastle University, claim the industry is exaggerating conditions and

turning them into something more serious.



http://www.wired.com/news/politics/lifescience/0,70613-0.html?tw=rss.index

Getting Evolution Up to Speed

New evidence suggests humans are evolving more rapidly -- and more recently -- than most people thought possible. But for

some radical evolutionists, Homo sapiens isn't morphing quickly enough.

"People like to think of modern human biology, and especially mental biology, as being the result of selections that took

place 100,000 years ago," said University of Chicago geneticist Bruce Lahn. "But our research shows that humans are still

under selection, not just for things like disease resistance but for cognitive abilities."




http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=42112

Rumsfeld says 9-11 plane 'shot down' in Pennsylvania
During surprise Christmas Eve trip, defense secretary contradicts official story

WASHINGTON – Ever since Sept. 11, 2001, there have been questions about Flight 93, the ill-fated plane that crashed in the

rural fields of Pennsylvania.

The official story has been that passengers on the United Airlines flight rushed the hijackers in an effort to prevent them

from crashing the plane into a strategic target – possibly the U.S. Capitol.

During his surprise Christmas Eve trip to Iraq, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld referred to the flight being shot down –

long a suspicion because of the danger the flight posed to Washington landmarks and population centers.




http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2006/April/middleeast_April291.xml&section=middleeast&col=

Riyadh seeks Russian help to prevent US strike on Iran


RIYADH - Saudi Arabia, fearing that US military action against Iran would wreak further havoc in the region, has asked Russia

to block any bid by Washington to secure UN cover for an attack, a Russian diplomat said on Tuesday.


During a visit to Moscow last week, the head of the Saudi National Security Council “urged Russia to strive to prevent the

adoption of a UN Security Council resolution which the United States could use as justification to launch a military assault

to knock out Iran’s nuclear facilities,” the diplomat told AFP in Riyadh on condition of anonymity.




http://www.indybay.org/news/2006/04/1814452.php

thirteen families effectively control the central banks

thirteen families effectively control the central banks of all the hard-currency countries. These "control banks" all

practice FRACTIONAL RESERVE BANKING, which is perfectly legal in the US. Fractional reserve banking means that the bank is

only required to hold on hand the small fraction of money (5%) that is needed to cover the fraction of deposits likely to be

drawn upon and cashed. Moneys deposited in accounts go into a reserve upon which credit can be issued. In the US credit can

be issued to seven times the reserve, in international banks (off shore establishments) twenty times the reserve can be

issued as credit. It is imp[ortant to understand this concept in order to understand the larger picture.



http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/4/8/14724/28476

All About NSA's and AT&T's Big Brother Machine, the Narus 6400

Earlier today we found out that the EFF had sued AT&T over their secret work with the NSA on surveillance of millions of US

citizens without wiretaps. We learned that paragraph 65 of this complaint shows EFF is trying to turn it into a nationwide

Class Action suit covering all current and former customers (any after 9/2001) of AT&T. And we learned that a retired AT&T

technician had stepped forward and disclosed the installation of secret NSA spy equipment in the San Francisco trunk

facility. As well as the belief that similar equipment is in place in Seattle, San Jose, Los Angeles and San Diego.

Specifically, this equipment was the Narus ST-6400, a machine that was capable of monitoring over 622 Mbits/second in real

time in May, 2000, and capturing anything that hits its' semantic (i.e. the meaning of the content) triggers. The latest

generation is called NarusInsight, capable of monitoring 10 billion bits of data per second.

Follow me over the jump and let's learn some more about the private company Narus, it's founder Ovi Cohen, and board member

Bill Crowell. Shall we?




http://www.dailytelegraph.news.com.au/story/0,20281,18761160-5001027,00.html

First Knights Templar are discovered


April 10, 2006

LONDON: The first bodies of the Knights Templar, the mysterious religious order at the heart of The Da Vinci Code, have been found by archaeologists near the River Jordan in northern Israel.


http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread79655/pg1

Evidence That A Boeing 757 Really Did Impact the Pentagon on 9/11

I've decided the best way to do this is to state the evidence, and facts, and come to a conclusion. Everything I list here as

evidence includes links to sources, names of individuals, and notes if I have added any comments or visual aids to any photos.

I may repeat some information and images in this post (from images and information previously posted), and I apologize for the length of the information, and for the size of some of the photos, but I can see no other way to provide the information without losing clarity and quality and most importantly accuracy. It is apparent that without the entire collection of evidence people quickly forget something outlined on a previous post. I will freely admit in this post that I was incorrect on some facts in my previous posts, and I will correct these mistakes here. I will also try to link every image to its original source, unless it is an image I have added comments or visual aids to.




http://news.yahoo.com/s/wjxt/20060406/lo_wjxt/3379371

Local Teacher's Run-In With Homeland Security Creates Insecurities

A local school employee said a rough run-in with a couple of Homeland Security officers has left him with a strong sense of insecurity

However, Tuesday afternoon Pickett's niceness turned to anger, disappointment, and betrayal when, as Pickett was directing

bus traffic, he said he was handcuffed and roughed up and humiliated by the very people that were supposed to protect him.

"I walked up to him and said, 'Sir, you need to move.' That's when he said 'I'm a police officer. I'm with Homeland Security

... I'll move it when I want to.' That's when he started grabbing me on my arm," Pickett said.

However, Homeland Security tells a different story.

The department said the only reason the officers were at the school was because they pulled over to look at a map.




http://www.worldtribune.com/worldtribune/06/front2453832.0965277776.html

China has U.S. anti-missile tech, via transfer from Israel

China has developed its own version of the Patriot anti-missile system, according to a Chinese-owned Hong Kong newspaper. The ground-to-air guided missile system is part of China's air shield that is similar to U.S. Patriot missiles, the March 29 Wen Wei Po reported. China covertly obtained Patriot anti-missile system technology from Israel during the 1990s, according to U.S. officials. U.S. intelligence agencies discovered the Israel-China Patriot technology transfer in March 1993.The transfers came from U.S.-made Patriots sent to Israel to counter Iraqi missile attacks during the Persian Gulf war. The report described the system's command and control system, vehicles and interceptors. In 1993, then-CIA Director Robert Gates told The Washington Times, “There is some indication that they [the Chinese] have some of the technology.”

[alkemical]

http://wakeupfromyourslumber.blogspot.com/2006/04/white-house-demands-media-correct.html

White House Demands Media 'Correct' Itself

The White House is fumbling over today's report that it knew there were no WMD's before Bush made his fateful speech.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan called the account "reckless reporting" and said Bush made his statement based on the intelligence assessment of the CIA and the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), an arm of the Pentagon.

* * *

A U.S. intelligence official, speaking to Reuters on condition of anonymity, confirmed the existence of the field report cited by the Post, but said it was a preliminary finding that had to be evaluated.




http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_allen_l__060412_cheney_s_secret_iran.htm

CHENEY'S SECRET IRAN OPERATING GROUP
The real objective of OSP was to justify a war with Iraq which is most likely the case with ISOG


The Office of Special Plans ( OSP ) fed tainted intelligence directly to Dick Cheney in the run up to the war with Iraq with the objective of regime change.

The Iran-Syria Operations Group (ISOG), has been set up by Dick Cheney's daughter with the same objective of regime change in Iran ~ with a direct line to Dick Cheney.

The real objective of OSP was to justify a war with Iraq which is most likely the case with ISOG.

Are there any doubts as to who is running this country and who George Bush answers to. The Center for American Progress filed this revealing memo today.

Allen L Roland





http://www.thinkprogress.org/leak-scandal

23 Administration Officials Involved In Plame Leak
The cast of administration characters with known connections to the outing of an undercover CIA agent:




http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2006/4/10/171535.shtml?s=ic

NSA Can 'Vacuum' Emails Across Internet

The National Security Agency has the means to "vacuum” all e-mails and other data crossing the Internet, a former AT&T employee familiar with the technology reveals.

The disclosures of Mark Klein, who worked for AT&T for more than 22 years, come in connection with a class-action lawsuit filed in January by the Electronic Frontier Foundation. It accuses the telecom giant of violating the law and the privacy of its customers by collaborating with the NSA in its program to wiretap Americans' communications.



http://www.unknownnews.org/0604110406eavesdropping.html

New technology allows advertisers to listen in on conversations

Media companies have long searched, with mixed results, for proof that advertising works. Some high-tech help may be on the way.

A number of established audience-measurement companies and industry newcomers are developing tools to better gauge the connection between media exposure

and consumer behavior. The audience-measurement job is more complicated these days because of an explosion of media offerings in and outside the home.

A dark horse in the race is Integrated Media Measurement Inc., a start-up led by some prominent technology entrepreneurs that is using specially adapted cellphones to measure what consumers listen to and see. The company has developed software that helps the phones take samples of nearby sounds, which are identified by comparing them against a database.




http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002314713

A U.S. 'Propaganda' Program, al-Zarqawi, and 'The New York Times'

By Greg Mitchell

Published: April 10, 2006 3:00 PM ET

NEW YORK Midway through Thomas Ricks’ Washington Post scoop on Monday detailing a U.S. military “propaganda program” aimed at convincing Iraqis that Abu Musab al-Zarqawi has a very prominent role in directing violence in that country, there is one specific tip on how the plan may have also targeted American reporters and audiences.

Ricks found that one “selective leak”--about a recently discovered letter written by Zarqawi--was handed by the military to Dexter Filkins, the longtime New York Times reporter in Baghdad. Filkins's resulting article, about the Zarqawi letter boasting of foreigners' role in suicide attacks in Iraq, ran on the front page of the Times on Feb. 9, 2004.




http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,189755,00.html

What is Laughter, and Why Do We Do It?

Whether it’s the giggling of your child or the enthusiastic hollers of a talk show’s studio audience, we hear laughter every day.

Nothing could be more common. But just because it’s common doesn’t make laughter any less strange.

For instance, the next time you’re at the movies enjoying some comedy blockbuster, listen hard to the laughter around you. Why are all these strangers, in unison, exploding into such weird, gasping, grunting noises? Their laughs may suddenly stop seeming familiar, and more like the inhuman chatter of birds or the screeches of monkeys at the zoo.

Once you start looking at laughter as behavior, it can lead to some odd questions. Why do we do it? Do animals laugh? And why do we expect that any decent James Bond villain will cackle diabolically when revealing his plan for world domination? What’s so funny?



http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,190566,00.html

Media Exposure Linked to Child, Teen Health, Behavior Problems

TV, movies, video games, and Internet use have serious consequences for children's health, according to a wide-ranging series of studies published in the April issue of Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine.


http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,190565,00.html

Sesame Street Releases Infant Videos

NEW YORK — The creators of "Sesame Street" released a new line of videos Tuesday targeted for children as young as six months, outraging some child-development experts who feel no form of TV or video is suitable for kids under 2.



http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=49697

Bill to restrict grass-roots activism?
Pro-life advocate sees proposal as attempt to limit contact with lawmakers

A bill that some activist organizations say would inhibit the right of ordinary Americans to petition their representatives in Congress is making its way through the legislative process in Washington, D.C.

The Legislative Transparency and Accountability Act of 2006, S.2349, passed the Senate 90-8, and a House version of the bill could come up for a vote in two weeks, Douglas Johnson, legislative director of National Right to Life, told LifeSiteNews.

The bill "would regulate for the first time grass-roots activism," Johnson told the newssite. The legislation defines "grass-roots lobbying" as "the voluntary efforts of members of the general public to communicate their own views on an issue to federal officials or to encourage other members of the general public to do the same."



http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2006/4/11/124637.shtml?s=lh

Did the U.S. Save Osama bin Laden?

Although the Dubai ports controversy may be disappearing, questions linger about the role high-ranking United Arab Emirates officials played in supporting Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida in the years leading up to Sept. 11.



In fact, some U.S. government reports suggest that the United States lost a clear opportunity to kill bin Laden because he was too close to U.A.E. officials traveling in his entourage – officials Clinton security adviser Richard Clarke may have thought were too important to harm.

[alkemical]

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-04-12-term-limits_x.htm

Term-limit pledges get left behind
WASHINGTON — Jeff Flake pledged during his first campaign for Congress in 2000 that if elected, he would serve three two-year terms. But the Arizona Republican is running again to keep his seat in the House of Representatives.
"It was a mistake to limit my own terms," says Flake, a conservative who has challenged Republican leaders on federal spending. He says the once-fashionable movement to limit terms in Congress has "just petered out."



http://www.cnn.com/2006/TRAVEL/04/13/transport.amtrak.reut/index.html


Amtrak, freight rail disrupted on East Coast

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- Passenger and freight rail service was disrupted Wednesday along a busy route on the East Coast of the United States when a defect in a bridge over a river was discovered and required immediate repairs.

About 50 passenger and freight trains pass daily over the bridge which is near Rocky Mount, North Carolina, according to CSX Corp., owner of the rail line.

The company said it hoped to complete repairs in the next 24 hours but it could take longer.

"We are working to re-route trains," said CSX spokeswoman Meg Scheu. "We have held some freight trains, but are working to re-route others."



http://gazette.com/display.php?id=1316442&secid=2%20%3Chttp://gazette.com/display.php?id=1316442&secid=2%3E%20http://news.google.com/news?q=Cyber%20Defense%20Exercise

WAR GAMES

E-mail messages peppered Air Force Academy computers like rapid-fire artillery Wednesday.
The blasts were sent from National Security Agency headquarters in Fort Meade, Md., leaving a group of nine Air Force Academy cadets reeling from the attack on their computer network in an Internet version of a war game.

The cadets’ best-laid plans fell apart hard as the nation’s electronic spying agency attacked in an exercise designed to teach service academy cadets how to protect America’s electronic lifelines.

(Hmmm, muslim hackers messages on battleships.... or us wargames?)


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3544032.stm

US man made hoax execution video

A man from San Francisco has admitted staging a hoax video that appeared to show him being beheaded in Iraq.
Benjamin Vanderford from San Francisco said he made the tape months ago as part of his campaign for local office, Associated Press news agency reports.




http://wakeupfromyourslumber.blogspot.com/2006/04/11-us-banks-sued-over-naked-short.html

A firm on Wednesday filed an antitrust lawsuit against 11 major U.S. broker-dealers, accusing them of colluding over six years to collect unearned fees as a result of a "naked short selling" practice. . . .
[The usual suspects] include the broker-dealer units of Bank of America, Bank of New York, Bear Stearns, Citigroup, Credit Suisse Group, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs Group, Lehman Brothers Holdings, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley and UBS AG.

Short-selling involves a bet that a company's stock will fall. Typically, an investor sells borrowed stock, and hopes to buy it back at a lower price to replenish the lender.




http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060413/tc_nm/outsourcing_dc

Outsourcing saves less than claimed

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Outsourcing of information technology and business services delivers average cost savings of 15 percent, a survey found on Thursday, disproving market claims that outsourcing can reduce costs by over 60 percent.





http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/fakealqaeda.html

The Phony (Mossad) Al Qaeda Cell in Palestine



http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2006/04/12/the_al_qaeda_myth.php

The Al Qaeda Myth

We now know that Al Qaeda had nothing to do with the London bombings in July 2005. This is the conclusion of the British government's official inquiry report leaked to the British press on April 9.

We now also know that the U.S. military is deliberately misleading Iraqis, Americans and the rest of the world about the extent of Al Qaeda's involvement in the Iraqi insurgency. This was reported in The Washington Post on April 10, on the basis of internal military documents seen by that newspaper.

What do these revelations tell us about the arguments of President George W. Bush and Prime Minister Blair that in Al Qaeda the "Free World" faces a threat comparable to that of the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany, a world-wide terrorist network which seeks to build a radical Islamist empire over half the world?



http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/10/04/wirq04.xml

How US fuelled myth of Zarqawi the mastermind

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the terrorist leader believed to be responsible for the abduction of Kenneth Bigley, is 'more myth than man', according to American military intelligence agents in Iraq.

Several sources said the importance of Zarqawi, blamed for many of the most spectacular acts of violence in Iraq, has been exaggerated by flawed intelligence and the Bush administration's desire to find "a villain" for the post-invasion mayhem.



http://www.freepress.org/departments/display/19/2006/1909

Shocking Diebold conflict of interest revelations from Secretary of State further taint Ohio's electoral credibility

Ohio is reeling with a mixture of outrage and hilarity as Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell has revealed that he has owned stock in the Diebold voting machine company, to which Blackwell tried to award unbid contracts worth millions while allowing its operators to steal Ohio elections. A top Republican election official also says a Diebold operative told him he made a $50,000 donation to Blackwell's "political interests."

A veritable army of attorneys on all sides of Ohio's political spectrum will soon report whether Blackwell has violated the law. But in any event, the revelations could have a huge impact on the state whose dubiously counted electoral votes gave George W. Bush a second term. Diebold was the vendor in three Ohio counties in 2004. Because of Blackwell's effort, 41 counties used Diebold machines in Ohio's highly dubious 2005 election, and now 47 counties will use Diebold touchscreen voting machines in the May 2006 primary, and in the fall election that will decide who will be the state's new governor.



http://www.shreveporttimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060413/NEWS01/604130329/1002

Levees to cost less, but Washington commits to only half

WASHINGTON -- It will cost much less than anticipated to fix Louisiana's smashed levees, the federal official in charge of hurricane response said Wednesday. But he added that the Bush administration is not willing to pay the entire cost.

Federal hurricane response coordinator Donald Powell said fixing the levees to withstand a flood so severe it would occur no more than once every 100 years would cost $4.1 billion. That's on top of the $3.5 billion the administration already plans to spend.



http://news.yahoo.com/s/usatoday/termlimitpledgesgetleftbehind

Term-limit pledges get left behind

Jeff Flake pledged during his first campaign for Congress in 2000 that if elected, he would serve three two-year terms. But the Arizona Republican is running again to keep his seat in the House of Representatives.



It was a mistake to limit my own terms," says Flake, a conservative who has challenged Republican leaders on federal spending. He says the once-fashionable movement to limit terms in Congress has "just petered out."




http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12290187/site/newsweek/

America’s Secret Police?
Intelligence experts warn that a proposal to merge two Pentagon intelligence units could create an ominous new agency

April 12, 2006 - A threatened turf grab by a controversial Pentagon intelligence unit is causing concern among both privacy experts and some of the Defense Department’s own personnel.

An informal panel of senior Pentagon officials has been holding a series of unannounced private meetings during the past several weeks about how to proceed with a possible merger between the Counterintelligence Field Activity (CIFA), a post-9/11 Pentagon creation that has been accused of domestic spying, and the Defense Security Service (DSS), a well-established older agency responsible for inspecting the security arrangements of defense contractors. DSS also maintains millions of confidential files containing the results of background investigations on defense contractors’ employees.




http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/science/04/12/fossil.evolution.ap/index.html

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The latest fossil unearthed from a human ancestral hot spot in Africa allows scientists to link together the most complete chain of human evolution so far.

The 4.2 million-year-old fossil discovered in northeastern Ethiopia helps scientists fill in the gaps of how human ancestors made the giant leap from one species to another.

That's because the newest fossil, the species Australopithecus anamensis, was found in the region of the Middle Awash -- where seven other human-like species spanning nearly 6 million years and three major phases of human development were previously discovered.



http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/zarqawi_woodenleg.html

Despite fighting in the CIA-backed war against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan, [al-Zarqawi] does not adhere to the ideology of al-Qaeda, a view shared by the CIA. Indeed, his name does not figure on its list of the 22 most wanted Islamic terrorists and he has never been mentioned in the list of senior al-Qaeda men in bin Laden's entourage in Afghanistan. [Guardian - 2/2/03]



http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/goldstein.html

Is 'Al Qaeda' the Modern Incarnation of 'Emmanuel Goldstein'?




http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/11/AR2006041101397.html

At Homeland Security, No Money Left Behind

The program lists high-level speakers from the Department of Homeland Security and the military, and the list of participants includes the departments of State, Energy, Agriculture, Transportation, Justice, Commerce, and Housing and Urban Development; a bunch of embassies; and every law enforcement agency from the Secret Service to the Loudoun County sheriff. And they all seem to be flush with cash.

"We're going to spend money!" George Foresman, the homeland undersecretary for preparedness, said when asked at a session yesterday about his "budget priorities."
"Well, good!" responded the moderator.

Foresman elaborated on his little quip: "We're making sure we push the dollars out the door under a consolidated approach."



http://www.humaneventsonline.com/article.php?id=13885

The 10 Most Harmful Government Programs

[Odysseus]

If indeed the Democrats and the Republicans are in disarray or lacking leadership why has no suitable third party candidate or party made any noise in over 5 years? I think this raises a reason for paranoia. Did we suddenly run out of ideas or people to represent them? :wiggle:

[baja]

bump

[alkemical]

If indeed the Democrats and the Republicans are in disarray or lacking leadership why has no suitable third party candidate or party made any noise in over 5 years? I think this raises a reason for paranoia. Did we suddenly run out of ideas or people to represent them? :wiggle:


Well in this thread, they are looking to now change finance laws to where a third party would have to get 20% of a vote.......

[alkemical]

"If it is necessary, omit one bridge over the river, go round a little there, and throw one arch at least over the darker gulf of ignorance which surrounds us." ~ Henry David Thoreau




For the weekend, i will hold my news stories till next week. If you wish to find your own news, or wish to go to some of my sources:

www.strike-the-root.com

www.whatreallyhappened.com



Zen of the day:

[alkemical]

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20060415/D8H0NSH80.html

Opus Dei Asks for 'Da Vinci' Disclaimer

ROME (AP) - The conservative religious group Opus Dei has asked for a disclaimer on the upcoming film based on the best-selling novel "The Da Vinci Code."

Opus Dei, portrayed as a murderous, power-hungry sect in the novel by Dan Brown, wrote in an April 6 letter to Sony Corp. (SNE) that a disclaimer would show respect to Jesus and to the Catholic Church.

"Any such decision by Sony would be a gesture of respect toward the figure of Jesus, to the history of the Church and to the religious beliefs of viewers," Opus Dei wrote in the letter, which was posted on its Italian Web site.

"The Da Vinci Code" contends that Jesus married Mary Magdalene and had descendants, and that Opus Dei and the Catholic Church were at the center of a cover up.

A spokesman for Sony Pictures Entertainment declined to say whether the film would bear a disclaimer.

"We have no plans to reveal any details regarding what is or isn't in the film until the release," the spokesman, Jim Kennedy, said in a statement. Kennedy's statement said the film was "a work of fiction, and at its heart, it's a thriller, not a religious tract."



http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=NIEU4QILRI1VVQFIQMGCFFOAVCBQ UIV0?xml=/news/2006/04/06/wlie06.xml


Airline passengers face lie detector tests


Millions of airline passengers travelling through Russia will soon have to take a lie detector test as part of new security measures.

The technology, to be introduced at Moscow's Domodedovo airport as early as July, is intended to identify terrorists and drug smugglers. If successful, it could revolutionise check-ins.


Passengers will pick up the handset of a "truth verifier" machine while they are asked questions. Apparently the machine, developed by an Israeli company, can even establish whether answers come from the memory or the imagination.

The technology is being used by some insurance companies in Britain to screen telephone claims for fraud.

"We know that this could be uncomfortable for some passengers but it is a necessary step," said Vladimir Kornilov, the IT director for East Line, which operates the airport.



http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_politics_100010_15/04/2006_68695

Experts in awe of antiquity stash
The massive collection of illegal antiquities uncovered by authorities on the tiny Aegean island of Schinoussa is unique and probably the largest ever seen in Greece, police told Kathimerini yesterday.

Policemen and archaeologists were still combing through artifacts at the villa of an unnamed woman from a wealthy shipping family. The raid came after a search of her home in Athens, where more antiquities were found.

“I have never seen such unique items before in my life. I do not think I will ever handle such a big case again during my career,” an officer from the Antiquities Department of the Attica Police, who preferred not to be named, told Kathimerini.

Among the most impressive items found on Schinoussa, south of Naxos, was a completely rebuilt ancient temple. The temple, made using artifacts from various eras, covers an area of some 30 square meters. A Byzantine icon was found inside the temple.



http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/space/04/17/spacecraft.mishap.ap/index.html

NASA keeps quiet on mission mishap

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- Saying the information is too sensitive, NASA announced Friday that it will not release its report on the failed rendezvous of two spacecraft in what would have been the first such maneuver without human intervention.

NASA plans to release a summary of why the DART spacecraft did not complete its mission last year, but the full 70-page document contains details protected by the International Traffic in Arms Regulations, space agency spokesman Michael Braukus said.

Launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in April 2005, the 800-pound Demonstration for Autonomous Rendezvous Technology spacecraft successfully located the Pentagon satellite it was to rendezvous with and flew within 300 feet of it.

[alkemical]

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-04-18-ferrari-crash_x.htm

Swede pleads not guilty in Ferrari case

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The mystery behind the high-speed crash of a rare Ferrari on a coastal highway took another strange turn as prosecutors filed embezzlement, grand theft, drunken driving and weapons charges against a Swedish businessman.
Bo Stefan Eriksson, 44, a former executive with the European video game company Gizmondo, pleaded not guilty Monday and was ordered held on $5.5 million bail.



http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12321430/site/newsweek/from/ET/

A Rooftop Windmill Of Your Very Own

April 24, 2006 issue - As projects to build "wind farms" of massive, electricity-generating wind turbines continue to multiply, so do the ranks of "not in my backyard" protesters. The turbines, some with blades that sweep as high as a 20-story building, are increasingly seen as unsightly and dangerous manifestations of the industrialization of the countryside. "The volume is going up higher on opposition to wind farms," says Kathy Belyeu, spokeswoman for the Washington, D.C.-based American Wind Energy Association. Although protests have generally failed to nix many farms, they frequently translate into costly delays or relocation to sites with less favorable winds.




http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/423466/702776

Inventor test drives fuel alternative

A Palmerston North inventor is driving the length of New Zealand in a car powered by cooking waste from McDonald's to try to prove that vegetable oil can be used as a reliable motor fuel.

James MacDonald hopes to patent the engine modification he has spent two-and-a-half years developing.

"You can use hemp oil, vegetable oil, tallow, chicken fat etc, so any hydro carbon chain," he says.

His trip from Bluff to Cape Reinga is expected to take a fortnight.




http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/business/3798973.html

Gold, Silver Futures Hit New Highs

NEW YORK — Gold and silver futures soared Monday to their strongest levels in more than two decades, boosted by geopolitical concerns and a sharply softer U.S. dollar.

The most-active June gold contract hit a contract high of $619.30 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange, its strongest level since December 1980. June gold settled up $18.70 at $618.80 an ounce.






http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060418/ap_on_go_ot/no_child_loophole

States Omitting Minorities' Test Scores

Laquanya Agnew and Victoria Duncan share a desk, a love of reading and a passion for learning. But because of a loophole in the No Child Left Behind Act, one second-grader's score in Tennessee counts more than the other's. That is because Laquanya is black, and Victoria is white.

An Associated Press computer analysis has found Laquanya is among nearly 2 million children whose scores aren't counted when it comes to meeting the law's requirement that schools track how students of different races perform on standardized tests.





http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/RANCHO/POLITICS/ARCHIVE/CRIMES_OF_MENA.html


The Suppressed Article

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This is the article which had been scheduled to appear in the Washington Post. After having cleared the legal department for all possible questions of inaccurate statements, the article was scheduled for publication when just as the presses were set to roll, Washington Post Managing Editor Bob Kaiser (Like George Bush, a member of the infamous "Skull & Bones Fraternity), killed the article without explanation. According to the sidebar which appeared with the Penthouse Magazine version of this story, Bob Kaiser refused to even meet with Sally Denton and Roger Morris, hiding in his office while his secretary made excuses.




http://www.villagevoice.com/news/0615,ferguson,72804,5.html

Watching the Detectives
The NYPD wants to take your picture—but beware of turning your lens on the cops

Since 2003, the NYPD has been filming protesters at political demonstrations, regardless of whether anything illegal's going on. City lawyers were in court last month defending the practice, arguing that what happens in public view is fair game.
But police evidently aren't so keen on surveillance when the cameras are turned on them—particularly when those cameras show them abusing free-street-parking privileges.

On March 27, two volunteers from the advocacy group Transportation Alternatives were detained for taking pictures of police officers' private cars, which were parked on the sidewalk outside the Fifth Precinct in Chinatown. The volunteers say they were held and questioned at the precinct for about 20 minutes and instructed to erase the pictures.

[alkemical]

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=1856249

Man Rediscovers Gift Fruitcake From 1962

WAUKESHA, Wis. Apr 18, 2006 (AP)— Lance Nesta did what many people do when receiving a fruitcake he set it aside, only to

rediscover it more than 40 years later in his mother's attic. Nesta couldn't resist taking a peek at the cake, still in its

original tin and wrapped in paper.

"I was amazed that it hadn't changed at all," he said.

Nesta's two aunts sent him the fruitcake in November 1962 while he was stationed in Alaska with the Army.

"I opened it up and didn't know what to do with it," Nesta said. "I sure wasn't going to eat it, and I liked my fellow

soldiers too much to share it with them."

As best he can remember, he packed the cake with the rest of his belongings and shipped it home to Waukesha when he left the

military a few years later. He recently rediscovered the boxed fruitcake in the attic of his mother's home in Waukesha.

His mom had given him advance warning of the fruitcake back in 1962.



http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/sex-and-money-bought-iraq-contracts/2006/04/19/1145344153774.html

Sex and money bought Iraq contracts

A CONTRACTOR in Iraq has pleaded guilty to providing money, sex and designer watches to US officials in exchange for more than $US8 million ($10.8 million) in reconstruction contracts. Philip Bloom faces up to 40 years in prison after admitting paying more than $US2 million in bribes to US officials with the Coalition Provisional Authority, which ruled Iraq after the US-led invasion in 2003.




http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2006/04/19/fbi-wants-muckracking-was_n_19396.html

FBI Wants Muckracking Washington Journalist's Classified Files...

The F.B.I. is seeking to go through the files of the late newspaper columnist Jack Anderson to remove classified material he may have accumulated in four decades of muckraking Washington journalism. Mr. Anderson's family has refused to allow a search of 188 boxes, the files of a well-known reporter who had long feuded with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and had exposed plans by the Central Intelligence Agency to kill Fidel Castro, the
machinations of the Iran-contra affair and the misdemeanors of generations of congressmen.



http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/1227-09.htm

U.S. Stalls on Human Trafficking Pentagon has yet to ban contractors from using forced labor


WASHINGTON - Three years ago, President Bush declared that he had "zero tolerance" for trafficking in humans by the government's overseas contractors, and two years ago Congress mandated a similar policy. But notwithstanding the president's statement and the congressional edict, the Defense Department has yet to adopt a policy to bar human trafficking.
A proposal prohibiting defense contractor involvement in human trafficking for forced prostitution and labor was drafted by the Pentagon last summer, but five defense lobbying groups oppose key provisions and a final policy still appears to be months away, according to those involved and Defense Department records.

"The lobbying groups opposing the plan say they're in favor of the idea in principle, but said they believe that implementing key portions of it overseas is unrealistic. They represent thousands of firms, including some of the industry's biggest names, such as DynCorp International and Halliburton subsidiary KBR, both of which have been linked to trafficking-related concerns."




http://www.washtimes.com/national/20060418-110124-3694r.htm

CIA mines 'rich' content from blogs

President Bush and U.S. policy-makers are receiving more intelligence from open sources such as Internet blogs and foreign

newspapers than they previously did, senior intelligence officials said.
The new Open Source Center (OSC) at CIA headquarters recently stepped up data collection and analysis based on bloggers

worldwide and is developing new methods to gauge the reliability of the content, said OSC Director Douglas J. Naquin.
"A lot of blogs now have become very big on the Internet, and we're getting a lot of rich information on blogs that are

telling us a lot about social perspectives and everything from what the general feeling is to ... people putting information

on there that doesn't exist anywhere else," Mr. Naquin told The Washington Times.




http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/RANCHO/POLITICS/OK/ok.html

The Oklahoma City Bombing
Were there additional explosive charges and additional bombers?




http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/RANCHO/POLITICS/WACO/waco.html

WACO - Who Shot First?





http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2006/04/16/us_firms_suspected_of_bilking_iraq_funds/

US firms suspected of bilking Iraq funds


WASHINGTON -- American contractors swindled hundreds of millions of dollars in Iraqi funds, but so far there is no way for Iraq's government to recoup the money, according to US investigators and civil attorneys tracking fraud claims against contractors.



http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060407/sc_nm/science_virus_dc

Viruses 'trained' to build tiny batteries

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Researchers trying to make tiny machines have turned to the power of nature, engineering a virus to attract metals and then using it to build minute wires for microscopic batteries. (wow, imagine nanotechnology is what alchemists were aiming for!)

[alkemical]

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/bigphotos/59322036.html


Monster Rabbit Stalks U.K. Village (But No Sign of Wallace or Gromit)


http://www.irandefence.net/showthread.php?t=32

The true iran and its people.



http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060419/ts_nm/rights_china_internet_dc;_ylt=An20aF4prwrJQiIBb7.o aBFZ.3QA;_ylu=X3oDMTA5aHJvMDdwBHN
lYwN5bmNhdA--

Yahoo accused of helping jail China Internet writer

BEIJING (Reuters) - Yahoo Inc. (Nasdaq:YHOO - news) may have helped Chinese police to identify an Internet writer who was

subsequently jailed for four years for subversion, an advocacy group for journalists said on Wednesday.

News implicating Yahoo in the imprisonment of Jiang Lijun in 2003 surfaced on the eve of a summit between Chinese President

Hu Jintao and President Bush in Washington.




http://www.firstcoastnews.com/news/florida/news-article.aspx?ref=rss&storyid=55975

Woman Finds TSA Uniform In Her Luggage

CLEARWATER, FL -- An airline passenger made a surprising discovery after flying from New Jersey to Florida -- When she opened

her luggage, she found a uniform belonging to the Transportation Security Administration.

"I couldn't believe what was on there," Debra Sanders said.

"Patches for homeland security, TSA all over it, and then the name tag with the number."

Debra Sanders says she's concerned about what this means for airport security, but she hopes it was just an honest mistake.

The TSA says her luggage wasn't searched by a TSA employee because there was no note left in her suitcase stating it was

physically searched.





http://allafrica.com/stories/200604180109.html

PanAfrica: Amazing Find of the Nile's Source

An adventurous group of explorers recently completed an 80-day voyage along the world's longest river to what is now said to

be the true source of the Nile.

According to the leader of the expedition, British explorer Neil McGrigor, "History has been rewritten." The expedition,

termed "Ascend the Nile," sojourned through a gruelling 6,700 km in three boats, tracing the Nile right from the

Mediterranean Sea through five countries to what is now believed to be the Nile's origin.

The explorers, like their predecessors, had to undergo harsh conditions, from a rebel attack in northern Uganda and massive

rapids to crocodiles. They finally got to their last leg that saw them trek a distance of 70 km for seven days through thick

forest. Nyungwe Forest, now a national park in southern Rwanda, was the expedition's last destination. The team now believes

that with the Global Positioning System, the Nile is at least 107 km longer than was previously ascertained.




http://www.harpers.org/sb-cia-wehrmacht.html

The CIA “Wehrmacht”

With the war in Iraq an utter debacle and public opinion turned against the White House, anger within the armed forces

towards Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and the Administration is growing, and the Pentagon is fighting back (see

“Pentagon Memo Aims to Counter Rumsfeld Critics” in the April 16 New York Times). But what's been little noted thus far is

what looks to be a similar revolt brewing at the CIA. An ex-senior agency officer who keeps in contact with his former peers

told me that there is a “a big swing” in anti-Bush sentiment at Langley. “I've been stunned by what I'm hearing,” he said.

“There are people who fear that indictments and subpoenas could be coming down, and they don't want to get caught up in it.”



http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/FBI_casts_overly_broad_net_in_0326.html

FBI casts 'overly broad net' in war against terror

The FBI, while waging a highly publicized war against terrorism, has spent resources gathering information on antiwar and

environmental protesters, and activists who feed vegetarian meals to the homeless, the agency's internal memos show.

For years, the FBI's definition of terrorism has included violence against property, such as the window smashing during the

1999 Seattle protests against the World Trade Organization. Those activities have led the FBI to investigate the online chat

rooms, organizing meetings and demonstrations of a wide range of activist groups. Officials say that international terrorists

pose the greatest threat to the nation, but they cannot ignore crimes committed by some activists.


http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/RANCHO/POLITICS/COINTELPRO/cointelpro.html





http://www.pnionline.com/dnblog/attytood/archives/003138.html


Woman arrested for speaking freely right after Bush call for "freedom...to speak freely" -- and CNN calls it "a blemish" on
Hu visit

Usually watching CNN with one eye as we blog from our undisclosed location doesn't give us much new fodder, except for the

occasional "stuck landing gear" crisis. But today we are aghast at the coverage of Chinese President Hu Jintao at the White

House.

At an outdoor ceremony, Bush told Hu:

China has become successful because the Chinese people are experience the freedom to buy, and to sell, and to produce -- and

China can grow even more successful by allowing the Chinese people the freedom to assemble, to speak freely, and to worship.

Seconds later, one of the people assembled on the White House south lawn actually tried to speak freely right here in America

-- about both the lack of free speech and religious freedom in China.



http://www.indybay.org/news/2006/03/1811962.php

FEDERAL RESERVE ORDERS TWO TRILLION DOLLARS TO BE PRINTED AND PUT INTO
CIRCULATION!
By Special Report
Mar 28, 2006, 21:05

http://www.axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/article_21569.shtml


TWO TRILLION $$
SOURCES WITHIN THE UNITED STATES TREASURY ARE FLABBERGASTED!

INFO CORROBORATED BY THREE SEPARATE U.S. TREASURY SOURCES
Six months ago, the Federal Reserve quietly announced that as of March 20,
2006, they would no longer publish "M3" Data. The "M3" was the amount of
cash the government printed to put into circulation, propping-up the U.S.
economy.

As of eight days ago, M3 data is no longer being reported, so there is no
way for the public, investors or bond holders to know how much currency
exists - and no way to gauge how much a "dollar" is truly worth.



http://www.freemarketnews.com/WorldNews.asp?nid=9991

FED - 'FESS UP ON M3
Thursday, March 23, 2006 - FreeMarketNews.com

March 23rd is more than a normal day. A release from DownsizeDC serves as a reminder that today the Federal Reserve stops

publishing a statistic known as M3 - the best information available on how much new currency is being created and held around

the world. The release points out that "The Federal Reserve can create new dollars out of thin air. ... When more dollars are

created prices rise and the value of your savings fall."

As of today, the Fed has stopped publishing this data for public analysis, and DownsizeDC is not alone in its suspicions

about the reasons why. There have been a spate of articles on the 'Net recently speculating about the Fed's fairly dramatic

move, some linking it to a possibile Iranian commodities bourse that will offer an alternative to the so-called US

petrodollar. "The Fed is planning to do a lot of 'legal counterfeiting,' and wants to hide it," the release concludes.

The release also notes that Congressman Ron Paul [R-TX] has introduced legislation to require the Fed to resume reporting the

M3 statistic, and Downsize urges taxpaying citizens to contact their own representatives to support the bill called The

Sunshine in Monetary Policy Act. - ST




http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060420/pl_nm/korea_north_fraud_dc

North Korea says it has "shocking evidence" of US plot

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea has charged the United States with counterfeiting its own currency and shifting the blame

to Pyongyang, adding artists with "blood-shot eyes" in Japan are making cartoons attacking Pyongyang's leaders.

A spokesman for the Ministry of People's Security said in a statement the North had obtained "shocking evidence" Washington

and Tokyo are producing false material that gives the impression Pyongyang is a criminal state, the North's KCNA news agency

said late Wednesday.

"The CIA secretly enlist(s) experts on counterfeiting notes claimed to be the 'most sophisticated in the world' and

invite(s) them to issue lots of fake currencies at 'counterfeit notes printing houses of North Korean-style' operating in

U.S. military bases in different parts of the world," the spokesman said.

U.S. Treasury officials have briefed various governments about Washington's suspicions that North Korea has for years been

producing a high quality copy of its $100 bill. U.S. officials have dubbed the copy the "supernote."

"Although Pyongyang denies complicity in any counterfeiting activity, at least $45 million in such supernotes of North Korean

origin have been detected in circulation, and estimates are that the country earns from $15 million to $25 million per year

from counterfeiting," the U.S. Congressional Research Service said in a report in March.




http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12387753/

More involved in Oklahoma City bombing?
On 11th anniversary, Rita Cosby talks to Terry Nichols' son, Josh Nichols




http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/april2006/200406issueretraction.htm

Chronicle Forced To Issue Retraction On 9/11 Hit Piece
Encounters massive backlash from alternative media


Yesterday's San Francisco Chronicle 9/11 hit piece by Cinnamon Stillwell has encountered massive backlash from the

alternative truth community after it cynically dismissed legitimate concerns about 9/11 and labeled anyone who voiced them as

anti-semitic extremists.

In a new development this morning, the paper was forced to issue a retraction following Cinnamon Stillwell's outright

falsehood that the "whole country witnessed the horrific sight of planes flying into the....Pentagon," a glaring error first

highlighted by this website on Wednesday morning.

The statement reads,

"Cinnamon Stillwell's column Wednesday on SFGate originally stated that images of the plane that struck the Pentagon had been

seen by the American public. No such images have been made public."



http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=49817

Chertoff downplays Mexican military incursions
Homeland Security chief insists reports of past 10 years 'overblown'


Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff downplayed reports by the U.S. Border Patrol of more than 200 incursions by the

Mexican military over the last 10 years, calling them "scare tactics."

While acknowledging the Border Patrol reports of crossings by uniformed troops, Chertoff told reporters in Washington

yesterday he believes many of the incursions could have been innocent mistakes, according to the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin

in Ontario, Calif.

"I think the stories are overblown," Chertoff said. "I asked the chief of the Border Patrol about it. The number has not

increased; in fact, it had decreased a little bit."



http://www.mosnews.com/news/2006/04/20/iranintervene.shtml

Russia to Remain Neutral in Case of U.S-Iran Armed Conflict

Russia’s military will not intervene on one side or the other, should the current Iran crisis lead to an armed conflict, the

chief of the Russian general staff said, AFP reported Thursday.

“You are asking which side Russia will take. Of course Russia will not, at least I as head of the general staff will not,

suggest the use of force on one side or the other. Just as with Afghanistan,” General Yury Baluevsky told reporters,

referring to the 2001 U.S.-led intervention to oust the Taliban.

The general, who heads the Russian armed forces, stressed that he did not think a military scenario was likely in relation to

Iran and said that diplomacy was “the proper course”.

[alkemical]

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-fcc20apr20,0,1089780.story?coll=la-home-headlines

FCC Launches Payola Probes of 4 Radio Giants
Documents are sought from Clear Channel, CBS, Entercom and Citadel, sources say. The agency's step comes after settlement talks stall.
By Charles Duhigg, Times Staff Writer
April 20, 2006


The Federal Communications Commission on Wednesday launched formal investigations into pay-for-play practices at four of the nation's largest radio corporations, the biggest federal inquiry into radio bribery since the congressional payola hearings of 1960.

Two FCC officials with direct knowledge of the matter confirmed that the agency had requested documents from Clear Channel Communications Inc., CBS Radio Inc., Entercom Communications Corp. and Citadel Broadcasting Corp. over allegations that radio programmers had received cash, checks, clothing and other gifts in exchange for playing certain songs without revealing the deals to listeners, a violation of federal rules



http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2006/04/20/iraq-costing-almost-10b-_n_19467.html

Iraq Costing Almost $10B A Month...

With the expected passage this spring of the largest emergency spending bill in history, annual war expenditures in Iraq will have nearly doubled since the U.S. invasion, as the military confronts the rapidly escalating cost of repairing, rebuilding and replacing equipment chewed up by three years of combat.

The cost of the war in U.S. fatalities has declined this year, but the cost in treasure continues to rise, from $48 billion in 2003 to $59 billion in 2004 to $81 billion in 2005 to an anticipated $94 billion in 2006, according to the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments. The U.S. government is now spending nearly $10 billion a month in Iraq and Afghanistan, up from $8.2 billion a year ago, a new Congressional Research Service report found.




http://today.reuters.com/investing/FinanceArticle.aspx?type=usDollarRpt&storyID=uri:2006-04-21T151126Z_01_N21209695_RTRIDST_0_MARKETS-FOREX-UPDATE-8.XML

FOREX-Dollar falls vs euro after Russian's remarks
NEW YORK, April 21 (Reuters) - The dollar fell to session lows against the euro on Friday after Russia's finance minister said the dollar wasn't the world's absolute reserve currency.

Comments by the minister, Alexei Kudrin, at the Group of Seven meeting of finance ministers and central bankers in Washington came the same day Sweden's central bank said it had increased the share of euros in its foreign exchange reserves to 50 percent.




http://wakeupfromyourslumber.blogspot.com/2006/04/damning-evidence-of-big-oil-conspiracy.html

Damning Evidence of ‘Big Oil’ Conspiracy To Limit Supply

“As observed over the last few years and as projected well into the future, the most critical factor facing the refining industry on the West Coast is the surplus refining capacity, and the surplus gasoline production capacity. The same situation exists for the entire U.S. refining industry. Supply significantly exceeds demand year-round. This results in very poor refinery margins, and very poor refinery financial results. Significant events need to occur to assist in reducing supplies and/or increasing the demand for gasoline.”
--Internal Texaco document, March 7, 1996





http://news.independent.co.uk/world/asia/article359124.ece

A monarch willing to kill his own people to save his skin

Tens of thousands of the people he rules over lined the streets calling for his death yesterday and he has been condemned the world over. But hidden away in his palace in the midst of a city in chaos, King Gyanendra of Nepal appeared desperate to cling to power - and prepared to shoot down his own unarmed subjects...



http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=13509

Cheney exercised some of his Halliburton options in late 2005, during which time that company's profits were soaring in part because of fat no-bid reconstruction contracts granted to its subsidiary KBR in the wake of Katrina. Cheney used those proceeds -- $6.8 million -- to donate to charities per his 2001 agreement to use his options only for charity.

Says the prof: "While there's nothing inappropriate about that from a legal perspective, it does demonstrate how the legislation, which was sold to the public as providing relief to Katrina victims, provided significant tax benefits to the VP (and potentially other wealthy individuals) in situations that have nothing to do with Hurricane Katrina."

[alkemical]

http://www.raidersnewsupdate.com/lead-story126.htm

Mysterious ‘Ritual’ Performed By United States Military Forces In Babylon Raises Concerns Of Muslim And Russian Orthodox Religious Leaders

By: Sorcha Faal, and as reported to her Russian Subscribers

Russian Intelligence Analysts are reporting today on a bizarre religious ritual being preformed by elements of the United States Military, including some of their top leaders, in the closed Military Zone of the ancient city of Babylon in the Iraqi War Zone.

Seen by Russian satellite photos taken of the areas around Babylon, these reports state that the Americans have constructed a nearly one kilometer circle around their massive excavation of Babylon of a ‘Feathered Serpent’ in an apparent ritual relating to the ‘ancient objects’ they are about to unearth and have stationed giant US Military Cargo aircraft to bring to the United States, and which they have apparently been waiting to do on the specific date of April 16th.

Upon the complaints of the Iraqi Government to the Americans for the destruction of Babylon the US Military remains to this day defiant, and as we can read as reported by the UK ’s Independent News Service in their article titled "US colonel offers Iraq an apology of sorts for devastation of Babylon", and which says:

[alkemical]

http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/april2006/210406runattack.htm


Former German Minister Says Building 7 Used To Run 9/11 Attack


Former Helmut Schmidt cabinet member, 25-year German Parliamentarian and global intelligence expert Andreas Von Bülow says that the 9/11 attack was run by the highest levels of the US intelligence apparatus using WTC Building 7 as a command bunker which was later demolished in order to destroy the crime scene.

[alkemical]

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1143498910561&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Russian MoD says missile sale to Iran to go ahead

Russia's defense minister confirmed Monday that his country will go ahead and supply Iran with sophisticated anti-aircraft missiles, news agencies reported. "Unless there are some circumstances beyond our control, this contract will be honored," Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov was quoted as saying by Interfax and RIA Novosti in Beijing, where he was on an official visit. The United States last week called on all countries to stop all arms exports to Iran and to end all nuclear cooperation with it to put pressure on Tehran to halt uranium enrichment activities.



http://www.mosnews.com/news/2006/04/24/missiletest.shtml

Russia Tests New Missile Designed to Overcome U.S. Defenses

On Saturday Russia successfully test-launched a missile designed to penetrate missile defenses. The commander of Russia’s Strategic Rocket Forces, Nikolai Solovtsov, quoted by AP, said the K65M-R had been launched from a testing ground at Kapustin Yar in the southern Astrakhan region. The main purpose of the launch was to test “a uniform warhead for land- and sea-based ballistic missiles” and newly-developed elements of a system designed to penetrate missile defenses. The commander added that plans for a U.S. missile-defense system “could upset strategic stability.” He suggested that the test was part of an effort to ensure that Russian missiles are capable of foiling any U.S. shield. He said the test involved optic and radar measurement systems that reproduce similar U.S. systems.


http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Russian_Bombers_Flew_Undetected_Across_Arctic.html

Russian Bombers Flew Undetected Across Arctic

Russian military planes flew undetected through the U.S. zone of the Arctic Ocean to Canada during recent military exercises, a senior Air Force commander said Saturday. The commander of the country's long-range strategic bombers, Lieutenant General Igor Khvorov, said the U.S. Air Force is now investigating why its military was unable to detect the Russian bombers.
"They were unable to detect the planes either with radars or visually," he said. Khorov said that during the military exercises in April, Tu-160 Blackjack bombers and Tu-95 Bears had successfully carried out four missile launches. Bombing exercises were held using Tu-22 Blinders.



http://apnews.excite.com/article/20060424/D8H6GK100.html

Chief of CIA's Investment Group Resigns


WASHINGTON (AP) - The new chief of the CIA's venture capital organization, In-Q-Tel, has resigned after just four months on the job.

Amit Yoran, who was the government's cybersecurity chief until he left that job in 2004, said Monday he stepped down for personal reasons.

The role of In-Q-Tel's chief executive requires significant travel, and Yoran and his wife - a U.S. government lawyer - have three young daughters.
Yoran said he agreed with In-Q-Tel's board to continue working as a consultant and adviser. In-Q-Tel - named for "Q," the fictional inventor of spy tools and toys for James Bond - makes about a dozen such investments
annually with roughly $60 million it receives from the CIA's Directorate of science and Technology, the Defense Intelligence Agency, the FBI and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency.




http://www.lp.org/lpnews/article_946.shtml

Congress tries to keep smaller parties down


On Feb. 1, congressional Democrats led by Rep. David Obey of Wisconsin introduced a bill that, if approved, would end viable third-party competition in races for the U.S. House of Representatives.

The bill, H.R. 4694, ironically known as the "Let the People Decide Clean Campaign Act," would give public funds to candidates for the House and would forbid candidates from taking private funds such as contributions from individual donors. The bill provides funds only for candidates of the two major parties and would essentially ruin the campaign efforts of independent candidates and those from the smaller parties.For third-party candidates to be eligible for the same funds that Republicans and Democrats would receive, they would have to obtain petition signatures from a huge number of voters — a number equal to 20 percent of the votes cast in the prior election in their district.



http://www.sierratimes.com/03/07/02/article_tro.htm

Now Updated: No Arabs on Flight 77: Part II -The Passengers

I am an ex Naval line officer and a psychiatrist in private practice in New Orleans, a Christian and homeschool dad. It troubled me a great deal that we rushed off to war on the flimsiest of evidence. I considered various ways to provide a smoking gun of who and why Sept 11th happened. Astute observers noticed right away that there were no Arabic sounding names
on any of the flight manifests of the planes that “crashed” on that day.
A list of names on a piece of paper is not evidence, but an autopsy by a pathologist, is. I undertook by FOIA request, to obtain that autopsy list and you are invited to view it below. Guess what? Still no Arabs on the list. It is my opinion that the monsters who planned this crime made a mistake by not including Arabic names on the original list to make the ruse seem more believable.



http://www.amny.com/news/nationworld/nation/ny-uslugg0417,0,1751421.story?coll=am-topheadlines

An untold story of 9/11
BY MICHAEL DORMAN
Newsday Staff Writer


April 17, 2006
Former federal terrorism investigators say a piece of luggage hastily checked in at the Portland, Maine, airport by a World Trade Center hijacker on the morning of Sept. 11 provided the Rosetta stone enabling FBI agents to swiftly unravel the mystery of who carried out the suicide attacks and what motivated them. A mix-up in Boston prevented the luggage from connecting with the plane that hijackers crashed into the north tower of the trade center. Seized by FBI agents at Boston's Logan Airport, investigators said, it contained Arab-language papers revealing the identities of all 19 hijackers involved in the four hijackings, as well as information on their plans, backgrounds and motives.



http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/april2006/240406thermiteidentified.htm

Thermite Identified As Culprit Of WTC Collapse
Evidence mounting that cause first identified on Alex Jones Show led to towers' implosion
A new branch of 9/11 research claims to have identified the cause of the collapse of the twin towers. The photographic and video evidence makes a very strong case for thermite being responsible for the unprecedented implosions of steel framed reinforced buildings on September 11. This facet was first brought to light during a November 2005 appearance on The Alex Jones Show by Brigham Young University physicist Professor Steven Jones. Jones said that white phosphorous wasn't powerful enough to cause the implosion but that thermite was the likely culprit. Alex Jones's 2005 release Martial Law 9/11 Rise of the Police State highlighted the physical evidence that the towers and Building 7 were brought down with incendiary devices. Brigham Young University physicist Professor Steven Jones told peers at a Utah meeting that, "while almost no fire, even one ignited by jet fuel, can cause structural steel to fail, the combination of thermite and sulfur "slices through steel like a hot knife through butter."



http://www.waynemadsenreport.com/

April 24, 2006 -- WMR has received information from a veteran member of the U.S. Intelligence Community that the firing of CIA Inspector General (IG) officer, 61-year old CIA veteran Mary O. McCarthy, was the result of a White House-launched political vendetta designed to ferret out pro-Democrats in the CIA. The source also revealed that McCarthy, who was fired rather than being permitted to resign, is almost certain to write a tell-all book that will reveal even more misconduct and illegal activity, in addition to secret prisons and rendition flights, on the part of the Bush administration and CIA director Porter Goss. These may include CIA drug smuggling activities to support off-the-books operations and targeted assassinations. McCarthy, as an IG officer, would have known about all CIA misdeeds reported through her office.




http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/northcounty/20060423-9999-1n23bigboom.html

What's behind mysterious booms?

Life can serve up a good mystery every once in a while. Weird things happen that defy explanation, that make us wonder how much we really know about the world. Something of the sort happened in San Diego County shortly before 9 a.m. Tuesday, April 4, and so far no one has come forward with an explanation. Whatever it was, it caused a woman's bed to shake in Lakeside. It created waves in a backyard pool in Carmel Valley. It set off car alarms in Kearny Mesa and rattled windows from Mission Beach to Poway to Vista. At various spots throughout the county, people reported a rumbling sound or a booming noise. Scientists insist it wasn't an earthquake. The Federal Aviation Administration has no record of any planes producing a sonic boom by breaking the sound barrier. Camp Pendleton officials say no activities on the Marine base could have created such a disturbance. There were no large explosions in San Diego County that day, and no meteor fireballs were reported in the sky that morning. What was it, then?

Maybe it was the same thing that caused a strange disturbance in Mississippi on April 7, when the locals heard a loud boom that rattled windows all over Jackson County, throwing emergency workers “into a tizzy,” said Butch Loper, Jackson County's civil defense director. Authorities in that state still don't have a clue as to the cause.




http://ww1.mid-day.com/columns/mukul_sharma/2006/april/135748.htm

Seeing is believing

Is the existence of the ‘third eye’ only a big fat body of myth or what? Well the straight dope is, most of it besides bizarre entries in Ripley’s Believe It Or Not, is. On the other hand, if by eye we mean something which is capable of processing information related to light then a wholly different argument can ensue. Take the tuatara. Found only on a few islets off New Zealand, this small lizard like animal is a living fossil. It has remained almost totally unchanged from related forms that existed 200 million years ago, when dinosaurs roamed the Earth. However, the tuatara’s actual claim to fame lies elsewhere. Like a very small number of animals such as the sea lamprey and some species of frogs, it possesses a cleft-like opening on top of its skull consisting of a lens and a retina connected by nerves to the brain.

[alkemical]

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006%5C04%5C24%5Cstory_24-4-2006_pg7_36


US will go for other states after Iran and Iraq, says Margolis

LAHORE: Renowned American journalist Eric Margolis has said that the US will “go for” Pakistan and Saudi Arabia after Iraq and Iran.

“We have leaks from reliable sources that after Iraq and Iran, the US plans to go for Pakistan and Saudi Arabia,” Margolis said in an interview with IWT NEWS on Saturday. Margolis supported Iran’s nuclear weapons programme, saying that it poses no threat to the world community. US President George W Bush’s statements on Iran’s nuclear programme were “ridiculous and nonsense”, he said. “Iran has no nuclear bombs and no capability to bomb a country with these weapons,” Margolis said.

He said that Iran’s longest-range missile, Shahab-III, had a maximum range of 1,200-1,500 kilometres, which meant that Iran could not attack North America or Western Europe. “No substantial evidence has yet been found that Iran has nuclear weapons, and anyone saying that Iran is a threat to the world is lying and deceiving the world,” Margolis said. He said that Bush’s
statement about Iraq having weapons of mass destruction had “proved baseless”. The US and Israel were planning to attack Iran’s nuclear infrastructure and major military installations, he said.



http://mparent7777.livejournal.com/7995892.html

Halliburton collected $100,000 a day for a pipeline it never built

April 25, 2006
Rebuilding of Iraqi Pipeline as Disaster Waiting to Happen
By JAMES GLANZ
When Robert Sanders was sent by the Army to inspect the construction work an American company was doing on the banks of the Tigris River, 130 miles north of Baghdad, he expected to see workers drilling holes beneath the riverbed to restore a crucial set of large oil pipelines, which had been bombed during the invasion of Iraq.What he found instead that day in July 2004 looked like some gargantuan heart-bypass operation gone nightmarishly bad. A crew had bulldozed a 300-foot-long trench along a giant drill bit in their desperate attempt to yank it loose from the riverbed. A supervisor later told him that the project's crews knew that drilling the holes was not possible, but that they had been instructed by the company in charge of the project to continue anyway.





http://articles.news.aol.com/business/article.adp?id=20060424163709990030&cid=403

Sun Micro's New CEO Is Unlikely to Make Big Changes

SAN FRANCISCO (April 25) - Sun Microsystems Inc. quelled speculation Monday by announcing the resignation of long-time Chief Executive Scott McNealy.



http://www.nypress.com/19/16/pagetwo/conterfeit2.cfm

MENTAL DISTRESS AND YOU
Understanding the new culture of ever-present suspicious watchfulness
By Jim Knipfel


Last week, the city Health Dept. released the shocking results of a new study. According to their research, a larger percentage of New Yorkers than ever before suffer frequent episodes of what they’re calling “mental distress.” Of course living in New York has always been stressful—the noise, the traffic, the flood of assholes, the jostling and shoving, the lines, the prices, the shrieking insane, the obliviousness, the crime. Still, the experts seem puzzled by the sudden jump in mental distress. With the dramatic drop in the crime rate and the new noise regulations, how could this be?



http://www.thememoryhole.org/mil/animal_esp.pdf

Army Report on ESP in Animals

Introduction

>>> In the early 1950s, Dr. Joseph Banks Rhine, based at Duke University, was the foremost researcher in the field of parapsychology, or, using the term he coined: "extrasensory perception." The Army hired Rhine and his Parapsychology Laboratory to research the possibility of using dogs and other animals to detect buried landmines.

The final report for one such contract with Duke University, dated 10 July 1953, remained classified as Confidential for more than 50 years, until it was recently declassified after a long, laborious process. It took ten separate offices five years to clear this short report for release. The narrative report describes a series of experiments involving German shepherds trying to locate buried landmines. The results appeared promising but also suggested that at least some of the positive results were attributable to the dogs' remarkable sense of smell. The report also examines the possibility of ESP in cats and pigeons. Rhine was the first to attempt a scientific investigation of paranormal phenomena of this type, and many of his experimental results have been attacked as being the result of a general lack of stringent experimental controls and the possible falsification of records by his laboratory assistants. The document was obtained by researcher Michael Ravnitzky.



http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=CHO20060418&articleId=2275

Who is behind "Al Qaeda in Iraq"? Pentagon Acknowledges fabricating a "Zarqawi Legend"

Abu Musab Al Zarqawi has been presented both by the Bush administration and the Western media as the mastermind behind the "insurgency" in Iraq, allegedly responsible for the massacres of Iraqi civilians.

Zarqawi is the outside enemy of America. The Bush administration in official statements, including presidential speeches, national security documents, etc. has repeatedly pointed to the need to "go after" Abu Musab Al Zarqawi and Osama bin Laden.

"You know, I hate to predict violence, but I just understand the nature of the killers. This guy, Zarqawi, an al Qaeda associate -- who was in Baghdad, by the way, prior to the removal of Saddam Hussein -- is still at large in Iraq. And as you might remember, part of his operational plan was to sow violence and discord amongst the various groups in Iraq by cold- blooded killing. And we need to help find Zarqawi so that the people of Iraq can have a more bright -- bright future."

(George W. Bush, Press Conference, 1 June 2004)

The official mandate of US and British occupation forces is to fight and win the "war on terrorism" on behalf of the Iraqi

people. Zarqawi constitutes Washington's justification for the continued military occupation of Iraq, not to mention the brutal siege of densely populated urban areas directed against "Al Qaeda in Iraq" which is said to be led by Zarqawi.

Pentagon PSYOP Zarqawi Program

In an unusual twist, the Washington Post in a recent article, has acknowledged that the role of Zarqawi had been deliberately "magnified" by the Pentagon with a view to galvanizing public support for the US-UK led "war on terrorism":

"The Zarqawi campaign is discussed in several of the internal military documents. "Villainize Zarqawi/leverage xenophobia response," one U.S. military briefing from 2004 stated. It listed three methods: "Media operations," "Special Ops (626)" (a reference to Task Force 626, an elite U.S. military unit assigned primarily to hunt in Iraq for senior officials in Hussein's government) and "PSYOP," the U.S. military term for propaganda work..." (WP. 10 April 2006) The military's propaganda program, according to the Washington Post, has "largely been aimed at Iraqis, but seems to have spilled over into the U.S. media. One briefing slide about U.S. "strategic communications" in Iraq, prepared for Army Gen. George W. Casey Jr., the top U.S. commander in Iraq, describes the "home audience" as one of six major targets of the American side of the war." (WP, op cit.)


An internal document produced by U.S. military headquarters in Iraq, states that "the Zarqawi PSYOP program is the most successful information campaign to date." (WP, op cit). The senior commander entrusted with Pentagon's PSYOP operation is General Kimmitt who now occupies the position of senior planner at US Central Command (USCENTCOM), responsible for directing operations in Iraq and the Middle East.

[alkemical]

http://wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=49906

Bush slammed for charging Hu protester
Pastors: Administration 'hypocritical' for throwing book at woman


Some Christian leaders are protesting the Bush administration decision to seek up to six months in federal prison for Wenyi Wang, the woman who shouted at the president and Chinese leader Hu Jintao at the White House last week.

At the event, Wang, who got access to the White House grounds as a media representative with a Chinese opposition paper, shouted, "President Bush, stop him (President Hu) from persecuting Falun Gong" and "President Bush, stop him from killing."



http://sympaticomsn.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20060421/vitacig_060421

Canadian creates cigarette with vitamin C


A Quebec company is producing a cigarette it claims does not stain teeth, has less of an odour than regular brands and contains beneficial ingredients like vitamin C.

Called the "VitaCig," it was invented by non-smoker Roger Ouellette for his wife, who has smoked a pack of cigarettes every day since the age of 14.

"We give you all the vitamins you lose, plus some vitamins to help you," he told CTV News. Health Canada is skeptical of the claim, saying any cigarette is harmful. "I say this half-jokingly: a safe cigarette is one that's not lit," Health Canada spokesperson Mathew Cook said.




http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060425/NEWS07/60425013

Mercury preservative will continue in some flu vaccines


Legislation that would prevent Tennessee children from getting flu shots that contain a controversial mercury preservative was withdrawn because the bill’s sponsor didn’t think it would pass.

The bill, sponsored by Rep. Susan Lynn, R-Mt. Juliet, would not allow pregnant women or any child younger than 8 to receive flu vaccines that contain more than trace amounts of thimerosal, a vaccine preservative that is 49.6% ethyl mercury.



http://thedoctorwithin.com/index_fr.php?page=articles/doors_of_perception.php

THE DOORS OF PERCEPTION:
WHY AMERICANS WILL BELIEVE ALMOST ANYTHING

- Tim O'Shea

Aldous Huxley's inspired 1954 essay detailed the vivid, mind-expanding, multisensory insights of his mescaline adventures. By altering his brain chemistry with natural psychotropics, Huxley tapped into a rich and fluid world of shimmering, indescribable beauty and power. With his neurosensory input thus triggered, Huxley was able to enter that parallel universe described by every mystic and space captain in recorded history. Whether by hallucination or epiphany, Huxley sought to remove all bonds, all controls, all filters, all cultural conditioning from his perceptions and to confront Nature or the World or Reality first-hand - in its unpasteurized, unedited, unretouched infinite rawness.

Those bonds are much harder to break today, half a century later. We are the most conditioned, programmed beings the world has ever known. Not only are our thoughts and attitudes continually being shaped and molded; our very awareness of the whole design seems like it is being subtly and inexorably erased. The doors of our perception are carefully and precisely regulated. Who cares, right?




http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/missouristatenews/story/DDFBDB9A087F9A3D8625713E002BD31E?OpenDocument

Highway claims famed Rock Shop by eminent domain

But the rock shop and the house, and perhaps even the mines, will soon be gone. Sheffler has until May 1 to leave the land she's owned for nearly 60 years. The state needs it to expand Highway 61 to four lanes from two, part of the Avenue of the Saints running from St. Louis to St. Paul.

Sheffler fought the state. But the state pushed back with a court-ordered condemnation under eminent domain. Which is why the man from the highway department was visiting last week with the promise of compensation.



http://159.54.226.83/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F20060423%2FOPINION%2F60422002%2F104 9

Cocco: Cheney still profits from Halliburton ties

WASHINGTON — It's not the $2 million tax refund. It's the $211,465.

That is the amount of deferred compensation Vice President Dick Cheney received from Halliburton last year. It is the final payment, his lawyer says, of money due Cheney under an agreement that had the giant oil-services firm paying him for his past services as its chief executive officer. The payments continued after Cheney was elected and became chief honcho of American energy policy and one of the chief architects of the war in Iraq.

The size of the refund owed to the vice president and his wife, Lynne, was the news event of the tax-filing season. What headline writer could resist a to-the-rich-go-the-refunds story? But we should not begrudge the Cheneys. The rich are indeed different from you and me. They have vastly more wealth, pay more taxes and get more back when their complex and ever-so-legal deals net a refund.



http://www.prisonplanet.tv/articles/april2006/260406likelyterrorists.htm

Texas Training Pamphlet: 'Nice Guys' Who Wear Levis & Travel With Children Likely Terrorists - - Says people who use cellphones and e mail should be under suspicion
Texas Department of Public Safety Criminal Law Enforcement pamphlet gives the public characteristics to identify terrorists that include buying baby formula, beer, wearing Levi jeans, carrying identifying documents like a drivers license and traveling with women or children.


(view pamphlet on site) -

This latest assault on common sense arrives on the back of a Virginia training manual used to help state employees recognize terrorists that listed anti-government and property rights activists as terrorists and includes binoculars, video cameras, pads and notebooks in a compendium of terrorist tools.

Shortly after 9/11 a Phoenix FBI manual that was disseminated amongst federal employees at the end of the Clinton term caused waves on the Internet after it was revealed that potential terrorists included, "defenders of the US Constitution against federal government and the UN, " and individuals who "make numerous references to the US Constitution." Lawyers everywhere cowered in fear at being shipped off to Gitmo.

[alkemical]

http://www.larouchepub.com/lar/2006/3317weimar.html

World System on Weimar
Collapse Curve
by Lyndon H. LaRouche, Jr.

April 20, 2006

The fakery of the outgoing Alan Greenspan administration, in burying the "M3" report, was clearly intended to conceal the fact that the rate of rate of increase of world prices of primary materials has the world as a whole currently on the same kind of "least-action pathway" curve of hyperinflation which gripped Weimar Germany during the second half of the year 1923.

Comparing the present rates of rates of increase of primary materials prices with the pattern for Germany 1923, indicates the likelihood that, under present U.S. and European policies, the world system could reach a point of collapse of the monetary system by not much later than September 2006, if not earlier.




http://benfrank.net/blog/

House votes 397-21 for “Iran Freedom Support Act”Filed under: headline news — Lula @ 10:11 am
As if Iraq isn’t a big enough mess, the House of Representatives has just voted to ‘hold Iran accountable and support a transition to democracy’. Sound Familiar? Only this time Iran is a democracy. They just held an election where their president was actually elected by the people. How refreshing.

After everything that has been exposed…the lies, the profiteering, the long list of war crimes, 397 ‘Representatives’ gave Bush the go ahead on attacking Iran. Only 21 Patriots voted Nay. Sad to say but these are the only people we can trust…



http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_743.shtml

House passes draconian intelligence bill
By Bev Conover
Online Journal Editor & Publisher
Apr 27, 2006, 00:37



The cretins in Congress better start using their gray matter, if they have any, because the repressive legislation they pass that bites the people today will also bite them tomorrow.

No one is immune from the horrors of a police state. No one. None. Fall out of favor with the ruling clique, for whatever reason, and your goose is cooked.

And a police state is what they are creating, all under the guise of "national security" and keeping us "safe" from "terrorists."

The latest nightmare is buried in the HR 5020, the Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2007, which the House of Representatives passed, 327-96, yesterday. Among its provisions are giving National Security Director John Negroponte authority to devise a plan for revoking the pensions of retired intelligence agency employees "who commit unauthorized disclosures of classified information." That takes care of any retired whistleblowers.

If that weren't bad enough, the Baltimore Sun is reporting "It also would permit security forces at the National Security Agency and the CIA to make warrantless arrests outside the gates of their top-secret campuses."

Plus, according to the Sun, "The measure also directs Congress to conduct a study of possible new sanctions against those who receive leaks of classified information, including journalists."

In effect, a total shutdown of any knowledge of the crimes your government has committed or is committing in your name.




http://www.iranian.ws/iran_news/publish/article_15158.shtml

Iran oil bourse next week
Apr 26, 2006



Oil Minister Kazem Vaziri Hamaneh said on Wednesday that the establishment of Oil Stock Exchange is in its final stage and the bourse will be launched in Iran in the next week.

He told reporters, upon arrival from Qatar where he attended the 10th General Assembly of International Energy Agency and consultations with OPEC member states, that registration of the Oil Stock Exchange is underway and the entity will operate after being approved by by Council of Stock Exchange.

He rejected a statement attributed to him saying that Oil Stock Exchange will bring to the ground the US economy and said, "I don't know who has speculated that I've not talked about US economy." Asked about conference on energy in Doha, he said that more than 60 countries and 30 oil companies and consultants took part in the conference.




http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/P146592.asp

Fed kills a key inflation gauge
The Fed wants you to think it's fighting inflation. So why did it kill an important measure of the money-supply boom that feeds rising prices?

The U.S. Federal Reserve made big news at the end of March. And almost nobody noticed. Here's the headline you didn't see:


Fed kills M3, decides money supply doesn't count
Move raises risk of higher long-term inflation and new asset bubble
I'm obviously not talking about the March 28 decision to raise short-term interest rates one more time to 4.75%. That got headlines all right, and most of them portrayed the Federal Reserve as a tough fighter against inflation.



http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=34042

$20,000 bonus to official who agreed on nuke claim Energy Dept. honcho ordered dissenters at Iraq pre-briefing to 'shut up, sit down'

WASHINGTON – A former Energy Department intelligence chief who agreed with the White House claim that Iraq had reconstituted its defunct nuclear-arms program was awarded a total of $20,500 in bonuses during the build-up to the war, WorldNetDaily has learned.

Thomas Ryder, as acting director of Energy's intelligence office, overruled senior intelligence officers on his staff in voting for the position at a National Foreign Intelligence Board meeting at CIA headquarters last September.



http://www.cnn.com/2006/LAW/04/26/moussaoui.aviation/index.html

U.S. seeks to keep evidence from 9/11 families
Prosecutors ask Moussaoui judge to reconsider order

ALEXANDRIA, Virginia (CNN) -- Prosecutors asked a judge to rethink granting 9/11 families suing airlines access to evidence gathered for the criminal case against al Qaeda terrorist Zacarias Moussaoui.

U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema's April 7 order requires prosecutors to provide copies of all unclassified aviation security documents to attorneys representing September 11 families in a civil lawsuit pending in New York.

Prosecutors called the order "unprecedented" and urged Brinkema to withdraw it. The motion was filed by Chuck Rosenberg, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia.

Brinkema's order would allow the families' attorneys access to "highly sensitive" law enforcement documents and could compromise the continuing investigation into the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The inquiry is "the largest criminal investigation in our nation's history, which is still ongoing," the motion says.




http://news.com.com/2100-1028_3-6064016.html

Congress readies broad new digital copyright bill

update For the last few years, a coalition of technology companies, academics and computer programmers has been trying to persuade Congress to scale back the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

Now Congress is preparing to do precisely the opposite. A proposed copyright law seen by CNET News.com would expand the DMCA's restrictions on software that can bypass copy protections and grant federal police more wiretapping and enforcement powers.

The draft legislation, created by the Bush administration and backed by Rep. Lamar Smith, already enjoys the support of large copyright holders such as the Recording Industry Association of America. Smith, a Texas Republican, is the chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee that oversees intellectual-property law.

[alkemical]

http://www.disinfo.com/archive/pages/dossier/id95/pg1/

the montauk project
by Alexandra Bruce (intuit7@yahoo.com) - January 22, 2001

You've got to love a story that is stranger than any fiction but claims to be the God's honest truth. What could be more fabulously outrageous than the idea that your tax dollars have subsidized the demented experiments of an evil cabal of Navy brass, CIA shrinks, fugitive Nazis and Reptoid ETs? What could be more fantastic than the vision of them pow wowing together for a little high-tech, tantric voodoo? How very spicy, that this panoply of government geeks and their alien pals fired up interdimensional vortexes by means of a buff, naked dude who was jacked into a psychotronic chair -- while sporting a raging boner!
Now, THAT'S entertainment. Laugh while you can, Monkey Boy but things will never be the same: They say the universe we call home is artificial; a mirror world that split off from the Original Universe when the Montauk Project started to go awry in the late 1970s.

Pondering the veracity of these claims precipitates a lively debate in one's head about the all-too-real implications of Quantum Mechanics, the Many Worlds Interpretation and Observer Created Reality. These are the current cutting edge scientific explanations for how reality works, with mathematical theorems and particle accelerator experiments that have seemingly proven them. Indeed, tests of these theories are presently being conducted at the very same Brookhaven National Lab cyclotron said by Montauk Project survivors to have generated the gigawatts needed for the nearby Camp Hero time travel and mind control experiments.

The Many Worlds Interpretation is an application of the subatomic theorems of Quantum Mechanics to the larger, more familiar scale of matter that we call "reality". The MWI posits that every possibility in reality IS happening. "We" (down to the smallest subatomic particle) are all perceiving and creating infinite parallel universes, constantly. Montaukians and the MWI agree that we each have myriad versions of ourselves simultaneously existing in an endless "smear" of parallel worlds, locked into similar time-track illusions but with slightly different variables, extending infinitely.

The essence of the Quantum Theory of Observer Created Reality is that there is no such thing as an OBJECTIVE reality "out there": it's all in our heads. Everything is consciousness. One begins to see why time travel and mind control experiments would go hand-in-hand...

Though the Montauk Project ceased in the 1983 of our timeline, it is said to be fully operational in numerous parallel worlds. These activities occasionally bleed through into our reality and there is talk about alternate Montaukian timelines threatening to collapse into and merge with ours, entirely. (Whatever THAT really means!)

You had to be there! If you like weird science, look no further. The Montauk Project is one-stop shopping for every conspiracy theory imaginable, electro-physics-psychobabble, mind control, Pleiadians, Greys, the New World Order, Black Magick, closet queens and Delta Force operatives being sent back in time to scam Jesus or change the outcome of World War II. Experiencers swear on their lives that it all really happened. They remember it like it was yesterday (or six thousand years in the future).

Philosophers ask, "If a tree fell in the forest and nobody was there to see it, did it really happen?" The Montaukian corollary is: "If you believe you went to Mars, who's to say you didn't?"

Whatever you may believe about the mental health of the Montauk Project's proponents and whatever core beliefs you may hold dear that are violated by what they discuss, you've got to love them for getting you to think about reality, consciousness and untapped human potentials in a whole new way.

The chief benefit from the study of the nuclear-age pop cult homily of Montauk is this: Everything you can imagine is true, so choose your thoughts thoughtfully, choose your beliefs carefully and choose your REALITY wisely . . .

[TheDave]

http://www.disinfo.com/archive/pages/dossier/id95/pg1/

the montauk project
by Alexandra Bruce (intuit7@yahoo.com) - January 22, 2001

You've got to love a story that is stranger than any fiction but claims to be the God's honest truth. What could be more fabulously outrageous than the idea that your tax dollars have subsidized the demented experiments of an evil cabal of Navy brass, CIA shrinks, fugitive Nazis and Reptoid ETs? What could be more fantastic than the vision of them pow wowing together for a little high-tech, tantric voodoo? How very spicy, that this panoply of government geeks and their alien pals fired up interdimensional vortexes by means of a buff, naked dude who was jacked into a psychotronic chair -- while sporting a raging boner!
Now, THAT'S entertainment. Laugh while you can, Monkey Boy but things will never be the same: They say the universe we call home is artificial; a mirror world that split off from the Original Universe when the Montauk Project started to go awry in the late 1970s.

Pondering the veracity of these claims precipitates a lively debate in one's head about the all-too-real implications of Quantum Mechanics, the Many Worlds Interpretation and Observer Created Reality. These are the current cutting edge scientific explanations for how reality works, with mathematical theorems and particle accelerator experiments that have seemingly proven them. Indeed, tests of these theories are presently being conducted at the very same Brookhaven National Lab cyclotron said by Montauk Project survivors to have generated the gigawatts needed for the nearby Camp Hero time travel and mind control experiments.

The Many Worlds Interpretation is an application of the subatomic theorems of Quantum Mechanics to the larger, more familiar scale of matter that we call "reality". The MWI posits that every possibility in reality IS happening. "We" (down to the smallest subatomic particle) are all perceiving and creating infinite parallel universes, constantly. Montaukians and the MWI agree that we each have myriad versions of ourselves simultaneously existing in an endless "smear" of parallel worlds, locked into similar time-track illusions but with slightly different variables, extending infinitely.

The essence of the Quantum Theory of Observer Created Reality is that there is no such thing as an OBJECTIVE reality "out there": it's all in our heads. Everything is consciousness. One begins to see why time travel and mind control experiments would go hand-in-hand...

Though the Montauk Project ceased in the 1983 of our timeline, it is said to be fully operational in numerous parallel worlds. These activities occasionally bleed through into our reality and there is talk about alternate Montaukian timelines threatening to collapse into and merge with ours, entirely. (Whatever THAT really means!)

You had to be there! If you like weird science, look no further. The Montauk Project is one-stop shopping for every conspiracy theory imaginable, electro-physics-psychobabble, mind control, Pleiadians, Greys, the New World Order, Black Magick, closet queens and Delta Force operatives being sent back in time to scam Jesus or change the outcome of World War II. Experiencers swear on their lives that it all really happened. They remember it like it was yesterday (or six thousand years in the future).

Philosophers ask, "If a tree fell in the forest and nobody was there to see it, did it really happen?" The Montaukian corollary is: "If you believe you went to Mars, who's to say you didn't?"

Whatever you may believe about the mental health of the Montauk Project's proponents and whatever core beliefs you may hold dear that are violated by what they discuss, you've got to love them for getting you to think about reality, consciousness and untapped human potentials in a whole new way.

The chief benefit from the study of the nuclear-age pop cult homily of Montauk is this: Everything you can imagine is true, so choose your thoughts thoughtfully, choose your beliefs carefully and choose your REALITY wisely . . .


wow... i mean.... wow

[loborugger]

http://www.larouchepub.com/lar/2006/3317weimar.html

World System on Weimar
Collapse Curve
by Lyndon H. LaRouche, Jr.

April 20, 2006

The fakery of the outgoing Alan Greenspan administration, in burying the "M3" report, was clearly intended to conceal the fact that the rate of rate of increase of world prices of primary materials has the world as a whole currently on the same kind of "least-action pathway" curve of hyperinflation which gripped Weimar Germany during the second half of the year 1923.

Comparing the present rates of rates of increase of primary materials prices with the pattern for Germany 1923, indicates the likelihood that, under present U.S. and European policies, the world system could reach a point of collapse of the monetary system by not much later than September 2006, if not earlier.

I read that article, and to be honest, I didnt make a ton of sense to me. I am not econ guy, so maybe it means something to someone else.

[alkemical]

I know with the M3 - it also shows money in circulation -

the montauk project interests me, i do not believe it's real, but it sounds like a kick ass story.

[alkemical]

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-04-27-conspiracies-sept-11_x.htm

Conspiracy film rewrites Sept. 11

Gypsy Taub, a mother of three from Oakland, does not believe that 9/11 happened. At least not the way the government said it did.
A Russian émigré, Taub is one of a growing number of people in the USA who are using the Internet, college campuses and pamphleteering to get the word out.

"Oh yeah, absolutely. On the day it happened, I thought it was the government that did it," she said.



http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-04-28-bush-dubai_x.htm

Bush backs Dubai firm's plant operations
Posted 4/28/2006 10:24 AM

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Bush on Friday approved a deal for a Dubai-owned company to take control of some U.S. plants that manufacture parts for American military contractors.
"This was a transaction that was thoroughly reviewed and closely scrutinized," White House press secretary Scott McClellan said in confirming the deal. "In the view of the committee, it does not compromise our national security."

As a condition of the president's approval, the company signed an agreement that promised an uninterrupted supply, McClellan said. The White House was in the process of informing key members of Congress of the president's decision.



http://tvnewslies.org/blog/?p=364

Osama Connected to 9/11? Not According to the F.B.I.
If you take a minute to visit the F.B.I. website and check out their Most Wanted list, you will run across a familiar face; Osama bin Laden. Of course we know that Osama is wanted by the F.B.I. but did you know he is NOT wanted in connection to the events of September 11th 2001?

As of today, 4/28/06, the F.B.I. website listing for Osama notes that it was last updated in November, 2001, after the events of September 11th 2001. While the site notes several crimes for which Osama is suspected, the site makes no mention of the events of September 11th.


http://www.fbi.gov/wanted/topten/fugitives/laden.htm

CAUTION

USAMA BIN LADEN IS WANTED IN CONNECTION WITH THE AUGUST 7, 1998, BOMBINGS OF THE UNITED STATES EMBASSIES IN DAR ES SALAAM, TANZANIA, AND NAIROBI, KENYA. THESE ATTACKS KILLED OVER 200 PEOPLE. IN ADDITION, BIN LADEN IS A SUSPECT IN OTHER TERRORIST ATTACKS THROUGHOUT THE WORLD.




http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/4/28/94455/5569

Republicans Involved In Lobbyist Sex Scandal At The Watergate Hotel?

About five months ago, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported that lobbyist Brent Wilkes (co-conspirator #1 in the Duke Cunningham scanal) knew how to "grease the wheels" of Congress with cash, gifts, favors, and yes, "hospitality suites":

Wilkes befriended other legislators, too. He ran a hospitality suite, with several bedrooms, in Washington - first in the Watergate Hotel and then in the Westin Grand near Capitol Hill.

Hotline picked up on it, and we wondered aloud here whether the bedrooms hinted at a sex scandal about to blow up on Capitol Hill, or whether there was a more benign explanation. After all, no member of Congress would be stupid enough to, well, prostitute himself and the legislative process by accepting the services of a hooker bought and paid for by lobbyists, right?

Well, folks, we may have ourselves a genuine sex scandal.

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that there is enough evidence of a lobbyist-sponsored prostitution ring that investigators are scurrying across D.C., trying to figure out exactly which lawmakers were involved:


In recent weeks, Federal Bureau of Investigation agents have fanned out across Washington, interviewing women from escort services, potential witnesses and others who may have been involved in the arrangement.

Prosecutors were tipped off about the sex-for-favors scheme by Mitchell Wade, who has already plead guilty to bribing Cunningham and is cooperating with investigators. Wilkes, through his attorney, has denied any involvement.




http://business.bostonherald.com/businessNews/view.bg?articleid=136817

Two-tiered Internet: Panel paves way for fees

A Republican-controlled House committee yesterday rejected a measure by U.S. Rep. Edward Markey (D-Malden) that would have barred telecommunication companies from socking Web sites with extra fees based on bandwidth usage.

Markey’s so-called “Internet neutrality” amendment was defeated on a 34-22 vote by members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

With defeat of the amendment, Markey warned yesterday that America is moving closer to a two-tiered Internet system in which telecom firms such as AT&T, Verizon, Comcast and other firms can start giving special price deals to some users - while hitting others with higher fees.

“If that’s what happens, it will be the fast lane for the preferred (players) and the slow lane for others,” he said.

A politically diverse group of Gun Owners of America, Common Cause, the American Civil Liberties Union and others bemoaned what they call an attempt by giant telecom companies to effectively take over the Internet.


http://www.courierpostonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060428/OPINION/604280325/1046

Federal tax on gas should be shelved

Unless most Americans suddenly get a huge pay raise in the next month, gas prices rising above $3 a gallon and staying there through the summer or longer threaten to send this country into a serious economic funk.

That's why Congress and the president need to act.

President Bush was right Tuesday to call for a federal inquiry into possible illegal gas price manipulation and to ask Congress to make tax credits available to anyone who buys a hybrid or clean diesel vehicle this year.

But lawmakers in Washington also should heed the call of U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez, D-Hoboken, and suspend the federal gas tax. Menendez has suggested a 60-day "holiday" from the tax, which adds 18.4 cents to the price of every gallon.



http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,70726-0.html?tw=wn_index_1

Your Thoughts Are Your Password

What if you could one day unlock your door or access your bank account by simply "thinking" your password? Too far out? Perhaps not.

Researchers at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada, are exploring the possibility of a biometric security device that will use a person's thoughts to authenticate her or his identity.



http://www.unknownnews.org/0604280424PoliceExpo.html

New Jersey mall offers glimpse of police state future

ROCKAWAY TOWNSHIP, NJ -- The fourth annual Police Expo turned out to be a learning experience for one Blairstown teen -- Don't try to steal in front of police officers.

The 18-year-old man had walked up to the booth staffed by Mendham and Mendham Township police officers on Saturday with a particular interest in the display case holding facsimiles of popular drugs.

That alone would have been harmless. But he decided that he wanted a closer look and tried to pop open the case, police said.




http://www.variety.com/VR1117942127.html


'Atlas' pic mapped

Ayn Rand's most ambitious novel may finally be brought to the bigscreen after years of false starts.
Lionsgate has picked up worldwide distribution rights to "Atlas Shrugged" from Howard and Karen Baldwin ("Ray"), who will produce with John Aglialoro.

As for stars, book provides an ideal role for an actress in lead character Dagny Taggart, so it's not a stretch to assume Rand enthusiast Angelina JolieAngelina Jolie's name has been brought up. Brad PittBrad Pitt, also a fan, is rumored to be among the names suggested for lead male character John Galt.

"Atlas Shrugged," which runs more than 1,100 pages, has faced a lengthy and circuitous journey to a film adaptation.




http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/business/14446389.htm

Unisys to pitch for biometricsThe Blue Bell firm hopes to sell a tech congress on a system that identifies people through their unique physical traits.

Next week in Austin, Texas, some of the world's top technologists will ponder ways to make our increasingly vital computer networks more useful, more interdependent and less vulnerable.

Against that backdrop at the World Congress on Information Technology, Blue Bell-based Unisys Corp. will present a case for embedding one of its key and controversial product lines - biometrics - into that electronic landscape.

Biometrics is the use of fingerprints, eyeball scans, voice prints, and other unique physical traits to identify individuals and often to grant or deny access, either electronically or physically.

[alkemical]

http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory?id=1902688&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312


Bird Flu Coming to TV in ABC Made-For-Television Movie 'Fatal Contact: Bird Flu in America'

WASHINGTON Apr 28, 2006 (AP)— Bodies piling up so quickly it takes dump trucks to haul them away. Barbed wire to keep whole neighborhoods quarantined. It's Hollywood's version of bird flu, a blur of fact and fiction that some scientists say could confuse the public.

"Fatal Contact: Bird Flu in America," an ABC made-for-television movie, airs May 9, just as scientists are to begin testing of wild birds in Alaska that could herald the arrival of bird flu in North America. Scientists fear the bird flu virus could evolve so it could be passed from human to human, sparking a global pandemic.



http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/E2942168-3ACD-4B51-9AD2-DBEE00F49D26.htm

Mystery over 400 dead dolphins
Hundreds of dolphins have been found dead along the shore of a tourist destination on Zanzibar's northern coast.


Villagers, fishermen and hotel residents found the dolphins' carcasses on Friday and alerted officials.

It was not immediately clear what killed the 400 dolphins, though scientists ruled out poisoning.

Narriman Jidawi, a marine biologist at the Institute of Marine Science in Zanzibar, said their carcasses were strewn along a 4km stretch of Nungwi.



http://www.freepress.org/departments/display/20/2006/1946

The "New Totalitarianism" now defines a desperate neo-con end game
by Bob Fitrakis and Harvey Wasserman
May 1, 2006

As the Bush/neo-con kleptocracy disintegrates in a toxic cloud of military defeat, economic bankruptcy, environmental disaster and escalating mega-scandal, its attack on basic American freedoms---its "New Totalitarianism"---has escalated to a desperate new level, including brutal Soviet-style prosecutions against non-violent dissidents and an all-out offensive for state secrecy, including an attack on the internet.

In obvious panic and disarray, the GOP right has turned to a time-honored strategy---kill the messengers. While it slaughters Americans and Iraqis to "bring democracy" to the Middle East, it has made democracy itself public enemy Number One here at home.



http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cenk-uygur/the-shadow-government_b_20110.html

The Shadow Government

The Boston Globe is now reporting that the president believes he has the authority to disobey over 750 laws passed by Congress. And those are just the laws passed on his watch. As we've already seen with the FISA statute, the president also feels he has the right to ignore laws passed by previous administrations as well.



If the president feels he is free to ignore a great number of laws - and he is on the record as implementing that belief by disobeying some long established laws - there is a whole different government running the country than we think there is.

There is the government with the laws we think we have. And the government with the laws the president secretly says we have. This secret set of decisions on which laws will and won't be applied is what makes up the new shadow government.



http://www.iamthewitness.com/DarylBradfordSmith_BlackPope.html

The Jesuits, the Vatican, the Black Pope...
Masterminds of 9-11? No! Don't fall for the deception!

The Vatican is not the mastermind to the world's corruption!

The pilots of the planes who attacked the USS Liberty were Israelis, not Jesuits. Take a look yourself: USSLiberty.org or judicial-inc liberty

The "dancing Arabs" on 9-11 turned out to be Israelis with Arab clothing, not Jesuits with Arab clothing.

The "art students" that were picked up after 9-11 were Israeli Jews, not Italian Catholics.

The landlord of the World Trade Center is Jewish, not Catholic, and so are most all of the people pushing the Black Pope nonsense and trying to cover up the demolition of the towers.

The television, newspapers, and magazines that are suppressing evidence of these crimes are Jewish, not Italian or Catholic.

There are lots of reasons to believe Zionists are the problem:
www.iamthewitness.com/DarylBradfordSmith_ZionSummary.html




http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060501/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/puerto_rico_shutdown;_ylt=AihLjhwPIS.AFCxOJ5QVH8as 0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3b3JuZGZhBHNlYwM3MjE

Puerto Rico Imposes Partial Shutdown

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - Schools closed. Building permits were on hold. Renewing a driver's license was impossible.
Many basic functions of Puerto Rico's government were unavailable Monday as the U.S. commonwealth ran out of money and imposed a partial public-sector shutdown — putting nearly 100,000 people — including 40,000 teachers — out of work and granting an unscheduled holiday to 500,000 public school students.

The shutdown — the first in Puerto Rico's history — happened despite last-minute attempts by members of the legislature and Gov. Anibal Acevedo Vila to agree on a bailout plan.



http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/breaking_news/14467400.htm

LA Times discontinues reporter's column, blog

LOS ANGELES - The Los Angeles Times announced it is discontinuing the column and Internet blog of a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter because the paper says he posted items online using assumed names.

The discontinuation of Michael Hiltzik's Golden State column, reported in an editor's note on the Times' Web site Sunday, came a week after the paper suspended Hiltzik's Golden State blog. The editor's note said the blog was also being discontinued.

"Hiltzik did not commit any ethical violations in his newspaper column, and an internal inquiry found no inaccurate reporting in his postings in his blog or on the Web," the editor's note said. "But employing pseudonyms constitutes deception and violates a central tenet of The Times' ethics guidelines: Staff members must not misrepresent themselves and must not conceal their affiliation with The Times."



http://truthpackagemachine.blogspot.com/2006/04/disgrace-to-fbi.html

A Disgrace To The FBI

One of the FBI's dirtiest secrets is that Dwayne Fuselier the FBI agent in charge of the Columbine investigation, had at least one son in the Trench Coat Mafia. When a Denver news reporter questioned him, he refused to even discuss it.




http://news.com.com/Congress%20may%20consider%20mandatory%20ISP%20snoo ping/2100-1028_3-6066608.html?tag=sas.email

Congress may consider mandatory ISP snooping

It didn't take long for the idea of forcing Internet providers to retain records of their users' activities to gain traction in the U.S. Congress.

Last week, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, a Republican, gave a speech saying that data retention by Internet service providers is an "issue that must be addressed." Child pornography investigations have been "hampered" because data may be routinely deleted, Gonzales warned.
Now, in a demonstration of bipartisan unity, a Democratic member of the Congressional Internet Caucus is preparing to introduce an amendment--perhaps during a U.S. House of Representatives floor vote next week--that would make such data deletion illegal.

Colorado Rep. Diana DeGette's proposal (click for PDF) says that any Internet service that "enables users to access content" must permanently retain records that would permit police to identify each user. The records could not be discarded until at least one year after the user's account was closed.




http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/home/article/0,1299,DRMN_1_4658379,00.html

Would you turn this girl in?

University of Colorado police have posted pictures of 150 people on a website smoking pot on the "420" day celebration last week and are offering a $50 reward for anyone who can identify them.
Police spokesman Lt. Tim McGraw said they received more than 50 calls within the first hours of posting the pictures online Thursday afternoon. He said police were in the process of confirming the tips today.

"I mean the phones were ringing off the hook," he said.

The pictures were taken by people in the crowd at Farrand Field on April 20, a day of revelry for marijuana smokers.
Anyone who knows people in the pictures is asked to call 303-492-8168. The $50 reward will be given to the first caller who correctly identifies someone pictured on the site.




http://hammeroftruth.com/2006/04/25/southern-fried-justice-becoming-epidemic/

Southern Fried Justice Becoming Epidemic

“You’re not ****ing listening. You hear what I told you? I told you not to be talking. Didn’t I tell you not to be talking? That’s just the ****ing beginning. This mother ****er right here, he loves seeing blood. He loves it. He loves seeing blood. You’re talking too much. Listen to what I’m telling you. He loves ****ing seeing blood. He’ll beat your ass and lick it off of you.”

We just covered one story about justice served southern style. Radly Balko also brings to mind another case, this time in Tennessee. While the transcript of the Lester Eugene Siler torture tape has been available for some time, Balko’s link provided my first chance to hear the audio.

If you don’t recall the story, Siler was brutally tortured by Tennessee police officers during a drug raid. We would never have heard this story had Siler’s wife not secretly turned a tape recorder on. While five cops were convicted, they were given extremely lenient sentences — mostly for civil rights charges, as opposed to the life terms they all deserved. Contrast this with Cory Maye, who was given a death penalty for what seems to be a case of reasonable self-defense.



http://www.channeloklahoma.com/news/9023840/detail.html

Authority To Confiscate Guns During Emergencies Considered

OKLAHOMA CITY -- An Oklahoma legislator said he hopes to make some changes to a new law that makes it illegal for authorities to confiscate weapons during a state of emergency.

State Rep. Mike Shelton said House Bill 2696 has placed the power of the law into the wrong hands.

"During states of emergency, I think police need total control. They don't need to worry who has guns and who doesn't. If the governor calls for Oklahomans to relinquish their guns, the public needs to do so," Shelton said.




http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/us-allowed-zarqawi-to-escape/2006/04/30/1146335608444.html


US 'allowed Zarqawi to escape'
The United States deliberately passed up repeated opportunities to kill the head of al-Qaeda in Iraq, Jordanian-born terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, before the March 2003 US-led invasion of that country.

The claim, by former US spy Mike Scheuer, was made in an interview to be shown on ABC TV's Four Corners tonight.

Zarqawi is often described as a lieutenant of Osama bin Laden, whose supporters masterminded the September 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington.


http://daoureport.salon.com/synopsis.aspx?synopsisId=9567d0bb-390c-41f7-b317-2312cb69e096

Ignoring Colbert: A Small Taste of the Media's Power to Choose the News - The White House Correspondents' Association Dinner was televised on C-Span Saturday evening. Featured entertainer Stephen Colbert delivered a biting rebuke of George W. Bush and the lily-livered press corps. He did it to Bush's face, unflinching and unbowed by the audience's muted, humorless response. Democratic Underground members commented in real time (here, here, and here). TMV posted a wrap-up.
On Colbert's gutsy delivery, watertiger writes, "Stephen Colbert displayed more guts in ten minute of performance at the White House Correspondents Dinner than the entire Bush family. He, along with the ever-feisty Helen Thomas, deftly exposed the "truthiness" to the world (or at least those who were watching) that Bush AND the D.C. press corps are indeed a naked emperor and his gutless courtiers."

Mash at dKos says, "Standing at the podium only a few feet from President Bush, Colbert launched an all out assault on the policies of this Administration. It was remarkable, though painful at times, to watch. It may also have been the first time that anyone has been this blunt with this President. By the end of Colbert's routine, Bush was visibly uncomfortable. Colbert ended with a video featuring Helen Thomas repeatedly asking why we invaded Iraq. That is a question President Bush has yet to answer to the American public. I am not sure what kind of review Stephen Colbert's performance will get in the press. One thing is however certain - his performance was important and will reverberate."

[alkemical]

http://www.newsnet5.com/politics/9146477/detail.html?taf=nn5


Poll Rage? Man Breaks Machines At Polling Location
Man Faces Several Charges

POSTED: 11:56 am EDT May 2, 2006
UPDATED: 2:53 pm EDT May 2, 2006

CLEVELAND -- A 61-year-old man was arrested after an alleged poll rage incident, NewsChannel5 reported. Officials said Marc A. Fenster was arrested after he knocked over two voting machines worth $2,700 each.
They also said he assaulted a 17-year-old outside the polling place.
Fenster faces disorderly conduct, obstructing official business and resisting arrest charges. It took several people to restrain Fenster, who was trying to vote at a 4330 Jennings Road. It's unclear what caused him to become upset.

http://infowars.net/articles/may2006/020506ISPs.htm

The Internet is Dead, Long Live the Internet
Total regulation rules are close at hand, a new internet will kill free speech and weed out anything deemed "inappropriate"

Steve Watson / Infowars | May 2 2006

In the space of a few months debate has gone from "pressure on internet service providers" to make available user records to calls for all out mandatory ISP snooping on all US citizens.

In a display of bi-partisanship, both Democrats and Republicans are calling for such measures.

“Last week, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, a Republican, gave a speech saying that data retention by Internet service providers is an ‘issue that must be addressed.’ Child pornography investigations have been ‘hampered’ because data may be routinely deleted, Gonzales warned,” reports Declan McCullagh of CNET News.

Now Democratic member of the Congressional Internet Caucus, Diana DeGette, wants an an amendment that would make such data deletion illegal.

DeGette says that any Internet service that ‘enables users to access content’ must permanently retain records that would permit police to identify each user. The records could not be discarded until at least one year after the user's account was closed.

This may mean that any normal website or blog would have to fall into line with such new rules and suddenly total web regulation would become a reality.

The excuse for this as either a standalone measure or as an amendment to a broad telecommunications bill that is moving rapidly through the House, is that it is designed to protect children.

We are being led to believe that a vast army of maniac pedophiles are on the loose and we must do away with all forms of privacy in order to stop them. This is akin to saying that blanket cctv prevents crime. As if to say "if we film everyone all the time, even innocent people, then no one will ever commit any crimes."

Increasingly we are seeing this in every aspect of our lives. Recording, tracking and retaining our data in the name of keeping us all safe. Everyone is now treated as guilty until proven innocent.





http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=1684086&page=1

Exclusive: Top CIA Official Under Investigation

No. 3 Official at CIA Is Subject of Investigation Related to Bribery Probe

March 3, 2006 — A stunning investigation of bribery and corruption in Congress has spread to the CIA, ABC News has learned.

The CIA inspector general has opened an investigation into the spy agency's executive director, Kyle "Dusty" Foggo, and his connections to two defense contractors accused of bribing a member of Congress and Pentagon officials.


For more investigations by Brian Ross and ABC Investigative Unit, click here.

The CIA released an official statement on the matter to ABC News, saying: "It is standard practice for CIA's Office of Inspector General — an aggressive, independent watchdog — to look into assertions that mention agency officers. That should in no way be seen as lending credibility to any allegation.

"Mr. Foggo has overseen many contracts in his decades of public service. He reaffirms that they were properly awarded and administered."


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060501/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush_abramoff

Records of Abramoff's White House Visits

WASHINGTON - The Secret Service has agreed to turn over White House visitor logs that will show how often convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff met with Bush administration officials — and with whom he met.

U.S. District Judge John Garrett Penn last Tuesday approved an agreement between the Secret Service and Judicial Watch, a public interest group, that requires the agency to produce records of Abramoff's visits from Jan. 1, 2001, to the present.

Judicial Watch filed suit in February after the Secret Service failed to respond to its request under the federal Freedom of Information Act.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/28/AR2006042802345.html?nav=rss_politics

Prostitution Alleged In Cunningham Case

Federal authorities are investigating allegations that a California defense contractor arranged for a Washington area limousine company to provide prostitutes to convicted former congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham (R-Calif.) and possibly other lawmakers, sources familiar with the probe said yesterday.



http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/02/us/02charity.html?ex=1304222400&en=56eaeae1b9dcdec8&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss

Qatar Grants Millions in Aid to New Orleans
By STEPHANIE STROM
The nation of Qatar plans to announce today roughly $60 million in grants to benefit the victims of Hurricane Katrina, including $17.5 million to Xavier University of Louisiana, the only historically black Catholic university in the United States.

Other beneficiaries are Tulane University, Children's Hospital in New Orleans, Habitat for Humanity, Louisiana State University and the March of Dimes.

Nasser Bin Hamad M. al-Khalifa, Qatar's ambassador to the United States, said the remainder of the $100 million his country had pledged would be assigned in the coming months.



http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060502/ap_on_go_co/congress_island

Republican Revives Island Hunting Plan

WASHINGTON - The chairman of the House Armed Services committee is reviving a controversial proposal to allow members of the military to hunt deer and elk on a national park island off California. Opponents fear the plan could limit public access to Channel Islands National Park and threaten native species.

Rep. Duncan Hunter (news, bio, voting record), R-Calif., backed off his plan to allow military hunting on 53,000-acre Santa Rosa Island after objections from senators last year. But a major defense bill his committee will take up Wednesday may revive the proposal, according to bill language circulated Monday.

Hunter's proposal would allow the hunting of nonnative elk and deer on Santa Rosa Island, 40 miles off Santa Barbara, to continue indefinitely even though a court-ordered settlement calls for it to end in 2011.

[alkemical]

http://www.counterpunch.org/roberts05022006.html

The Omnipotent (But Far From Omniscient) Executive
Endgame for the Constitution


The Bush administration has done more damage to Americans and more harm to America's reputation than any other administration in history. Yet, a majority of Republicans still support Bush. This tells much about blind party loyalty. By encouraging the move offshore of American jobs and manufacturing, Bush has run up tremendous trade deficits that have undermined the world's confidence in the dollar as the reserve currency. Recently, both Chinese and Russian government officials warned of the dollar's shaky status. The fall in confidence in the dollar is evidenced by the sharp run-up in the price of gold. In January 2001 the price of gold was about $240 per ounce. Today the price is $660 per ounce. The price of gasoline has risen from around $1.30 per gallon to over $3.00 per gallon. Obviously, Bush's war in the Middle East did not ensure the oil supply.




http://www.mojones.com/commentary/columns/2006/05/predator_state.html

WHAT IS THE REAL NATURE of American capitalism today? Is it a grand national adventure, as politicians and textbooks aver, in which markets provide the framework for benign competition, from which emerges the greatest good for the greatest number? Or is it the domain of class struggle, even a “global class war,” as the title of Jeff Faux’s new book would have it, in which the “party of Davos” outmaneuvers the remnants of the organized working class?




http://blog.futurestreetconsulting.com/?p=15

Why Copyright Doesn’t Matter

If you overvalue possessions, people begin to steal.
- Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching


Although the New York Times found the new film Alternative Freedom a sloppy, disjointed, jingoistic mess, the movie does

break new ground, highlighing the growing threat to public expression posed by restrictive copyright laws and digital rights management technologies. Supporting the “copyfight” thesis – that copyright law is slowly strangling the public’s ability to sample, remix and redistribute the ideas sold to them by entertainment companies – Alternative Freedom ventures beyond these
familiar tropes: as video game systems, mobile phones and even printer toner cartridges become ever-more restrictive in the way they operate, we’re being sold devices which dictate their own terms of use. Any deviation from that usage is, in effect, a violation of copyright law. With appropriate legal penalties. Coincidentally, this week the US Congress began to deliberate strong and almost draconian extensions to the nation’s copyright laws, adding odious criminal penalties for what have – until now – been civil violations. Large-scale, commercial violators of copyright have always been criminals; now even the casual user could become a felon for any redistribution of content under copyright. As peer-to-peer filesharing networks grow ever broader in scope, become ever more difficult to detect, and ever harder to disrupt and destroy, the pressure builds. In essence, this is the last legal gasp of the entertainment industry to maintain control over the distribution of their productions.


http://www.strike-the-root.com/61/antunez/antunez5.html

The Freedom Wage

Exclusive to STR

Over the past two months, a bastion of liberal thought has been under attack, but neither by rabid religious fundamentalists nor by the Department of Homeland Security and its minions. The University of Miami , headed by its dyed-in-the-wool liberal President Donna Shalala, is under attack by its janitorial workers, who claim they are being exploited by their employer
Unicco and ignored by the university because they are being paid only $6.70 an hour. We are all well aware of the existence of the Minimum Wage (currently $5.15 an hour) here in the United States , ushered in during the New Deal era; the Minimum Wage was seen as a way to protect workers against greedy and exploitive capitalists. Fairness was supposedly at the heart of the minimum wage, and it was seen by the many as a way to insure the livelihood of those lowest on the economic totem pole. Today many state and local governments (not to be outdone) have introduced the superior-termed (yet just as ineffective) Living Wage, which of course is higher than the Minimum Wage and in many cases includes a health care coverage component.




http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12440783/site/newsweek

Physics: From Time to Time

May 1, 2006 issue - Ronald Mallett, a University of Connecticut physics professor, thinks time travel is possible—and he's designed an experiment that could do it. Basically, he wants to "swirl" empty space the way you'd swirl coffee in a cup, using a laser as the stirrer. Because space and time are more or less the same, swirling empty space could also swirl time. Mallett would then drop subatomic particles into his roiling cup of space-time and see if they're hurtled a few nanoseconds into the future.



http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/may2006/030506realracists.htm


Exposing The Real Racists In The Immigration Debate
"Day without gringos" sums it up

The real racists and ringleaders of this week's demonstrations are extremist adherents to the militant La Raca philosophy.

Their Mein Kampf is a plan to ethnically cleanse America of whites, blacks and dissenting Hispanics, leaving just the 'super race' to install the mythical kingdom of Atzlan.

Sound bizarre? We have laboriously documented this open call for genocide on the part of Hispanic extremists on multiple occasions.

Lou Dobbs was correct in saying that radical groups were behind the protests but to identify ANSWER, a milquetoast socialist anti-war group as the kingpin is misleading. The real protagonists are the violently hateful and racist la reconquista outfits that seek to completely marginalize and brutally oppress white and black Americans while seizing control of the entire southern and western states of America.




http://cannonfire.blogspot.com/2005/12/deeper-into-wilkesmzm-scandals-updated.html

The truth: Wilkes was a mechanism by which public funds earmarked for national defense were funneled to G.O.P. candidates and causes.

Want proof?

Defense contracts are a matter of public record. A reader named John Dean (no, not the Watergate-related John Dean) has been going through some of the records related to Wilkes -- a job which ought to be done by congressional investigators. On one form, the given address does not relate to the massive Wilkes complex on Stowe Avenue in Poway. Instead, the address is 15092 Avenue of Science, San Diego CA 92128.




http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/news/1144140003213060.xml&coll=2


Blackwell reports embarrassing buy of Diebold stock

Columbus -Secretary of State Ken Blackwell made an embarrassing announcement Monday: He accidentally bought stock in Diebold

Inc., a voting machine maker that benefited from decisions made by his office. In a required filing with the Ohio Ethics Commission, the GOP gubernatorial hopeful said his hefty portfolio included 178 shares of Diebold stock, which sold for a loss. "While I was unaware of this stock in my portfolio, its mere presence may be viewed as a conflict," Blackwell wrote in a letter that accompanies his annual financial disclosure statement.


How do you "accidentally" buy stock?




http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=102940

Israel Marks Independence Day with $1.7 Billion Budget Surplus Contrasting dramatically with the situation 58 years ago, the government can celebrate this Independence Day with a NIS 7.7 billion budget surplus.


From January 1 to the end of April, the government took in NIS 7.7 billion ($1.7 billion) more than it spent. The unusual budgetary surplus was, ironically, partly the result of the government operating without a budget for 2006. A budget has yet to be approved for the current fiscal year, because new elections were called before the Knesset was able to pass one. As a result, the entire government is running as if the 2005 budget is still in effect. Each month, the Finance Ministry simply allocates each ministry 1/12 of last year’s budget.




http://www.newsnet5.com/politics/9144311/detail.html?taf=nn5

Cleveland Polling Place Delays Statewide Election Results. With all the problems reported at the polls Tuesday, NewsChannel5 has learned that the absentee results will be delayed. About 17,000 absentee votes will have to be hand counted because of a problem with optical scanners. There were also reports of problems with the new electronic machines. Both machines are made by Diebold, NewsChannel5's Duane Pohlman reported.
Tubbs Jones said if fault is found in the manufacturers, the responsible company should pay.

http://www.antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=2859

The Stab in the Back
Israel plays the Kurdish card – and Americans are caught in the crossfire
The victors in the Iraq war are now moving rapidly to consolidate their gains, and carry out the second phase of their operation. No, I don't mean the June 30 American handover of pseudo-"sovereignty" to a puppet regime, but the ongoing invasion of Kurdistan by Israeli operatives trying to spark a war of secession. Thanks – once again – to the indispensable Seymour Hersh, the truth about what is happening in Iraq – and why – is coming out, as the real victors help themselves to the spoils of war. While American troops are fighting and dying to maintain the independence and unity of the Iraqi state, the Israelis, operating behind our backs and in the shadows, are working to split the country up:

"In a series of interviews in Europe, the Middle East, and the United States, officials told me that by the end of last year Israel had concluded that the Bush Administration would not be able to bring stability or democracy to Iraq, and that Israel needed other options. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's government decided, I was told, to minimize the damage that the war was causing to Israel's strategic position by expanding its long-standing relationship with Iraq's Kurds and establishing a significant presence on the ground in the semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan. Several officials depicted Sharon's decision, which involves a heavy financial commitment, as a potentially reckless move that could create even more chaos and violence as the insurgency in Iraq continues to grow."

Gee, I thought Israel had nothing to do with this war, and that anyone who said otherwise was merely spreading anti-Semitic canards. Why, in that case, does Israel need "other options," or, indeed, any options at all?



http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/5/2/10177/11404

Rove's Unexplained Personal Wealth

Have you ever wondered how a man who owns a $1,500,000 house in DC, a $1,000,000+ house in Florida and a $48,000 cottage in Texas manages to survive on $161,000 a year federal salary? It's odd. Would it raise questions that same man had sold a property to a shell company controlled by his former business partners and that man made between $250,000 and $750,000 profit?

Maybe it would raise further questions if those former business partners that bought the property were raking in millions of political dollars from the Bush-Cheney presidential campaign, the RNC and multiple other Republican candidates? Would that just be a coincidence? Well, those are a string of coincidences that happened to Karl Rove.

[alkemical]

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/la-fi-forever3may03,1,7584113.story?ctrack=1&cset=true


An Alert Unlike Any Other
A nuclear waste vault in New Mexico will long outlive our society. Experts are working on elaborate ways to warn future civilizations.

CARLSBAD, N.M. — Roger Nelson has a simple and unequivocal message for the people of the year 12006: Don't dig here. As chief scientist of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, Nelson oversees a cavernous salt mine that is the first geological lockbox for the "fiendishly toxic" detritus of nuclear weapons production: chemical sludge, lab gear and filters laced with tons of radioactive plutonium.



http://www.villagevoice.com/books/0618,blumenkranz,73041,10.html

Book of Daniel
Prophet margin: Five years before Aztec god returns!

Daniel Pinchbeck's new spirtualist manifesto 2012 is understandably hesitant to make itself plain. But if he's correct there's not much time left to put faith on the table: half a decade, in fact, until the return of the Mayan god Quetzacoatl and the elevation of human consciousness to a new plane of psychic harmony. Following years of immersion in psychedelics (chronicled in his first book, Breaking Open the Head) and exploration of every conceivable philosophic tradition, Pinchbeck—once an editor at Open City and literary type about town—now believes himself the reincarnation of the ancient
Buddhist emperor Ashoka, fated to predict and catalyze an imminent global revelation.



http://www.dibbukbox.com/

Here is the story of the haunted wine box, exactly as it appeared on eBay. You form your own opinion.




http://heritage.scotsman.com/myths.cfm?id=627062006

Tune into the Da Vinci coda

Tune into the Da Vinci coda
LEIGHTON BRUCE

ROSSLYN Chapel holds many secrets. For hundreds of years experts and visitors alike have puzzled over the carvings in the chapel. Whilst some debate whether they point to hidden treasure, Edinburgh composer Stuart Mitchell thinks he has cracked one part of the enigma. He believes that the ornate ceiling of carved arches, featuring 213 decorated cubes holds a code for medieval music. His father Thomas Mitchell spent 20 years cracking this code in the ceiling and now Stuart is orchestrating the findings for a new recording called The Rosslyn Motet.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4968338.stm

The cloaking devices that are used to render spacecraft invisible in Star Trek might just work in reality, two mathematicians have claimed. They have outlined their concept in a research paper published in one of the UK Royal Society's scientific journals. Nicolae Nicorovici and Graeme Milton propose that placing certain objects close to a material called a superlens could make
them appear to vanish.


http://tvnewslies.org/html/terrorism__globalism_and_consp.html

Free on line video: Terrorism, Globalism and Conspiracy

Dr. Michael Parenti: "Terrorism, Globalism and Conspiracy" - OCTOBER 9, 2002, VANCOUVER: Dr. Michael Parenti, one of North

America's leading writers on U.S. imperialism and ... all » interventionism, fascism, democracy and the media, spoke to several hundred people at St. Andrews Wesley Church in Vancouver. Dr. Parenti has taught political science at a number of colleges and universities in the United States and other countries. He was written 250 major magazine articles and 15 books and is frequently heard on public and alternative radio.




http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2006/05/03/boyle2/index_np.html

Key Bush judge under ethics cloud
Following a Salon report, top Democrats say Bush nominee Terrence Boyle's record is "outrageous" and that he has "no place on the federal bench."


Key Democrats denounced Terrence Boyle on Capitol Hill Monday and Tuesday, after a Salon report revealed that the controversial judge, nominated to one of the nation's highest courts by President Bush, violated federal law on conflicts of interest. As the debate over Boyle heated up, the White House acknowledged that Boyle should have recused himself in cases
involving companies in which he owned stock -- but continued its support of the nominee.




http://www.thejewishweek.com/news/newscontent.php3?artid=12350

Iran-Israel Linkage By Bush Seen As Threat
Jewish leaders warn of backlash as president cites Jewish state as rationale for possible strikes.


President Bush is risking a backlash that could injure the Jewish community — and his own cause — by repeatedly citing Israel as his top rationale for possible U.S. military conflict with Iran, Jewish leaders and Middle East analysts warned this week. Bush’s repeated, sometimes exclusive, focus on Israel could spark public fury against the Jewish state and Jews if U.S.
military action is accompanied by skyrocketing gas prices, terrorism at home or fallen G.I.’s who might be seen as dying for Israel, some said. Others feared it could fracture the shaky international coalition Bush is striving to assemble to oppose Iran’s nuclear program by framing the threat as primarily to Israel rather than international stability. Ambassador Edward Walker, a former U.S. envoy to Israel who now heads the Middle East Institute in Washington, termed Bush’s Israel focus “a terrible idea.”



http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12616864/

Antipsychotic drug use among kids soars
Report raises concerns that mind-altering pills are being overprescribed

NEW YORK - The number of children taking antipsychotic medicines soared 73 percent in the four years ending in 2005, far outpacing the increase in adults, according to a Medco Health Solutions Inc. report released Tuesday. Use of the new class of drugs known as atypical antipsychotics by people 19 and younger skyrocketed 80 percent in the same time period, according to the pharmacy benefit manager. Antipsychotic drug prescriptions for that age group comprise a relatively small amount of the total for such medicines, Medco said. In 2005, 15 percent of prescriptions for such drugs were for children while 85 percent were for adults.



http://news.com.com/FCC%20approves%20Net-wiretapping%20taxes/2100-1028_3-6067971.html?tag=nefd.lede

FCC approves Net-wiretapping taxes

update WASHINGTON--Broadband providers and Internet phone companies will have to pick up the tab for the cost of building in mandatory wiretap access for police surveillance, federal regulators ruled Wednesday. The Federal Communications Commission voted unanimously to levy what likely will amount to wiretapping taxes on companies, municipalities and universities, saying it would create an incentive for them to keep costs down and that it was necessary to fight the war on terror. Universities have estimated their cost to be about $7 billion. "The first obligation is...the safety of the people," said FCC Commissioner Michael Copps, a Democrat. "This commission supports efforts to protect the public safety and homeland security of the United States and its people."


http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/frontpage/index.ssf?/base/news-5/1146723317321760.xml

Businessman pleads guilty to paying bribes to Jefferson

WASHINGTON -- Federal authorities ratcheted up their case against Rep. William Jefferson, D-New Orleans, on Wednesday, when a Kentucky businessman admitted in court to paying more than $400,000 in bribes to a bogus company controlled by the congressman's wife and family in exchange for official favors.



http://www.newsday.com/business/ny-bztax0504,0,2384301.story?coll=ny-top-headlines

Happy returns for acquitted tax accountant
Accountant charged with filing false income tax papers for clients, arguing wages are not taxable, acquitted though IRS says taxes are due


Bay Shore accountant has been acquitted of income-tax evasion charges after he filed returns for 36 clients claiming that salaries cannot be legally taxed. But don't get ready to go rushing out to your tax preparer next April. While the tactic initially saved the clients $500,000 in taxes, the Internal Revenue Service has since required them to pay tax on their salaries, according to court records.

The acquittal Tuesday by a jury in U.S. District Court in Central Islip was the second time in three months that the government has failed to convict Paul Petrino of charges of aiding and abetting false tax filings from 1999 to 2001. His defense was based on arguments from the tax-protester movement, which questions the validity of the federal income tax laws. Petrino prepared the returns in his home office and most of his clients were from Long Island.
The case was a retrial of the same charges in February that resulted in a hung jury, split 6-6, according to Petrino's attorney, Robert Fink.

The jurors who acquitted Petrino, who faced 61/2 years in prison, were angry that they had to do so, Fink acknowledged after speaking with them yesterday. But he said they accepted his argument that there was "reasonable doubt" that his client was intentionally committing a crime.

He called the verdict a victory for the average man "over the overwhelming power of the federal government, the Justice Department and the Internal Revenue Service."



http://www.democrats.com/node/8815

How Kent State Could Happen Again

It was 36 years ago today that Miller, Allison Krause, Sandra Scheuer and William Schroeder, were massacred by Army National Guardsmen at a Vietnam war protest on the Kent State campus. It was a watershed event that touched off a nationwide student strike that forced hundreds of colleges and universities to close and signaled the zenith of American opposition to that war.




http://www.capitaleye.org/wilkes_recips.asp

Recipients of “Wilkes Corp/ADCS Inc” PAC and Individual Donations, 1995-2005*



http://www.capitaleye.org/inside.asp?ID=210

Casting Off Abramoff

Contributions and lobbying by the disgraced lobbyist’s clients totaled $55 million. How much of the money, as Sen. Frist said, is ‘tainted’?



http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/000542.php

GOP's Ed Rollins: Hookergate is "Big"
By Justin Rood - May 3, 2006, 10:15 PM
GOP super-strategist Ed Rollins (late of the Katherine Harris campaign) made a couple interesting comments on Charlie Rose

last night. First, he indicated strongly that he believes a number of the other lawmakers in trouble with Hookergate are Defense appropriators. He also says as many as 15 lawmakers could get indicted over the mess in the next few months. Maybe Ed's playing the expectations game: if voters buy the 15 number, and only seven actually get busted, well then the kids aren't so bad after all.



http://www.wired.com/news/technology/security/0,70785-0.html?tw=wn_index_13

Feds Go All Out to Kill Spy Suit

When the government told a court Friday that it wanted a class-action lawsuit regarding the National Security Agency's eavesdropping on Americans dismissed, its lawyers wielded one of the most powerful legal tools available to the executive branch -- the state secrets privilege. That privilege allows the government to tell a judge that a civil case may expose information detrimental to national security, and to ask that testimony or documents be hidden or a lawsuit dismissed. That extraordinary executive power was established in English common law and upheld in a 1953 Supreme Court case involving the fatal crash of a secret bomber.

[alkemical]

"Only the defeated and deserters go to the wars, cowards that run away and enlist." ~ Henry David Thoreau


http://timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=476897&category=CAPITOL&BCCode=HOME&newsdate=4/30/2006

Libertarians endorse Weld
Contender for GOP governor embraces ballot line, but not all issues of party

Correction: A story on Sunday's Capital Region cover misquoted a state Libertarian Party member who nominated himself for governor at the party's convention Saturday. He also was misidentified. It was Sam Sloan who said: "We used to be called the party of principle. We're not anymore. Now we're the party of political expediency."
COLONIE -- Republican gubernatorial candidate William Weld was endorsed Saturday by the state Libertarian Party, a tiny organization with highly unorthodox beliefs, in a move that could impact New York politics for years.

Weld, a former Massachusetts governor, said he'll run on the Libertarian line in November even if he doesn't win the GOP line, which former Assembly Minority Leader John Faso also seeks.




http://csmonitor.com/2006/0502/dailyUpdate.html
US does not consider Taliban terrorists

Even as the Taliban attacks US, Canadian, and British forces, organization is left off terrorist list in 'political' decision.

By Tom Regan | csmonitor.com

When the US State Department issued its annual Country Reports on Terrorism last Friday, it listed numerous state-sponsors of terrorism, like Iran, and groups it considers foreign terrorist organizations, like Hamas, Al Qaeda, and Hizbullah. Conspiciously absent from the lists, however, was the Taliban.
In an article entitled "Terrorism's Dubious 'A' List," the non-partisan Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) reports that the religious extremist organization has never been listed as a terrorist group by the US, Britain, the EU, Canada, Australia, or any of the coalition partners, despite the fact that during its six year rule in Afghanistan, it provided save haven for Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda, and currently is staging terrorist attacks against coalition forces and waging a national campaign of intimidation and fear.




http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,41576,00.html

Report: Bin Laden Already Dead
Wednesday, December 26, 2001

Usama bin Laden has died a peaceful death due to an untreated lung complication, the Pakistan Observer reported, citing a Taliban leader who allegedly attended the funeral of the Al Qaeda leader.



"The Coalition troops are engaged in a mad search operation but they would never be able to fulfill their cherished goal of getting Usama alive or dead," the source said.

Bin Laden, according to the source, was suffering from a serious lung complication and succumbed to the disease in mid-December, in the vicinity of the Tora Bora mountains. The source claimed that bin Laden was laid to rest honorably in his last abode and his grave was made as per his Wahabi belief.

About 30 close associates of bin Laden in Al Qaeda, including his most trusted and personal bodyguards, his family members and some "Taliban friends," attended the funeral rites. A volley of bullets was also fired to pay final tribute to the "great leader."



http://www.choicechanges.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=562

CIA Director Porter Goss resigns JENNIFER LOVEN
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - CIA Director Porter Goss resigned unexpectedly Friday, leaving behind a spy agency still battling to recover from the scars of intelligence failures before America's worst terrorist attack and faulty information that formed the U.S. rationale for invading Iraq.

It was the latest move in a second-term shake-up of President Bush's team.

Making the announcement from the Oval Office, Bush called Goss' tenure one of transition.





http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-mexriot5may05,0,6464349.story?coll=la-home-headlines

Mexican Police Quash Uprising
By Sam Enriquez and Carlos Martinez, Times Staff Writers
May 5, 2006


SAN SALVADOR ATENCO, Mexico — Thousands of riot police stormed the town square early Thursday to subdue machete-wielding protesters who had beaten two officers into unconsciousness and dragged them through the streets in attacks televised nationwide.

A 14-year-old boy identified as Javier Cortes Santiago was reported killed and dozens of people were injured in confrontations that began when authorities kicked out flower vendors from their usual spot in a nearby city.




http://www.wired.com/news/columns/0,70802-0.html?tw=rss.technology

everybody wants to own your pc

When technology serves its owners, it is liberating. When it is designed to serve others, over the owner's objection, it is oppressive. There's a battle raging on your computer right now -- one that pits you against worms and viruses, Trojans, spyware, automatic update features and digital rights management technologies. It's the battle to determine who owns your computer.

You own your computer, of course. You bought it. You paid for it. But how much control do you really have over what happens on your machine? Technically you might have bought the hardware and software, but you have less control over what it's doing behind the scenes.

Using the hacker sense of the term, your computer is "owned" by other people.





http://www.wired.com/news/technology/1,70783-0.html


Feds' Watch List Eats Its Own

What do you say about an airline screening system that tends to mistake government employees and U.S. servicemen for foreign terrorists?

Newly released government documents show that even having a high-level security clearance won't keep you off the Transportation Security Administration's Kafkaesque terrorist watch list, where you'll suffer missed flights and bureaucratic nightmares.

According to logs from the TSA's call center from late 2004 -- which black out the names of individuals to protect their privacy -- the watch list has snagged:




http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/060508/8homeland.htm

Spies Among Us
Despite a troubled history, police across the nation are keeping tabs on ordinary Americans

In the Atlanta suburbs of DeKalb County, local officials wasted no time after the 9/11 attacks. The second-most-populous county in Georgia, the area is home to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the FBI's regional headquarters, and other potential terrorist targets. Within weeks of the attacks, officials there boasted that they had set up the nation's first local department of homeland security. Dozens of other communities followed, and, like them, DeKalb County put in for--and got--a series of generous federal counterterrorism grants. The county received nearly $12 million from Washington, using it to set up, among other things, a police intelligence unit.



http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/000551.php

Watergate Subpoenaed in Hooker Probe
By Justin Rood - May 4, 2006, 7:33 PM
I stopped by the Watergate Hotel this afternoon and chatted with Josh Graham, the assistant general manager, about the recent stories swirling around his establishment.

According to Graham, the Watergate has received multiple subpoenas in connection with the Wilkes Hookergate scandal. He went on to say that the hotel is complying with those subpoenas but that he couldn't discuss the content of the orders, nor could he discuss details of the investigation, "out of respect for our guests' privacy."



http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/may2006/050506askingquestion.htm

When George W. Bush Had Alex Jones Arrested For Asking A Question
McGovern should count himself lucky that the thought police didn't put him in cuffs and kidnap him

The public spectacle of former CIA analyst Ray McGovern almost being hauled out of a Rumsfeld speech for the thought crime of asking a question reminds us of the good old 'pre-9/11 mentality' days when George W. Bush had Alex Jones arrested and kidnapped by Texas police for the same offence.

During a 1998 Bush rally and speech at DuPont Photomask Facility, Alex asks the following question.

"Sir, shouldn't we abolish the Federal Reserve and the CFR? That's the real reality that none of you will talk about and most of you are members. That's what's destroying this country governor. Don't you stand for America sir? What about the Federal Reserve and the CFR?"




http://www.wanniski.com/showarticle.asp?articleid=3398

A 9-11 Conspiracy Hypothesis


FINANCIAL BONANZA BEHIND THE 9/11 TRAGEDY
Who are the financial actors behind the WTC?
by Michel Chossudovsky www.globalresearch.ca Spring 2004

On October 17, 2000, eleven months before 9/11, Blackstone Real Estate Advisors, of The Blackstone Group, L.P, purchased, from Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association, the participating mortgage secured by World Trade Center, Building 7.1

April 26, 2001 the Port Authority leased the WTC for 99 years to Silverstein Properties and Westfield America Inc. The transaction was authorized by Port Authority Chairman Lewis M. Eisenberg.

This transfer from the New York and New Jersey Port Authority was tantamount to the privatization of the WTC Complex. The official press release described it as "the richest real estate prize in New York City history". The retail space underneath the complex was leased to Westfield America Inc.2



http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0310/p12s01-ussc.html

Calling Evil by nameA word once reserved for atrocities is now used liberally. But does the rude guy at the airport deserve the label?

NEW YORK – In Wichita, Kan., as people absorb the news that an alleged serial killer lived among them for decades, some are using a word often associated with heinous crime: evil. Not everyone finds it an easy term to apply to a neighbor. One resident told a reporter that the man he attended church with - allegedly responsible for at least 10 murders since the 1970s - did not have "the face of evil."
Even before the Midwestern dogcatcher was arrested, America was experiencing a revival of the word evil in its public conversation. After Sept. 11, it became part of the political discourse ("axis of evil") and has occupied Americans struggling to make sense of why such events happen. Pop culture incorporates it into movies and TV shows, and books about evil now crowd store shelves, with more on the way.




for you lovecraft fans:

http://www.logicalcreativity.com/jon/plush/01.html

[Old Dude]

...
for you lovecraft fans:

http://www.logicalcreativity.com/jon/plush/01.html

LOL :thanku:

[alkemical]

:)

[alkemical]

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.05/rfid.html


The RFID Hacking Underground
They can steal your smartcard, lift your passport, jack your car, even clone the chip in your arm. And you won't feel a thing. 5 tales from the RFID-hacking underground.


James Van Bokkelen is about to be robbed. A wealthy software entrepreneur, Van Bokkelen will be the latest victim of some punk with a laptop. But this won't be an email scam or bank account hack. A skinny 23-year-old named Jonathan Westhues plans to use a cheap, homemade USB device to swipe the office key out of Van Bokkelen's back pocket.




http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2006-05/07/content_583576.htm

Rare mirage appears off east China shore
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-05-07 19:42

Thousands of tourists and local residents witnessed a mirage of high clarity lasting for four hours off the shore of Penglai City in east China's Shandong Province on Sunday.
Mists rising on the shore created an image of a city, with modern high-rise buildings, broad city streets and bustling cars as well as crowds of people all clearly visible.

The city of Penglai had been soaked by two days of rain before the rare weather phenomenon occurred.

The mirage took place during the week-long Labor Day holiday. The small city received over 30,000 tourists on Sunday.

Experts said that many mirages have been recorded in Penglai, on the tip of Shandong Peninsula, throughout history, which made it known as a dwelling place of the gods.

They explained that a mirage is formed when moisture in the air becomes warmer than the temperature of sea water, which refracts rays of sunlight to create reflections of the landscape in the sky.



http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/C/CHINA_FAKE_RAIN?SITE=7219&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2006-05-05-18-29-38

China Makes Artificial Rain for Beijing

BEIJING (AP) -- Chinese weather specialists used chemicals to engineer Beijing's heaviest rainfall of the year, helping to relieve drought and rinse dust from China's capital, the official Xinhua News Agency reported Friday.

Technicians with the Beijing Weather Modification Office fired seven rocket shells containing 163 cigarette-size sticks of silver iodide over the city's skies on Thursday, Xinhua said.

The reaction that occurred brought as much as four-tenths of an inch of rain, the heaviest rainfall this year, helping to "alleviate drought, add soil moisture and remove dust from the air for better air quality," Xinhua said.




http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=9561

How Dick Cheney Used the NSA for Domestic Spying Pre-9/11

In the months before 9/11, thousands of American citizens were inadvertently swept up in wiretaps, had their emails monitored, and were being watched as they surfed the Internet by spies at the super-secret National Security Agency, former NSA and counterterrorism officials said.

The NSA, with full knowledge of the White House, crossed the line from routine surveillance of foreigners and suspected terrorists into illegal activity by continuing to monitor the international telephone calls and emails of Americans without a court order. The NSA unintentionally intercepts Americans' phone calls and emails if the agency's computers zero in on a specific keyword used in the communication. But once the NSA figures out that they are listening in on an American, the eavesdropping is supposed to immediately end, and the identity of the individual is supposed to be deleted. While the agency did follow protocol, there were instances when the NSA was instructed to keep tabs on certain individuals that became of interest to some officials in the White House.



http://www.sploid.com/news/2006/05/meet_the_new_bo.php

Meet the new boss

The new CIA director will be a secretive henchman of Dick Cheney who's behind the illegal spying on millions of Americans.

Late Friday night, word leaked out that Gen. Michael Hayden is the White House choice to take over CIA duties from suddenly-fired spook insider Porter Goss.

Hayden, a 61-year-old Air Force general, was the "human face" of the National Security Agency's criminal spying on Americans that actually began before the convenient 9/11 attacks.



http://reuters.myway.com/article/20060507/2006-05-07T141310Z_01_L07736154_RTRIDST_0_NEWS-VATICAN-DAVINCI-DC.html

Cardinal urges legal action against Da Vinci Code

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - In the latest Vatican broadside against "The Da Vinci Code," a leading cardinal says Christians should respond to the book and film with legal action because both offend Christ and the Church he founded.

Cardinal Francis Arinze, a Nigerian who was considered a candidate for pope last year, made his strong comments in a documentary called "The Da Vinci Code-A Masterful Deception."

Arinze's appeal came some 10 days after another Vatican cardinal called for a boycott of the film. Both cardinals asserted that other religions would never stand for offences against their beliefs and that Christians should get tough.



http://www.nwanews.com/adg/News/151141/

Lighting up with young kids in vehicle banned under bill

So when Mathis filed a bill Wednesday evening to ban smoking in cars carrying young children who are restrained in car seats, a lot of people laughed. They didn’t take him or his bill very seriously, Mathis says.

But he showed up Thursday morning ready to fight. He got his bill through the House Rules Committee at noon, then through the full House just before 5 p. m., representatives approving it 58-13, with 29 House members not voting.

The bill went to the Senate on Thursday night, shot through the Senate Committee on Public Health, Welfare and Labor around lunchtime Friday, and wound up on the Senate floor just before 2 p. m.



http://www.physorg.com/news66197469.html


Flying robot attack 'unstoppable': experts

The technology for remote-controlled light aircraft is now highly advanced, widely available -- and, experts say, virtually unstoppable.

Models with a wingspan of five metres (16 feet), capable of carrying up to 50 kilograms (110 pounds), remain undetectable by radar.


And thanks to satellite positioning systems, they can now be programmed to hit targets some distance away with just a few metres (yards) short of pinpoint accuracy.

Security services the world over have been considering the problem for several years, but no one has yet come up with a solution.

"We are observing an increasing threat from such things as remote-controlled aircraft used as small flying bombs against soft targets," the head of the Canadian secret services, Michel Gauthier, said at a conference in Calgary recently.



http://news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=1855852005

Police chief- Lockerbie evidence was faked

A FORMER Scottish police chief has given lawyers a signed statement claiming that key evidence in the Lockerbie bombing trial was fabricated.

The retired officer - of assistant chief constable rank or higher - has testified that the CIA planted the tiny fragment of circuit board crucial in convicting a Libyan for the 1989 mass murder of 270 people.



http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0508/dailyUpdate.html

Report: Scandal may have played role in Goss resignation

Media sources say a corruption investigation may have forced White House to act quickly on Goss, and may also touch other defense and intelligence officials

A widening investigation into a corruption scandal in Congress may have played a key role in the decision by the White House to ask Central Intelligence Agency Director Porter Goss to step down.
The New York Daily News reported Sunday that a "little known White House advisory board" pushed President Bush to dump Mr. Goss as CIA head. The president's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board was reportedly alarmed by the investigation of a spreading corruption scandal that had already looked into the actions of the CIA's number three official and its executive director, Kyle Dustin (Dusty) Foggo, and may have indirectly touched on Goss himself.



http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/000581.php


EXCLUSIVE: CIA Nominee Hayden Linked to MZM
By Justin Rood - May 8, 2006, 11:33 AM
While director of the National Security Agency, Gen. Michael V. Hayden contracted the services of a top executive at the company at the center of the Cunningham bribery scandal, according to two former employees of the company.



Hayden, President Bush's pick to replace Porter Goss as head of the CIA, contracted with MZM Inc. for the services of Lt. Gen. James C. King, then a senior vice president of the company, the sources say. MZM was owned and operated by Mitchell Wade, who has admitted to bribing former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham with $1.4 million in money and gifts. Wade has also reportedly told investigators he helped arrange for prostitutes to entertain the disgraced lawmaker, and he continues to cooperate with a federal inquiry into the matter.



http://news.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=674042006


Creationism dismissed as 'a kind of paganism' by Vatican's astronomer

BELIEVING that God created the universe in six days is a form of superstitious paganism, the Vatican astronomer Guy Consolmagno claimed yesterday.

Brother Consolmagno, who works in a Vatican observatory in Arizona and as curator of the Vatican meteorite collection in Italy, said a "destructive myth" had developed in modern society that religion and science were competing ideologies.



http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/574DE2C0-5B0A-48B8-ACD1-6854DCB802BC.htm

Settlers stone Hebron schoolchildren

Attacks on Palestinian schoolchildren by Jewish settlers continue in the southern West Bank.


On Saturday, messianic settlers affiliated with the Gush Emunim movement (block of faithful) from the small colony of Maon south of Hebron assaulted Palestinian children with stones twice, injuring four children.

One child suffered a head injury, according to Palestinian sources.

[alkemical]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4752167.stm

Is 'reality CCTV' a step too far?

Is a digital television service allowing residents of a London borough to watch CCTV footage on their televisions a step too far?

The increasing number of channels available for viewers to choose from in the current age of satellite and digital television has been well documented.

So too has the public's love of reality TV shows.



http://milwaukee.indymedia.org/en/2006/05/205461.shtml

Reynolds: “Come Out of the White House with Your Hands Up!”

Ex-Bush Official Busts 9/11 Perps at U.W. Historical Society

Madison, WI
Saturday, May 6, 2006

An enthusiastic standing-room-only crowd packed the Wisconsin Historical Society auditorium Saturday to hear ex-Bush Administration insider Morgan Reynolds prosecute top administration and military officials for the 9/11 inside job.



http://www.phillyimc.org/en/2006/05/22663.shtml

Mexico Drug Bust,Tom DeLay,A.Khashoggi, Jeb Bush,Wally Hilliard Terrorist Flight School
By Tony Ryals | 05.09.2006
While news of a 5 ton + cocaine bust at an international airport in the Mexican state of Campeche this month does not directly link to Jeb Bush,Governor of the state of Florida,it does have direct links to the Huffman Aviation flight school of his pal Wally Hilliard in Venice,Florida where the Saudi terrorists trained for the 9/11 WTC attack.Jeb Bush's pal Wally Hilliard was himself involved in a heroin import scheme that was considered one of the largest in Florida history,40 pounds,also by way of Venezuela where the 5 + tons of cocaine were flown to Mexico from.




http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/RANCHO/POLITICS/MOCK/mockingbird.html

MOCKINGBIRD
The Subversion Of The Free Press By The CIA
"You could get a journalist cheaper than a good call girl, for a couple hundred dollars a month." - CIA operative discussing with Philip Graham, editor Washington Post, on the availability and prices of journalists willing to peddle CIA propaganda and cover stories. "Katherine The Great," by Deborah Davis (New York: Sheridan Square Press, 1991)



http://www.livescience.com/technology/060507_marine_one.html

The President's New Helicopter


After decades of upgrades to a fleet of notoriously cramped Sikorsky VH-3 Sea Kings, the White House has tasked Lockheed Martin with a dramatic, $6.1-billion makeover of Marine One, the presidential helicopter, starting this summer. The goal: to fit a mobile Oval Office into the tight quarters of a chopper. The new fleet will consist of 23 VH-71 aircraft, each of which will have 200 square feet of cabin space, nearly double the Sea King’s 116.

Aside from the legroom, the copter will incorporate major upgrades to the old defense and communications systems. Equally important is that the aircraft is flight-proven—the $110-million bird is derived from a European-built AgustaWestland EH101, currently doing military service for Canada and the U.K. Here, an inside look at the revamped Marine One, set to gradually go into service between 2009 and 2014.




http://today.reuters.com/news/newsarticle.aspx?type=businessNews&storyid=2006-05-09T160116Z_01_N09295039_RTRUKOC_0_US-MARKETS-GOLD-COMEX-PRICE.xml&src=rss&rpc=23

Gold hits $700 for first time since 1980
NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. benchmark gold futures scaled a new 25-year high at $700 an ounce on Tuesday, boosted by relentless investor buying powered by geopolitical concerns and expectations of further price gains ahead, dealers said.

By 11:30 a.m. EDT, June delivery gold on the New York Mercantile Exchange's COMEX division was up $20.10 or 2.9 percent at a session peak of $700, which marked the loftiest level for futures since September 1980.




http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/05/09/geronimo.bones.ap/index.html

Yale alums snatched Geronimo's skull, letter says

HARTFORD, Connecticut (AP) -- A Yale University historian has uncovered a 1918 letter that seems to lend validity to the lore that Yale University's ultra-secret Skull and Bones society swiped the skull of American Indian leader Geronimo.

The letter, written by one member of Skull and Bones to another, purports that the skull and some of the Indian leader's remains were spirited from his burial plot in Fort Sill, Oklahoma, to a stone tomb in New Haven that serves as the club's headquarters.

[alkemical]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4974134.stm

A joint UK-US team has put forward an alternative theory of cosmic evolution.

It proposes that the Universe undergoes cycles of "Big Bangs" and "Big Crunches", meaning our Universe is merely a "child of the previous one".

It challenges the conventional view of the cosmos, which observations show to be 12-14 billion years old.

[alkemical]

http://www.insidebayarea.com/ci_3805089


New security glitch found in Diebold system
Officials say machines have 'dangerous' holes
By Ian Hoffman, STAFF WRITER



Elections officials in several states are scrambling to understand and limit the risk from a "dangerous" security hole found in Diebold Election Systems Inc.'s ATM-like touch-screen voting machines.
The hole is considered more worrisome than most security problems discovered on modern voting machines, such as weak encryption, easily pickable locks and use of the same, weak password nationwide.

Armed with a little basic knowledge of Diebold voting systems and a standard component available at any computer store, someone with a minute or two of access to a Diebold touch screen could load virtually any software into the machine and disable it, redistribute votes or alter its performance in myriad ways.




http://waynemadsenreport.com/

May 10, 2006 -- WMR reported on April 21 on a major cocaine shipment, using a CIA proprietary aircraft, that landed in Mexico en route from Caracas, Venezuela with 5.5 tons of cocaine on board. The pilot was reported to have "escaped" from Mexican police. U.S. and foreign neo-con propaganda organs immediately tried to link the aircraft, a DC-9 that was sold to unknown persons in Venezuela by a Clearwater, Florida-based firm called Royal Sons, LLC, to Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez and Colombia's FARC guerrillas. The plane was painted in the colors and bore an insignia similar to those used by the U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA). The insignia identified the aircraft as "Sky Way Aircraft."



http://www.boston.com/news/local/new_hampshire/articles/2006/05/10/dems_group_accuses_state_gop_of_hiding_illegal_don ation_in_2002/

Dems group accuses state GOP of hiding illegal donation in 2002
By Katharine Webster, Associated Press Writer | May 10, 2006

CONCORD, N.H. --A Democratic research group is accusing the state Republican Party of illegally accepting a $10,000 contribution from a Mississippi Indian tribe in 2002, then concealing half of it because it exceeded the $5,000 cap on contributions for federal races.




http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/08/AR2006050801425_pf.html

Another Possible Bump to the Debt Ceiling

By Jonathan Weisman and Shailagh Murray
Tuesday, May 9, 2006; A21



A $2.7 trillion budget plan pending before the House would raise the federal debt ceiling to nearly $10 trillion, less than two months after Congress last raised the federal government's borrowing limit.

The provision -- buried on page 121 of the 151-page budget blueprint -- serves as a backdrop to congressional action this week. House leaders hope to try once again to pass a budget plan for fiscal 2007, a month after a revolt by House Republican moderates and Appropriations Committee members forced leaders to pull the plan.




http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/GOP_House_Speaker_Frist_picks_Cheney_0509.html

GOP House Speaker taps Cheney, Goss for Congressional Distinguished Service Awards

On Wednesday afternoon in the U.S. Capitol, Distinguished Service Awards will be bestowed upon Vice President Dick Cheney and former CIA Director Porter Goss, two former House members selected by House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-IL), RAW STORY has found.

"The Congressional Distinguished Service Award was established to honor former Members of the House who have performed their duties on behalf of their constituents and the American people with such extraordinary distinction and selfless dedication as to merit special recognition," reads an invitation to the ceremony obtained by RAW STORY.





http://www.bradblog.com/archives/00002803.htm

BREAKING: SEC INVESTIGATION OF DIEBOLD UNDER WAY!U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Announces 'Informal Inquiry' into Accounting Practices of ATM, E-Voting Giant!
Inquiry Comes on Heels of Recent Securities Fraud Class Action Litigation, Sharp Drop in Stock Value, Growing List of Security Vulnerabilities Discovered in Company's Electronic Voting Machines...



http://www.wsws.org/articles/2006/may2006/murd-m10_prn.shtml

Rupert Murdoch backs Hillary Clinton: by their friends you shall know them

The billionaire media magnate Rupert Murdoch changed his nationality from Australian to American some two decades ago in order to further his aim of gobbling up US media for his global empire. In both countries, he projected an image of a super-patriot and nationalist.

When it comes to politics, Murdoch, known in media circles as the “dirty digger,” is equally adaptable in pursuing his personal gain. The most loyal right-wing Tory and friend of Margaret Thatcher during the 1980s, as he built up his media holdings in Britain, he switched his loyalties to “New Labour” when he saw that Tony Blair could provide a fresh face for even more reactionary politics and was more than willing to further Murdoch’s interests in return for editorial backing. He made similar swings in his native Australia between the Labor and Liberal parties to further his efforts at monopolizing the print and broadcast media.





http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/2006-05-09-abramoff-records_x.htm?POE=click-refer

Does George know Jack? Stonewall starts to crack

Sometime Wednesday, the Bush administration is scheduled to release Secret Service records detailing the number of times disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff visited the White House. The administration is not doing this voluntarily. It is under an order from a federal judge acting on a watchdog group's lawsuit.
If Abramoff and administration officials are to be believed, the records won't show that the one-time superlobbyist — who has pleaded guilty to fraud, tax evasion and conspiracy to bribe public officials — was particularly tight with President Bush or his top aides. Which would make the Bush administration's months-long stonewalling all the more inexplicable. Had it released details long ago about the president's relationship with Abramoff, it likely would have limited any political embarrassment.



http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/story?id=1937527&page=1

Oh, Say Can You Sing ... the National Anthem?

By HOWARD L. ROSENBERG and CLAIRE SHIPMAN

May 8, 2006 — "The Star Spangled Banner" — our national anthem — is under attack. Or so you would think by the rush to defend it on Capitol Hill last week.

As millions marched for immigration rights, the U.S. Senate introduced a resolution to ensure that the national anthem would be sung only in English. A day later a similar measure was introduced in the House of Representatives.

[alkemical]

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bal-op.internet09may09,0,4559120.story


Proposed rule changes would tangle the Web


Congress wants to change the Internet.
This is news to most people because the major news media have not actively pursued the story. Yet both the House and Senate commerce committees are promoting new rules governing the manner by which most Americans receive the Web. Congressional passage of new rules is widely anticipated, as is President Bush's signature. Once this happens, the Internet will change before your eyes.


The proposed House legislation, the Communications Opportunity, Promotion and Enhancement Act (COPE), offers no protections for "network neutrality."

Currently, your Internet provider does not voluntarily censor the Web as it enters your home. This levels the playing field between the tiniest blog and the most popular Web site.

Yet the big telecom companies want to alter this dynamic. AT&T and Verizon have publicly discussed their plans to divide the information superhighway into separate fast and slow lanes. Web sites and services willing to pay a toll will be channeled through the fast lane, while all others will be bottled up in the slower lanes. COPE, and similar telecom legislation offered in the Senate, does nothing to protect the consumer from this transformation of the Internet.



http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/05/09/politics/main1600694.shtml

Rupert Murdoch Loves Hillary Clinton
Conservative Media Mogul To Host Fundraiser For Liberal N.Y. Senator


(CBS) To call them a political odd couple would be a rash understatement.

Conservative media mogul Rupert Murdoch will host a fundraiser for liberal New York Sen. Hillary Clinton, the Financial Times reports.

The mating ritual of the unlikely allies has been under way for months. Clinton set political tongues to wagging last month by attending a Washington party celebrating the 10th anniversary of Fox News, the cable news




http://georgereisman.com/blog/2006/05/gasoline-at-10-cents-gallon-and_10.html

Gasoline at 10 Cents a Gallon and Falling
Does gasoline at 10 cents a gallon and falling sound impossible in today’s world?

Well, if you think it’s impossible, you’re wrong. Because that’s where gasoline actually is, and it looks like it’s going even lower.


Of course, it’s not 10 cents a gallon in today’s paper money. But it is 10 cents a gallon in the Constitutional money of the United States, which is gold coin and bullion.

Gold is now at $700 per ounce, and rising. Above is a picture of a $20 United States gold coin known as a Double Eagle. If you look carefully, at the bottom of the coin, you can actually see where it says “Twenty Dollars.”

This coin contains approximately one ounce of actual gold, which means that at today’s market price of gold, it’s worth $700. And this means that one gold dollar is worth $35 of today’s paper dollars. And that means that one gold dime is worth $3.50 in today’s paper money. This last, of course, is roughly what a gallon of gasoline costs in today’s paper money. Which means that a gallon of gasoline costs just 10 gold cents.




http://www.correntewire.com/ (this link is down, i have a cached page link for you though below)


Negroponte lying just yesterday on warrantless domestic surveillance
Submitted by lambert on Thu, 2006-05-11 13:53.

Do these guys do anything but lie? Whitewash House transcript:

Q Mr. Ambassador, going forward, you’re going to, on the Hill, get questions even from Republicans like Arlen Specter on the domestic spying program, or, I should say, General Hayden will. How do you guys plan to prepare to move forward on that?

NEGROPONTE: Well, first of all, I wouldn’t call it domestic spying. I mean, this is about international terrorism, and telephone calls between people thought to be working for international terrorism and people here in the United States. So that would be my first point.

Check. And to think that only yesterday this statement was still operative!

But wait! Let’s be fair to Negroponte!



http://www.correntewire.com/the_network_architecture_of_treason - This link is down, see yahoo.com cached page:

http://66.218.69.11/search/cache?p=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.correntewire.com%2Fthe_ne twork_architecture_of_treason&fr=FP-tab-web-t-1&toggle=1&cop=&ei=UTF-8&u=www.correntewire.com/the_network_architecture_of_treason&d=Z8ih00aqMvb9&icp=1&.intl=us


Part 3: Bush’s domestic surveillance system would pose no engineering challenges whatever to NSA.

So how would an agency go about surveillance on “overseas” Internet traffic on a massive scale? (Note: Since internet packets are routed from ISP to ISP without regard to borders, “overseas” is not really a meaningful term for Internet traffic, as opposed to point-to-point voice calls.) Could they do it without any rocket sciences, for not much money? Yes.

Step 1: Place monitors, probes, or taps on the Internet. Where would one place them? That’s


(see site for diagram of choke pts - http://www.caida.org/analysis/topology/as_core_network/AS_Network.xml)





http://today.reuters.com/investing/financeArticle.aspx?type=bondsNews&storyID=2006-05-11T163222Z_01_N11255194_RTRIDST_0_CONGRESS-IMMIGRATION-REPEAT.XML

Republican and Democratic Senate leaders agreed on Thursday on a plan to revive a bill that would give millions of illegal immigrants a chance to earn U.S. citizenship.




http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/1/25/132559/979

Abramoff's NSA and Domestic Spying Scandal
by leveymg
Wed Jan 25, 2006 at 10:25:59 AM PDT
The National Security Scandals of Jack Abramoff - Part II

(Pt. 1, http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/1/24/121156/129)

While Jack Abramoff's scandalous rip-off of Indian tribes is well know, his role as a GOP fixer for NSA and CIA contractors has gone virtually under the radar screen. Abramoff's lobbying activities raise serious questions about the role of his corporate and foreign clients in compromising highly sensitive NSA and Capitol Hill communications networks, in domestic spying and in other illegal national security-related activities.




http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/london-bombers-acted-alone-official/2006/05/11/1146940644357.html


London bombers acted alone: official


Long-awaited British government reports into attacks last July on London's transit network conclude the gang acted without the assistance of foreign terrorists, British officials and politicians say.

The two reports being released tomorrow address concerns that although two of the bombers were placed under surveillance by intelligence agencies in 2004 and had links with a separate alleged terrorist cell, they were not considered a threat by the agencies, who halted their supervision.



http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/7-7_london_bombings.html

The 7/7 London Bombings:
al Qaeda's "Confession"

A group calling itself “The Secret Organization of al-Qaida in Europe” posted a claim of responsibility for Thursday’s blasts in London, saying they were in retaliation for Britain’s involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The authenticity of the message could not be immediately confirmed.

The statement, which also threatened attacks in Italy and Denmark, was published on a Web site popular with Islamic militants, according to Elaph, a secular Arabic-language news Web site, and Der Spiegel magazine in Berlin, which published the text on their Web sites.



http://www.infowars.net/Pages/Aug05/020805Aswat.html

July 29 edition of FOX News Channel's Day Side programme revealed that the so called mastermind of the 7/7 London Bombings, Haroon Rashid Aswat, is a British Intelligence Asset. Former Justice Dept. prosecutor and Terror expert John Loftus revealed that the so called Al-Muhajiroun group, based in London had formed during the Kosovo crisis, during which Fundamentalist Muslim Leaders (Or what is now referred to as Al Qaeda) were recruited by MI6 to fight in Kosovo.




http://worldcantwait.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1534&Itemid=61


JUDGE ORDERS WORLD CAN'T WAIT ACTIVIST TO JAIL PSYCH UNIT
CAROL FISHER REMAINS STRONG AND UNAPOLOGETIC

May 9: Judge Timothy McGinty forcibly incarcerated Carol Fisher in the psych unit of the Cuyahoga County Jail in downtown Cleveland, where she now sits for an indefinite period of time.

In a hastily called hearing yesterday, Judge McGinty made a highly unusual and outrageous decision to force Carol to undergo a state psychological exam as part of her pre-sentencing investigation. From the very start of Carol's case, the judge has openly said that she must have mental problems for resisting an unlawful and brutal encounter with Cleveland Heights police. He went even further in yesterday's hearing, saying that her opposition to the Bush regime makes her "delusional."




http://msnbc.msn.com/id/12727867/

Security issue kills domestic spying inquiry
NSA won’t grant Justice Department lawyers required security clearance


WASHINGTON - The government has abruptly ended an inquiry into the warrantless eavesdropping program because the National Security Agency refused to grant Justice Department lawyers the necessary security clearance to probe the matter.

The inquiry headed by the Justice Department’s Office of Professional Responsibility, or OPR, sent a fax to Rep. Maurice Hinchey, D-N.Y., on Wednesday saying they were closing their inquiry because without clearance their lawyers cannot examine Justice lawyers’ role in the program.

“We have been unable to make any meaningful progress in our investigation because OPR has been denied security clearances for access to information about the NSA program,” OPR counsel H. Marshall Jarrett wrote to Hinchey. Hinchey’s office shared the letter with The Associated Press.




http://www.madcowprod.com/05112006.html


WORLD EXCLUSIVE
May 11 2006--Venice,FL.
by Daniel Hopsicker

The MadCowMorningNews has uncovered evidence implicating a San Diego defense contractor, The Titan Corporation, in fraud involving the shadowy St. Petersburg FL company involved in last month’s mysterious 5.5 ton cocaine seizure in Mexico.
Titan is already embroiled in major scandals which include the torture of prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison and conviction and a $28 million fine for fixing a Presidential election in the African state of Benin. The company is also receiving attention for its role as the biggest campaign contributor of disgraced former Congressman Randy “Duke” Cunningham.




http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/tm_objectid=17055497&method=full&siteid=94762&headline=have-200-000-missing-ak47s-fallen-into-the-hands-of-iraq-terrorists---name_page.html

HAVE 200,000 AK47S FALLEN INTO THE HANDS OF IRAQ TERRORISTS?
FEARS OVER SECRET U.S. ARMS SHIPMENT
SOME 200,000 guns the US sent to Iraqi security forces may have been smuggled to terrorists, it was feared yesterday.

The 99-tonne cache of AK47s was to have been secretly flown out from a US base in Bosnia. But the four planeloads of arms have vanished.

Orders for the deal to go ahead were given by the US Department of Defense. But the work was contracted out via a complex web of private arms traders.

[alkemical]

http://www.theadvertiser.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,19115810%255E912,00.html


Catholic priest convicted over satanic ritual murder of nun
By JAMES EWINGER
13may06
A U.S. jury yesterday found a Roman Catholic priest guilty of the satanic ritual-style murder of a 71-year-old nun which went unsolved for more than 25 years.

Father Gerald Robinson, above, was sentenced to a mandatory jail term of between 15 years and life.

There were gasps in the court after the verdict, but the 68-year-old priest remained impassive.

Sister Margaret Ann Pahl was found murdered on a chapel floor in April, 1980. She had been strangled, covered in an altar cloth and stabbed 31 times in the shape of an upturned holy cross.



http://news.com.com/Police%20blotter%20Patriot%20Act%20e-mail%20spying%20approved/2100-1030_3-6037598.html?tag=sas.email

What happened: As part of a grand jury investigation that's still secret, the Justice Department asked a federal magistrate judge to approve monitoring of an unnamed person's e-mail correspondents.

The request had a twist: Instead of asking to eavesdrop on the contents of the e-mail messages, which would require some evidence of wrongdoing, prosecutors instead requested the identities of the correspondents. Also included in the request was header information like date and time and Internet address--but not subject lines.




http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/11/washington/11fbi.html?_r=3&oref=slogin&oref=slogin&oref=slogin


F.B.I.'s Focus on Public Corruption Includes 2,000 Investigations


WASHINGTON, May 10 — A post-9/11 effort by the F.B.I. to concentrate on public corruption now includes more than 2,000 investigations under way, highlighted by the Jack Abramoff lobbying inquiry, the racketeering and fraud conviction of former Gov. George Ryan of Illinois, and the multipronged corruption probes after the guilty plea by Randy Cunningham, a former Republican House member from San Diego, bureau officials said.

As one of the Bush administration's least known anticrime efforts, the F.B.I. initiative has yielded an unexpectedly rich array of cases. The results suggest that wrongdoing by public officials at all levels of government is deeply rooted and widespread. Several of the highest profile cases in which the F.B.I. played an active role involve Republicans.

[alkemical]

http://dsc.discovery.com/news/afp/20060227/stealthshark_ani.html


Pentagon Mulls 'Stealth Sharks'


March 1, 2006 — The Pentagon is funding research into neural implants with the ultimate hope of turning sharks into "stealth spies" capable of gliding undetected through the ocean, the British weekly New Scientist says.

The research builds on experimental work to control animals by implanting tiny electrodes in their brain, which are then stimulated to induce a behavioral response.

"The Pentagon hopes to exploit sharks' natural ability to glide quietly through the water, sense delicate electrical gradients and follow chemical trails," said the report, carried in Saturday's edition.

"By remotely guiding the sharks' movements they hope to transform the animals into stealth spies, perhaps capable of following vessels without being spotted," the article said.

The unusual project is being funded by the Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), which pioneered the Internet as a platform for robust communications.



http://www.laweekly.com/general/features/satan-loves-you/13454/

Another generation of heavy metal has taken over, and — sorry — it ain’t just about strippers and dope. Okay, it’s partly about strippers and dope. And we’ll get around to that. But more and more, as metal evolves into a huge international music that belongs to everyone, it has gotten to be something weirder. It’s become a guardian of morality — not church morality; real morality. Praise be: Given the void in responsible behavior among governments, police, educational establishments and religions, the task of guiding our youth down the path of righteousness has fallen to... Satan.



http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/1/25/132559/979


Abramoff's NSA and Domestic Spying Scandal

The National Security Scandals of Jack Abramoff - Part II

(Pt. 1, http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/1/24/121156/129)

While Jack Abramoff's scandalous rip-off of Indian tribes is well know, his role as a GOP fixer for NSA and CIA contractors has gone virtually under the radar screen. Abramoff's lobbying activities raise serious questions about the role of his corporate and foreign clients in compromising highly sensitive NSA and Capitol Hill communications networks, in domestic spying and in other illegal national security-related activities.



http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002502624

ABC News Reports: Feds Monitoring Reporters' Calls

NEW YORK Brian Ross and Richard Esposito of ABC News reported on the networks "The Blotter" web site this morning that a senior federal law enforcement official had informed them that "the government is tracking the phone numbers we call in an effort to root out confidential sources."

This source quipped: "It's time for you to get some new cell phones, quick."

The two journalists added: "We do not know how the government determined who we are calling, or whether our phone records were provided to the government as part of the recently-disclosed NSA collection of domestic phone calls.

"Other sources have told us that phone calls and contacts by reporters for ABC News, along with the New York Times and the Washington Post, are being examined as part of a widespread CIA leak investigation. One former official was asked to sign a document stating he was not a confidential source for New York Times reporter James Risen.



http://www.theglobeandmail.com/v5/images/newspaper/20060515/cartoon-400.png



http://americablog.blogspot.com/2006/05/breaking-news-senior-federal-source.html

BREAKING NEWS: Senior federal source tells ABC that Bush is tracking their phone calls to sources, doing same to NYT and Wash Post
by John in DC - 5/15/2006 11:46:00 AM

We warned last fall that an CNN's Christiane Amanpour was possibly being targeted by the NSA. The story was poo-poohed. Now ABC reports that it, the New York Times and the Washington Post are being monitored by US spy agencies and all of their phone calls are being tracked.



http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10381404

NZ firm makes bio-diesel from sewage in world first

12.05.06
By Errol Kiong


A New Zealand company has successfully turned sewage into modern-day gold.

Marlborough-based Aquaflow Bionomic yesterday announced it had produced its first sample of bio-diesel fuel from algae in sewage ponds.

It is believed to be the world's first commercial production of bio-diesel from "wild" algae outside the laboratory - and the company expects to be producing at the rate of at least one million litres of the fuel each year from Blenheim by April.



http://www.tpmcafe.com/node/29868

Crimes and Corruptions of the New World Order News
Federal source: Government tracking major media phone numbers to root out confidential sources
By Marc Parent | bio
This is BIG!

This is something the Soviets did.

ABC reported moments ago:

"A senior federal law enforcement official tells us the government is tracking the phone numbers we call in an effort to root out confidential sources.




http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20060213-9999-1m13kreca.html

Neighbors call him generous, friendly
By Eleanor Yang
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
February 13, 2006

Michael E. Kreca was described by friends and neighbors as a nice guy who remembered birthdays and gave generous presents – hardly the type of person to threaten police with a gun.

And so they said they were surprised to learn over the weekend that Kreca had been shot dead by police while on a morning walk.

“He was a teddy bear,” said George Gushulak, who lived below Kreca in a Mira Mesa rental complex. “He was quiet and mild and always friendly.”

[alkemical]

http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/ICTS.html


All 9/11 Airports Serviced by
One Israeli Owned Company

It's one of those times when an innocuous comment in an unrelated news report triggers a revelation.
In the article at http://afrocubaweb.com/news/israelispying.htm there is the following paragraph:

To make the situation worse, a private security company called ICTS, owned by an Israeli, Ezra Harel, and registered in the Netherlands, was employed at Charles de Gaulle airport to screen passengers boarding US planes. Most of its personnel are ex-Shin Bet officers. The company covers security at Boston’s Logan airport, where the American Airlines plane came down after flight attendants and passengers overpowered Reid.



http://anderson.ath.cx:8000/911/hj05.html


SECRECY SURROUNDS A BUSH BROTHER'S ROLE IN 9/11 SECURITY
by Margie Burns

Washington, D.C. WASHINGTON, Jan 19, 2003 -- A company that provided security at New York City's World Trade Center, Dulles International Airport in Washington, D.C., and to United Airlines between 1995 and 2001, was backed by a private Kuwaiti-American investment firm with ties to a brother of President Bush and the Bush family, according to records obtained by the American Reporter.

Two planes hijacked on Sept. 11, 2001 were United Airlines planes, and another took off from Dulles International Airport; two, of course, slammed into the World Trade Center. But the Bush Administration has never disclosed the ties of a presidential brother and the Bush family with the firm that intersected the weapons and targets on a day of national tragedy.

Marvin P. Bush, a younger brother of George W. Bush, was a principal in the company from 1993 to 2000, when most of the work on the big projects was done. But White House responses to 9/11 have not publicly disclosed the company's part in providing security to any of the named facilities, and many of the public records revealing the relationships are not public.



http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/911security.html

9/11 Security
Courtesy of Marvin Bush

Marvin P. Bush, the president’s younger brother, was a principal in a company called Securacom that provided security for the World Trade Center, United Airlines, and Dulles International Airport. The company, Burns noted, was backed by KuwAm, a Kuwaiti-American investment firm on whose board Marvin Burns also served. [Utne]
According to its present CEO, Barry McDaniel, the company had an ongoing contract to handle security at the World Trade Center "up to the day the buildings fell down."
The company lists as government clients "the U.S. Army, U.S. Navy, U.S Air force, and the Department of Justice," in projects that "often require state-of-the-art security solutions for classified or high-risk government sites."





http://www.strike-the-root.com/61/davis/davis7.html


Respect, Trust and Society

No arts; no letters; no society; and which is worst of all, continual fear and danger of violent death; and the life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.” ~ Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes

The above premise is flat wrong. The state did not create arts, letters, or society. The state cannot eliminate fear, poverty, loneliness or violence: it institutionalizes them. The premise of state worshipers that life is “nasty, brutish and short” ignores what individuals are capable of when left free. It is the state that leads to conditions making life unbearable, not liberty. The state is based on restricting, controlling and expanding its power. Society is based on respect and trust for and among individuals.



http://www.reason.com/links/links050806.shtml

Right-Wing P.C.
How conservatives learned to stop worrying and love political correctness

When I say "political correctness," I'm referring to an attitude, not an agenda. In some hands the term is a broad synonym for censorship and groupthink, qualities that have always been common across the political spectrum. Other times it devolves into a vague smear-term for anything left of center. I'm using it to describe a particular political posture: one that treats identity politics not just as an ideology but as a trump card, that maintains a rigid orthodoxy while regarding itself as subversive, that uses a series of contrived outrages to feed a bureaucratic machine. Each of those elements has infected parts of the right.




http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct/show/NCT00181883?order=1

Quetiapine for Mania In Preschool Children 4 to 6 Years of Age With Bipolar Disorder



Purpose

This is an 8-week open-label study aimed at assessing the effectiveness and tolerability of Quetiapine, in the treatment of preschool children aged 4 to 6 years with bipolar and bipolar spectrum disorder. This is an exploratory, pilot study, seeking to determine whether Quetiapine is efficacious and well tolerated in the treatment of preschoolers with pediatric bipolar and bipolar spectrum disorder in this age group. The study results will be used to generate hypotheses for a larger randomized controlled clinical trial with explicit hypotheses and sufficient statistical power



"These antipsychotic drugs are only approved for use by adults and are so toxic they carry a "black box warning." The drugs have been found to cause diabetes; a life-threatening nervous system problem called Neuroleptic Malignant Syndrome; low blood pressure; and have also led to higher death rates in the elderly. Despite these serious potential side-effects, a patient recruitment video obtained by ABC News contains no mention of any of these risks.

Vera Hassner Sharav of the Alliance for Human Research Protection said, "Antipsychotics were never approved for use in children whose developing brains and central nervous system may be irreversibly harmed. We believe that physicians who subject children to the toxic effects of these drugs...are practicing outside medically accepted standards."

A previous clinical trial of Olanzapine was conducted by UCLA in 1998 on five children, aged 6 to 11. The authors of the study said treatment was discontinued within the first six weeks "because of adverse effects or lack of clinically significant therapeutic response." "




http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,62646-0.html?tw=wn_story_mailer

Darpa's Far-Out Dreams on Display


ANAHEIM, California -- Conspiracy freaks, hold onto your tin hats.

Darpa, the Pentagon's far-out research arm, may have publicly abandoned its creepiest programs, like Total Information Awareness. But the agency, as shown at its DarpaTech conference, still has a project to make you run full-speed into your bunker.

Mighty Isis: Darpa wants to start planning for a blimp, three times the size of Goodyear's, that would keep watch over an entire city.

Hovering 70,000 feet above ground, the ISIS (PDF) airship (short for Integrated Sensor Is Structure) would use a giant, flexible radar antenna to give, in the words of Darpa program manager Larry Correy, a "dynamic, detailed, real-time picture of all movement on or above the battlefield: friendly, neutral or enemy."

"We will apply this technology to track people emerging from buildings of interest and follow them as they move to new locations," said Darpa's Paul Benda. "Imagine the impact it will have if ISIS tracks the movement of individuals for months. Hidden webs of connections between people and facilities will be revealed."





http://www.networkworld.com/community/?q=node/5825

Why did phone-records bill 'disappear'?
By Paul McNamara on Mon, 05/15/2006 - 1:36pm

Might there be a connection between the apparent "disappearance" of legislation that would protect private telephone records and news that two ABC television reporters have been told that their cell-phone calling patterns are being monitored by the government.

It's only two dots, but …






http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article484122.ece


'Racist' marriage law upheld by Israel


Israel's High Court has narrowly upheld a law denying Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza married to Israeli citizens the right to live in the country with their spouses.

The judges voted by six to five not to cancel a four-year-old amendment to the Citizenship Law which outlaws "family unification" in Israel between Palestinians and Arab citizens of Israel.

[alkemical]

http://www.rawstory.com/showarticle.php?src=http%3A%2F%2Fnews.yahoo.com%2F s%2Fap%2F20060517%2Fap_on_re_us%2Fhalliburton_meet ing%26printer%3D1%3B_ylt%3DAiwyRXJ7ZNIDebxDkp6qNDh H2ocA%3B_ylu%3DX3oDMTA3MXN1bHE0BHNlYwN0bWE-

Protesters Arrested at Halliburton Meeting


By SHAUN SCHAFER, Associated Press Writer
48 minutes ago

DUNCAN, Okla. - Sixteen people protesting Halliburton Co.'s role as a military contractor were arrested Wednesday outside a

building where shareholders discussed spinning off the subsidiary that provides meals, clean laundry and other services to

U.S. troops in Iraq. One man was accused of vandalism for tearing up a plastic fence holding back protesters, and the rest

were accused of trespassing as they left an enclosure and headed toward the meeting.



http://thinkprogress.org/2006/05/17/new-executive-order/

New Presidential Memorandum Permits Intelligence Director To Authorize Telcos To Lie Without Violating Securities Law - In recent days, AT&T, Bell South and Verizon have all issued statements denying that they’ve handed over phone records to the NSA, as reported by USA today.

There are three possibilities:

1) The USA Today story is inaccurate;

2) The telcos left enough wiggle room in the statements that both the USA Today story and their statements are accurate; or

3) The statements from the telcos are inaccurate.




http://www.sweetliberty.org/issues/israel/destroycaps.html

Israeli Professor:
'We Could Destroy All European Capitals'



(IAP News) -- An Israeli professor and military historian hinted that Israel could avenge the holocaust by annihilating

millions of Germans and other Europeans.

Speaking during an interview which was published in Jerusalem Friday, Professor Martin Van Crevel said Israel had the

capability of hitting most European capitals with nuclear weapons.

"We possess several hundred atomic warheads and rockets and can launch them at targets in all directions, perhaps

even at Rome. Most European capitals are targets of our air force."

Creveld, a professor of military history at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, pointed out that "collective

deportation" was Israel's only meaningful strategy towards the Palestinian people.



http://www.technologyreview.com/read_article.aspx?id=16736&ch=biztech

Holographic Solar A novel approach to concentrating sunlight could cut solar panel costs.


The main limitation of solar power right now is cost, because the crystalline silicon used to make most solar photovoltaic

(PV) cells is very expensive. One approach to overcoming this cost factor is to concentrate light from the sun using mirrors

or lenses, thereby reducing the total area of silicon needed to produce a given amount of electricity. But traditional light

concentrators are bulky and unattractive -- less than ideal for use on suburban rooftops.


Now Prism Solar Technologies of Stone Ridge, NY, has developed a proof-of-concept solar module that uses holograms to

concentrate light, possibly cutting the cost of solar modules by as much as 75 percent, making them competitive with

electricity generated from fossil fuels.


The new technology replaces unsightly concentrators with sleek flat panels laminated with holograms. The panels, says Rick

Lewandowski, the company's president and CEO, are a "more elegant solution" to traditional concentrators, and can be

installed on rooftops -- or even incorporated into windows and glass doors.




http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060517/media_nm/media_xm_dc

Record labels sue XM over portable device

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The recording industry on Tuesday sued XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc., alleging its Inno device that can store music infringes on copyrights and transforms a passive radio experience into the equivalent of a digital download service like iTunes. A spokesman for the Recording Industry Association of America, comprising major labels such as Vivendi Universal's Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group Corp., EMI Group Plc and Sony BMG, said the suit was filed on Tuesday in New York federal court. The suit accuses XM Satellite of "massive wholesale infringement," and seeks $150,000 in damages for every song copied by XM
customers using the devices, which went on sale earlier this month. XM, with more than 6.5 million subscribers, said it plays 160,000 different songs every month.



http://news.com.com/Congress%20may%20make%20ISPs%20snoop%20on%20you/2100-1028_3-6072601.html

Congress may make ISPs snoop on you

A prominent Republican on Capitol Hill has prepared legislation that would rewrite Internet privacy rules by requiring that

logs of Americans' online activities be stored, CNET News.com has learned.

The proposal comes just weeks after Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said Internet service providers should retain records

of user activities for a "reasonable amount of time," a move that represented a dramatic shift in the Bush administration's views on privacy.



http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=31767

Myspace is "terrorist recruiting ground"

A WRITER on Muslim terrorism in the United States claims that Myspace is the latest recruiting ground for al-Qaida backed

groups.
Laura Mansfield, who has penned "One Nation under Allah" which includes her "undercover work" in US mosques to establish the

terrorist threat in small town America, has suddenly focused her attention on MySpace.

She is "concerned" that some web pages seem to show American kids backing the likes of Osama bin Laden and Abu Musab

al-Zarqawi, British jihadist Abu Hamza, and the 19 September 11 hijackers.

Mansfield spits tacks at one bloke who has an audio link which she says sounds "absolutely Hitleresque".




http://www.kyw1060.com/pages/36660.php

Phila. Election Officials Vow Probe of Malfunctioning Machines

Philadelphia officials are vowing a full investigation into the perplexing Primary Day breakdown of about 200 voting machines

throughout the city.

One day after the primary, city commissioners who oversee elections met to review the mess, and they ordered a thorough investigation.

Deputy city commissioner Edward Shulgen says all 3,500 machines had been thoroughly tested:

“Then, on Election Day, we have over 200 machines malfunction in that manner. It's just beyond comprehension how this

occurred. We will thoroughly investigate it, and it will never happen again.”



http://www.philly.com/mld/dailynews/news/local/14593675.htm

BREAKING NEWS: 100 voting machines broken More than 100 voting machines are reported to be broken across the city, the Daily News has learned.

Apparently, the machines were broken when polls opened this morning -- they keep spitting out the paper tape that keeps the

tally of the vote. It is the largest breakdown since we started using the new voting machines.

The broken machines were first reported in the weblog for TheNextMayor.com. Expect more on this story in tomorrow's Daily News.




http://msnbc.msn.com/id/12826461/

U.S. secretly backing warlords in Somalia
Self-styled anti-terror coalition fighting Islamic groups for control of capital

WASHINGTON - More than a decade after U.S. troops withdrew from Somalia following a disastrous military intervention,

officials of Somalia's interim government and some U.S. analysts of Africa policy say the United States has returned to the

African country, secretly supporting secular warlords who have been waging fierce battles against Islamic groups for control

of the capital, Mogadishu.

The latest clashes, last week and over the weekend, were some of the most violent in Mogadishu since the end of the American

intervention in 1994, and left 150 dead and hundreds more wounded. Leaders of the interim government blamed U.S. support of

the militias for provoking the clashes.




http://www.freemarketnews.com/WorldNews.asp?nid=13183

BUSH MAKING MONEY, TOO

Wednesday, May 17, 2006 - FreeMarketNews.com

Vice President Dick Cheney is not the only person in the Bush administration whose net worth has jumped while he's been in

office. According to a Bloomberg News story, President George W. Bush has also profited considerably, although at a lower

level of magnitude than his running-mate.

The article states that while Bush and his wife Laura are not quite back up to the reported $24 million they came into office

with, the President regained nearly $2 million in assets during 2005, to reach a net worth of nearly $21 million. Cheney,

meanwhile, reported a total portfolio of investments and other assets which approached $95 million, the story said.

Most of the Bushes' wealth was in real estate and a diversified trust, according to official tax records just released. The

President's salary in 2005 was $400,000. The story noted that Bush made most of his fortune while part owner of the Texas

Rangers major league baseball team, as an initial investment of some $530,000 in 1989 grew to almost $15 million when he sold

his share in 1998. - ST



http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-05-16-citizenship-test-press_x.htm

Study guide for U.S. citizenship test omits freedom of press

WASHINGTON — A set of flashcards designed to help applicants for U.S. citizenship learn basic civics has become one of the

most popular items sold by the Government Printing Office.
But the $8.50 flashcards — which contain questions and answers from the actual citizenship exam — won't help immigrants learn

much about the role of the press in American democracy.

Question 80 asks, "Name one right or freedom guaranteed by the First Amendment." The answer lists freedom of speech,

religion, assembly and the right to petition the government — but omits freedom of the press.

"What I find ironic is that a device designed to help immigrants understand what our democracy is all about would

intentionally or unintentionally fail to mention what the framers of our constitution considered the 'bulwark of liberty,'

which was the press," says Paul McMasters, ombudsman for the First Amendment Center.

Alfonso Aguilar, director of the office of citizenship at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, acknowledges that the

answer is incomplete. Aguilar says the 20-year-old citizenship test the flashcard is based on is "flawed" and is in the process of a $6 million redesign.




http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2006/05/3501_americans_.html

FBI Secret Probes: 3,501 Targets in the U.S.

The Department of Justice says it secretly sought phone records and other documents of 3,501 people last year under a

provision of the Patriot Act that does not require judicial oversight.

The records were obtained with the use of what are known as National Security Letters, which can be signed by an FBI agent

and are only for use in terrorism cases.

The letters require telephone companies to keep secret even the existence of the request for records.

Assistant Attorney General William Moschella told Congress last month that 9,254 National Security Letters were issued in

2005 involving 3,501 people.




http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/may2006/170506reallylook.htm


How Flight 77 Hitting The Pentagon Would Really Look?

Is this what Flight 77 hitting the Pentagon would really look like from nearby security cameras instead of the nondescript

blur footage we have been subject to?

This is obviously a crude collection of doctored frames but if the government had released something similar yesterday would

you have believed it? Many would.

Wary therefore we are of the potential for the government to eventually release clear footage of the impact from the 84 other

cameras that were dotted around the Pentagon and would have easily documented the event to debunk 9/11 skeptics.

[alkemical]

http://www.thewbalchannel.com/news/9229472/detail.html


BALTIMORE -- Baltimore City police arrested a Virginia couple over the weekend after they asked an officer for directions.

WBAL-TV 11 News I-Team reporter David Collins said Joshua Kelly and Llara Brook, of Chantilly, Va., got lost leaving an Orioles game on Saturday. Collins reported a city officer arrested them for trespassing on a public street while they were asking for directions.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4991982.stm

DNA database has 50,000 children

Fifty-thousand children in England and Wales have had their DNA added to a police database without being convicted, it has emerged.
Earlier this year, the Home Office revealed the database contained DNA profiles of 27,000 under-18s arrested but released without charge or caution.

It has now admitted DNA from a further 20,000 youngsters who have since turned 18 was taken in the same way.

The Home Office says there is a "clear public benefit" to keeping samples.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2006/05/17/bushs-secret-weapons-for_n_21199.html

Bush's Secret Weapons For Secure Borders...
Tethered Aerostat Radar... Global Hawk...

The quick fix may involve sending in the National Guard. But to really patch up the broken border, President Bush is preparing to turn to a familiar administration partner: the nation's giant military contractors.

Lockheed Martin, Raytheon and Northrop Grumman, three of the largest, are among the companies that said they would submit bids within two weeks for a multibillion-dollar federal contract to build what the administration calls a "virtual fence" along the nation's land borders.



Again, with the spy blimps!:


http://dc.indymedia.org/newswire/display/105934/index.php

http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,62646-0.html?tw=wn_story_mailer

[bendog]

I'm actually in favor of dna collecting on children. And having a requirement they get checked whenever they enroll in a new school district. Also, in europe they're locating rapists via "close matches" where a rape sample tests close enough to get a hit on a family member in the database, and then cops go look at brothers and sons.

[alkemical]

too 'gattica' for me bendog

[bendog]

hell, I'd like to have a gps chip in kids, but the bastards would prolly cut them out when the kidnapped them.

[alkemical]

For every hightech gadget - there is an equally low tech solution to get around it.

[alkemical]

http://www.kcl.ac.uk/depsta/rel/icps/world-prison-population-list-2005.pdf

US has more people in prison


http://dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/4/8/14724/28476/

All About NSA's and AT&T's Big Brother Machine, the Narus 6400

Specifically, this equipment was the Narus ST-6400, a machine that was capable of monitoring over 622 Mbits/second in real time in May, 2000, and capturing anything that hits its' semantic (i.e. the meaning of the content) triggers. The latest generation is called NarusInsight, capable of monitoring 10 billion bits of data per second.



http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,70908-0.html

AT&T Whistle-Blower's Evidence
Former AT&T technician Mark Klein is the key witness in the Electronic Frontier Foundation's class-action lawsuit against the company, which alleges that AT&T illegally cooperated in an illegal National Security Agency domestic-surveillance program.

In this recently surfaced statement, Klein details his discovery of an alleged surveillance operation in an AT&T office in San Francisco, and offers his interpretation of company documents that he believes support his case.



http://www.phillyimc.org/en/2006/05/23241.shtml

On May 12th & 13th, Battle Cry brought 15,000 to the Wachovia Spectrum for a two day Christian Evangelical rally, teach-in and music fest meant to hype youth into “God’s Army.”
This highly organized movement aims to make the U.S. and the whole world a religious dictatorship.


Battle Cry is a highly organized movement endorsed by Jerry Farwell, Pat Roberson and Rick Santorum. Battle Cry has declared war on popular culture and the enemies, the enemies being: MTV; VH1; BET; the media (that promotes violence, sex and alcoholism); “Victoria showing all her secrets”; and the internet (that allows youth to watch pornography). Battle Cry, an initiative out of Teen Mania is lead by Ron Luce, a man who was appointed by George W. Bush to the White House Advisory Commission on Drug-Free Communities. According to their literature and their speeches on stage, they see a moral crisis in society that is sucking youth into promiscuity, pornography, and violence – in essence, a morality that is far from a literal interpretation of the Bible. The Battle Cry does not begin when the youth and youth pastors enter the stadium event, THEIR BATTLE CRY HAPPENS WHEN THEY LEAVE AND ARE CHARGED WITH RECRUITING AND BUILDING THIS MOVEMENT.



http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/051906K.shtml

What Is the Real Purpose of Bush's NSA Surveillance?

The Baltimore Sun reported today that Bush rejected President Clinton's effective, legal surveillance program that did not invade privacy to adopt the current NSA spying program, which is ineffective, illegal and invasive of citizens' privacy rights. So, the question jumping off the page may be: Why would Bush use a program that does not actually assist the finding of terrorists, yet also has the disadvantage of invading Americans' privacy rights?

The Clinton surveillance program, called ThinThread, was created during the late 1990s to "gather and analyze massive amounts of communications data without running afoul of privacy laws." Several bloggers provide excellent posts on the components and nature of the program.




http://www.narconews.com/Issue41/article1816.html

Leaked Report: Drug Traffickers Obtained Classified DEA Documents from U.S. Embassy in Bogotá “At Will”
Informant Told Lie Detector that Corrupt U.S. Agents Helped Narcos Protect Drug Crops from Fumigation Raids

The memo, authored in late January 2004 by Justice Department attorney Thomas Kent, alleges that Drug Enforcement Administration agents on the front lines of the drug war in Colombia are on drug traffickers’ payrolls, engaged in money laundering and complicit in the murders of informants who knew too much about their nefarious activities.



http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A13203-2005Feb10.html

Report Says FAA Got 52 Warnings Before 9/11

The Federal Aviation Administration received repeated warnings in the months before Sept. 11, 2001, that al Qaeda hoped to attack airlines, according to a previously undisclosed report by the commission that investigated the terrorist attacks.




http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/may2006/190506tapphones.htm

Hayden's 'Tap Phones To Catch Terrorists' Lie Doesn't Wash
Massive Echelon snoop program did exist before 9/11, US government knew location of hijackers


"The CIA knew exactly where Almihdhar and Alhazmi (pictured) were two months before 9/11 because they were living an FBI informant in San Diego. Newsweek reported this in their story, The Informant Who Lived With the Hijackers, and it was also picked up by Reuters who ran it under the headline, CIA Knew Two Sept. 11 Hijackers Were in U.S."



http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/9962459/the_pentagons_new_spies


The Pentagon's New Spies
The military has built a vast domestic-intelligence network to fight terrorism -- but it's using it to track students, grandmothers and others protesting the war

Last October, before the public learned that president Bush had secretly ordered the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on Americans without a court order, the Pentagon approached the Senate intelligence committee with an unprecedented request. Military officials wanted the authority to spy on U.S. citizens on American soil, without identifying themselves, in order to collect intelligence about about terrorist threats. The plan was so sweeping, according to congressional sources who reviewed it, that it would have permitted operatives from the Defense Intelligence Agency to spy on dissidents by posing as peace activists and infiltrating anti-war meetings.




http://news.com.com/2100-1028_3-6072601.html?part=rss&tag=6072601&subj=news

Congress may make ISPs snoop on you

A prominent Republican on Capitol Hill has prepared legislation that would rewrite Internet privacy rules by requiring that logs of Americans' online activities be stored, CNET News.com has learned.

The proposal comes just weeks after Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said Internet service providers should retain records of user activities for a "reasonable amount of time," a move that represented a dramatic shift in the Bush administration's views on privacy.


http://www.sunnimaravillosa.com/archives/00000715.html

Brits to be Commanded to Yield PGP Keys?

That's sure what it's looking like, according to a c|net news article titled British legislation to enforce encryption key disclosure. First two paragraphs (all links in original):


The British government is preparing to give its police the authority to force organizations and individuals to disclose encryption keys, a move that has outraged some security and civil-rights experts.

The powers are contained within Part 3 of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act. The RIP Act, also known as RIPA, was introduced in 2000, but the government has held back from bringing Part 3 into effect. Now, more than five years after the original act was passed, the Home Office is seeking to exercise the powers within Part 3.


http://www.gnn.tv/articles/2286/U_S_Military_Loses_Guns_Prisoners

The mysterious case of the missing AKs
The U.S. government has lost track of over 200,000 machine guns that were supposed to be used by the Iraqi police. The 99-ton cache of AK47s was to have been secretly flown out from a U.S. base in Bosnia. But the four planeloads of arms have vanished. This, along with the escape of five Iraqi inmates from a newly-built high security prison should be raising new questions about the competence of the U.S. occupation.


http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/s/213/213083_bumslap_builder_branded_a_pervert.html

Bum-slap builder branded a 'pervert'

A LABOURER was jailed for a month and put on the sex offenders register for seven years after he slapped the bottom of an off-duty policewoman.

Anthony O'Neill, 22, was stunned when he was given the sentence. His relatives are furious and say the punishment is over-the-top for, what they say, was a silly joke. They say he has lost his job and been branded "a pervert".

[alkemical]

http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060506/NEWS/605060321/-1/NEWS01


Salvia's banned, but now the tough part
Most Del. police officers unfamiliar with hallucinogenic plant


Since Missouri outlawed salvia last year, it has not shown up in drug prosecutions handled by the state Attorney General's Office, spokesman John Fougere said.

"We haven't seen anything in our office about enforcing this law," he said.

Simpson, the Delaware State Police commander, said he considers the new state law a tool that police can use to crack down on overall drug abuse, even if salvia rarely is encountered.

"If we do run into it, it's another hammer we can put on people," Simpson said.



http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?aid=610

Anti-Immigration Groups
Minuteman Founder Said to Tolerate Neo-Nazis in Campaign


Neo-Nazis volunteered for Jim Gilchrist's recent congressional campaign and distributed racist propaganda at Gilchrist rallies with the full knowledge of the Minuteman Project co-founder and his campaign managers, according to a former Gilchrist campaign volunteer whose account is supported by photographs, video footage and postings on the white supremacist Web site Stormfront.



http://www.nypost.com/entertainment/68731.htm

'DEADWOOD' HEADS FOR BOOT HILL

May 18, 2006 -- HBO's decision against holding the "Deadwood" cast to their contracts for a fourth season was a business decision the show's creator finds frustrating, but also understands.
"How [expletive deleted] is it that we're not coming back"? asked the show's creator and executive producer, David Milch, on the phone from Los Angeles this week.




http://www.imilly.com/google-cookie.htm

Anonymizing Google's Cookie

If you use Google, and you accept its cookie, you should give some thought to the implications, both good and potentially bad : this page tries to help you do that, together with an easy way to anonymize it without missing out on its benefits.

First the good. It's useful to you. It's how Google saves your preferences (such as language, filtering, number of results per page, etc). If, like me, you want fifty results per page (not just ten), in English only (not in languages I can't read), unfiltered for adult content (I'm not a child), then you need the Google cookie.

Now the potentially bad. You use Google a lot, right? If someone was peering over your shoulder, watching every Google search you made; making a note of what you looked for; what you found; and sometimes where you visited from the results; (and maybe every email you sent and received); and did so for years and years: they'd grow to know quite a bit about you, eh? Well, that's what the cookie allows Google to do, forever, if you don't take simple precautions. You can read more on all that below, if you like.





http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/05/22/vets.data.reut/index.html

Data on 26.5 million veterans stolen from home

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- Personal data on about 26.5 million U.S. military veterans was stolen from the residence of a Department of Veterans Affairs data analyst who improperly took the material home, Veterans Affairs Secretary Jim Nicholson said Monday.

The data included names, Social Security numbers and dates of birth for the veterans, Nicholson said, but "there is no indication at this time" that the data had been used for identify theft.

[alkemical]

http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/FCC_says_they_cannot_investigate_NSA_0523.html


FCC says they cannot investigate NSA data mining

The Federal Communications Commission has told a Democratic congressman that they cannot investigate the National Security Agency's domestic data mining program because it is classified, RAW STORY has learned.



http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2006/05/23/pat-robertson-claims-his-_n_21503.html

Pat Robertson Claims His "Age-Defying Shake" Gives Him Energy To Leg Press 2,000 Pounds...


Every now and then, a ClayNation reader e-mail causes me to question my entire worldview. Such was recently the case. We received many responses regarding my quest to leg press 400 pounds and "show up former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright." None was more shocking than this one from Ken Pederson of Seattle:

"400 pounds is nothing! Rev. Pat Robertson, 76, can leg press 2,000 pounds. I saw him on TV the other day and the capillaries in his eyes looked just fine!"




http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/052206R.shtml


Number of US Inmates Rises Two Percent

Washington - Prisons and jails added more than 1,000 inmates each week for a year, putting almost 2.2 million people, or one in every 136 US residents, behind bars by last summer.

The total on June 30, 2005, was 56,428 more than at the same time in 2004, the government reported Sunday. That 2.6 percent increase from mid-2004 to mid-2005 translates into a weekly rise of 1,085 inmates.





http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_22/b3986068.htm


The Snooping Goes Beyond Phone Calls
How the government sidesteps the Privacy Act by purchasing commercial data

Furor and confusion over allegations that major phone companies have surrendered customer calling records to the National Security Agency continue to roil Washington. But if AT&T Inc. (T ) and possibly others have turned over records to the NSA, the phone giants represent only one of many commercial sources of personal data that the government seeks to "mine" for evidence of terrorist plots and other threats.




http://www.guardian.co.uk/kenya/story/0,,1780938,00.html

Priest 'orchestrated Italian bishop's murder'

Associated Press in Nairobi
Tuesday May 23, 2006
The Guardian


A priest orchestrated the murder of an Italian-born Roman Catholic bishop to gain control of church funds, said prosecutors at the trial of six Kenyans.
The six, who deny the charge, are accused of killing 76-year-old Bishop Luigi Locati in Isiolo in July.

Prosecutor Jacob Ondari said that the Rev Guyo Wako Malley and his co-accused had confessed to the murder, but in August the suspects alleged in court that they had been tortured by police before being taken to a magistrate to confess to the murder.





http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/uk_army.html

The UK Army:
A Life Sentence for Refusing to Commit Murder

SOLDIERS who object to taking part in a military occupation of a foreign country will face life in prison under measures due to be rubber-stamped in the House of Commons on Monday. The little-noticed Armed Forces Bill will have its third reading in the Commons on Monday and left-leaning MPs are alarmed that it will legitimise pre-emptive military strikes.

It will change the definition of desertion to include soldiers who go absent without leave and intend to refuse to take part in a "military occupation of a foreign country or territory". Under the current Army Act, desertion is defined as "going absent intending not to come back, going absent to avoid any service overseas, or going absent to avoid service when before an enemy". [Scotsman, 5/19/2006]




http://www.newsmax.com/scripts/printer_friendly.pl?s=pf&page=http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2006/5/18/111940.shtml?s=ic


Sen. Pat Roberts: 'No Civil Liberties If You're Dead'

Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Pat Roberts, R-Kan., welcomed Gen. Michael Hayden - nominated to lead the CIA - to a round of bipartisan Senate grilling Thursday and complained that the debate over his nomination has been "focused almost entirely" on controversy over NSA surveillance and eavesdropping programs.


"I am a strong supporter of civil liberties. But you have no civil liberties if you are dead," Roberts said. "I have been to the NSA and seen how the Terrorist Surveillance Program works. I have never seen a program more tightly run and closely scrutinzed."





http://www.pnionline.com/dnblog/attytood/archives/003419.html

Lobbyist money...he's No. 1, he's No. 1!

The folks over at the Congress Watch of Public Citizen have put out a report on the lobbyists who bankroll Congress. It features a list of the 20 biggest givers among lobbyists -- an interesting read, to be sure -- but they've also compiled a tally of the biggest "getters," the members of Congress who've pulled in the most money from K Street during the 1998-2004 election cycles.

Among current members of the U.S. Senate, guess who's No. 1.

That's right, the man who helped found the very K Street Project and then tried to deny its existence, our own junior senator from right here in Pennsylvania, Rick Santorum. Looking at those four election cycles from 1998 through 2004, Public Citizen found that the Pa. Republican had raked in $1,163,560 from registered lobbyists -- $838,133 from individuals, and $325,427 from their political action committees.




That puts Santorum in an elite club. Only four members have raised more than $1 million from lobbyists during that period -- the one who raked in the most, former Democratic Senate Leader Tom Daschle, with $1,687,721, was booted out of office by South Dakota voters in 2004.

The one current member of Congress who's taken in more lobbyist cash won't be around for much longer. That would be former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, who raised $1,322,906, but is resigning early next month to deal with his criminal indictment in his home state of Texas and is also under investigation for his ties to a disgraced lobbyist (what a coincidence), admitted felon Jack Abramoff.

(In the Wouldn't-You-Just-Know-It Department, the other member of this dubious $1 million club is Pennsylvania's other senator, Arlen Specter, at $1,019,317. Is this state "corrupt and contented" or what?)

[BroncoBuff]

Ames .... you're WAY too smart too buy into this:

http://img159.imageshack.us/img159/87/170506doctored0it.gif (http://imageshack.us)
In the first place, the speed of the jet (at least 300-400 mph) means there is very, very little chance that even a videotape camera - trained on this 200 horizontal foot horizon - would capture anything close to a discernible image - not even a blur. And videotape captures 30 frames per second ...

This security camera takes JUST 1 FRAME ... EVERY 2 or 3 SECONDS! DO THE MATH!

[BroncoBuff]

For that video to be approximately valid, and with the security camera taking even ONE FRAME PER SECOND (which is faster than reality) the plane would have to have been travelling about 15 (fifiteen) miles per hour.

[alkemical]

that's why i'm waiting for when the digital video is released sometime soon.

[defenseman]

Digital video? If the design parameters of the video camera do not meet the minumum standard to snap a quick shot of a plane at approx. 350 mph, how is the digital version going to help? You have to have the initial data to even start to digitize it. If it's not there (due to design limitations), then it's not there....dman

[alkemical]

there are 80+ other cameras in the vicinity that may have caught the plane, etc - all under FBI confiscation.

[defenseman]

I'm sure if they do their homework, they'll find one...dman

[alkemical]

Hence my reason for saying i'm waiting for some digital video to be released soon. Not this crappy fishbowl security camera stuff.

[alkemical]

http://www.men.com/lifestyle/kids/bighappyfamily/8


A frightening new trend in public schools is the T...

A frightening new trend in public schools is the TeenScreen program.

This is, believe it or not, a computer program - provided by a private company that makes oodles of money from it - that actually DIAGNOSES CHILDREN FOR MENTAL ILLNESS.

That's right. Psychiatrists aren't even pretending mental illness is a medical condition anymore, apparently. A computer can evaluate and diagnose your child, based on a simple questionnaire.

If you have kids in public school, you need to be aware that this program in some places operates with "passive consent" - meaning, they will send home a note, and if your child forgets to give it to you, your consent will be implied.



http://www.psychsearch.net/teenscreen.html

A Front Group for the Psycho-Pharmaceutical Industrial Complex

TeenScreen is a very controversial so-called "diagnostic psychiatric service" aka suicide survey; done on children who are then referred to psychiatric treatment. The evidence suggests that the objective of the psychiatrists who designed TeenScreen is to place children so selected on psychotropic drugs.




http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/5011416.stm

Foreigners held over Congo 'plot'
At least 30 foreigners are being held in the Democratic Republic of Congo in connection with an alleged coup plot.

The men - including South African, Nigerian and United States citizens - were working for a security company.

The Congolese government accuses them of being on a military mission to destabilise the country.

But a UN official cast doubt on the claim, saying the men were just working for one of the security firms providing services to presidential candidates.





http://www.newswithviews.com/Sacks/glenn38.htm

IS THE PUBLIC SCHOOL DESTROYING THE MALE CHILD?


A recent Chicago Board of Education report showed that girls enjoy a 63-37% advantage over boys in gaining admittance to Chicago's eight selective-enrollment college prep high schools. In response, Chicago Public Schools CEO Arne Duncan and top administrators at Jones, Whitney Young and Brooks prep schools are advocating that schools consider “gender weighting." Yet to balance the scales by employing admissions preferences is misguided. What’s needed instead is a rethinking of the way we educate, beginning at the earliest levels.





http://today.reuters.com/news/ArticleNews.aspx?type=politicsNews&storyID=2006-05-24T002309Z_01_N23417839_RTRUKOC_0_US-CONGRESS-JEFFERSON.xml


Congress leaders denounce FBI office raid


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Leaders of both parties on Capitol Hill accused the FBI on Tuesday of overstepping constitutional boundaries designed to protect Congress when it raided a Democratic lawmaker's office over the weekend.

The Justice Department's bribery investigation of Louisiana Rep. William Jefferson has turned up $90,000 in his freezer and won guilty pleas from two associates, but Republicans and Democrats alike said investigators went too far when they ignored long-standing precedent and executed a search warrant on his office on Capitol Hill.

"I clearly have serious concerns about what happened and whether people at the Justice Department have looked at the Constitution lately," said House Majority Leader John Boehner.


"I've got to believe that at the end of the day it's going to end up across the street at the Supreme Court," the Ohio Republican added.

The House's No. 2 Democrat, Maryland Rep. Steny Hoyer, said it was another example of the Bush administration's disregard for limits on its power.

"No member is above the law, but the institution has a right to protect itself against the executive department going into our offices," Hoyer said.




http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/may2006/240506femaplan.htm


Secret FEMA Plan To Use Pastors as Pacifiers in Preparation For Martial Law
Nationwide initiative trains volunteers to teach congregations to "obey the government" during seizure of guns, property, forced inoculations and forced relocation

A Pastor has come forward to blow the whistle on a nationwide FEMA program which is training Pastors and other religious representatives to become secret police enforcers who teach their congregations to "obey the government" in preparation for a declaration of martial law, property and firearm seizures, and forced relocation.

In March of this year the Pastor, who we shall refer to as Pastor Revere, was invited to attend a meeting of his local FEMA chapter which circulated around preparedness for a potential bio-terrorist attack, any natural disaster or a nationally declared emergency.




http://www.newsdesk.org/archives/000664.php


Vaccine makers helped write Frist-backed shield law
E-mails reveal private meetings

WASHINGTON - Vaccine industry officials helped shape legislation behind the scenes that Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist secretly amended into a bill to shield them from lawsuits, according to e-mails obtained by a public advocacy group.

E-mails and documents written by a trade group for the vaccine-makers show the organization met privately with Frist's staff and the White House about measures that would give the industry protection from lawsuits filed by people hurt by the vaccines.





http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/05/23/romania.dracula.ap/index.html


Dracula castle returns to bloodline


BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) -- More than 60 years after it was seized by communists, the Romanian government is to hand back one of the country's most popular tourist sites, the fabled Dracula Castle, to its former owner, the culture minister said Tuesday.

The hand-over ceremony will take place Friday noon in the 14th century castle's museum deep within the fortress in Transylvania, said minister Adrian Iorgulescu at a news conference.





http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/05/24/honda_brain_machine_interface/


Japanese boffins build breakthrough brain-machine interface


Honda scientists have created a system that will translate thoughts into electrical signals that can be used to control machinery. The technique doesn't require the user to undergo surgery or extensive training - a major advance over past thought-controlled technologies, the company said.

Researchers at the Honda Research Institute in co-operation with boffins from Japan's Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute dub the system the "Brain Machine Interface". Details of the rig itself remain sketchy, but the system reads "natural brain activity... for the near real-time operation of a robot".

[alkemical]

http://hotlineblog.nationaljournal.com/archives/2006/05/the_highest_lev.html


May 24, 2006
"The Highest Levels?"

ABC News' Brian Ross reported tonight that
the Jack Abramoff bribery scandal "has led FBI investigators to some of the most powerful members of Congress," namely Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL).

Ross reported that "based on information" obtained by investigators, Hastert is "very much in the mix of the corruption investigation."

Ross and co. say the investigation centers on a letter Hastert wrote to interior sec. Gale Norton blocking a casino on an Indian reservation that would benefit tribes repped by Abramoff. The letter was written after a Signature's fundraiser.

(This bit of info is old news, but if investigators are focusing on it, then many other members who wrote similar letters could be in trouble.)

The report quoted a Hastert spokesman as saying Hastert was not aware he was being scrutinized and had not been asked by DoJ to turn over any information.




http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2006/05/abc_news_update.html


ABC News Update on Hastert Story


Richard Esposito and Rhonda Schwartz contributed to this report.

Despite a flat denial from the Department of Justice, federal law enforcement sources tonight said ABC News accurately reported that Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert is "in the mix" in the FBI investigation of corruption in Congress.

Speaker Hastert said tonight the story was "absolutely untrue" and has demanded ABC News retract its story.

Law enforcement sources told ABC News that convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff has provided information to the FBI about Hastert and a number of other members of Congress that have broadened the scope of the investigation. Sources would not divulge details of the Abramoff’s information.




http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/05/25/abc.hastert/index.html

Hastert, ABC spar over investigation report

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- House Speaker Dennis Hastert is demanding a "full retraction" of an ABC News report that he is being investigated in connection with the Jack Abramoff corruption probe.

The report Wednesday night prompted the Justice Department to take the highly unusual step of denying on the record that the Illinois Republican is the subject of a probe.





http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/25/washington/25cong.html?_r=2&th&emc=th&oref=slogin&oref=slogin


House Leaders Demand Return of Seized Files

WASHINGTON, May 24 — The constitutional clash pitting Congress against the executive branch escalated Wednesday as the Republican and Democratic leaders of the House demanded the immediate return of materials seized by federal agents when they searched the office of a House member who is under investigation in a corruption case.




http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060524/pl_nm/congress_ethics_hastert_dc


House Speaker Hastert under investigation: ABC

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Dennis Hastert, is under investigation by the FBI, which is probing corruption in Congress, ABC News reported on Wednesday.



http://www.thepittsburghchannel.com/news/9269616/detail.html


Capitol Police Visit Santorum's Penn Hills Home

PENN HILLS, Pa. -- On Wednesday, Capitol Police agent dispatched from Washington spent nearly 90 minutes doing a security check on Sen. Rick Santorum's Penn Hill's house.

"Why would he call Capitol Police when we have Penn Hills police right here? If he's a resident of Penn Hills, why didn't he call the Penn Hills police? And for his kids to be in danger? That's a big joke because his kids are never in this house," Santorum critic Erin Vecchio said.




http://english.pravda.ru/russia/economics/25-05-2006/81016-dollar-0

Russian parliament outlaws words 'dollar' and 'euro' for price tags and the media

By all appearances, the lower house of the Russian parliament looks set to “banish” the dollar and euro from Russia. No, Russian lawmakers do not intend to ban the use of hard currencies in this country. Many Russians have shown more respect to the greenback than to the ruble since the start of the 1990s. Parliament aims at banning price identification in dollars, euros or “U.E” (Russian acronym stands for “conventional currency unit). Legislators also plan to ban the use of the words “dollar” and “euro” in the media and official speech. Fines would be charged to punish government officials for using the above foreign words.





http://today.reuters.com/business/newsarticle.aspx?type=tnBusinessNews&storyID=nL25700581

UPDATE 3-Russia cools to dollar as it invests stability fund

ST PETERSBURG, Russia, May 25 (Reuters) - Russia has raised the share of euros in its growing central bank reserves, a top central banker said on Thursday, confirming Moscow's cooling to the dollar as a dependable store of value.

The announcement, by central bank First Deputy Chairman Alexei Ulyukayev, came after Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said Russia would save its $71.5 billion budget stabilisation fund equally in euros and dollars, with a small share of sterling.






http://www.tpmcafe.com/node/30145


Crimes and Corruptions of the New World Order News
Israeli Paper/Think Tank Call for Civil War in Iraq


Let them fight it out, by Edward N. Luttwak

The writer is a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "Iraq's civil war is no different. It too should be allowed to bring peace." Only one twisted sumbitch could come up with something like that. War is peace. Must demonize. Must.



http://www.thothweb.com/article3051.html

The Cousin we don’t talk about: What is Bigfoot?

One possible Bigfoot candidate is a huge ape known from fossils from Southeast Asia, and has been proposed as Bigfoot by many researchers. The ape is Gigantopithecus blacki, an enormous vegetarian ape who lived during the Pleistocene era.

[alkemical]

http://www.alternet.org/story/35807


Potential Evidence Surfaces of Bush's Illegal Spying

An Oregon attorney may have proof of Bush's domestic spying operation -- which means the illegal program's days may be numbered.

Five months after news of the NSA's warrantless spying program broke, and after we've learned numerous details of the program's extent, a Portland, Ore., attorney may have finally obtained hard evidence of illegal wiretaps by the government.




http://www.realchangenews.org/archive3/2005_04_06/current/buzz2.html

Portland Showing Snoops the Boot


Portland, Seattle’s sister city and a town nicknamed “Little Beirut” by the first Bush Administration for its anti-war stance during the first Gulf War, is in a tug-of-war with the federal government.

In a special four-hour City Council meeting last week, the city saw testimony from the FBI, the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), and dozens of community activist groups about Portland’s role in the Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF). The City of Roses is giving the FBI three weeks to agree to open up JTTF files involving two Portland police officers who work in conjunction with the FBI.

JTTF’s work with local police departments in more than 100 cities, including Seattle. In the past year, the task forces have come under attack by the ACLU for abusing their power. According to the ACLU, the FBI and local police have been caught spying in Oregon, California, Missouri, Kansas, and Colorado.




http://www.blueoregon.com/2006/05/is_the_fbi_spyi.html

Is the FBI spying on Portland City Council?

Mayor Tom Potter released a letter today detailing an attempt by an FBI agent to recruit an informant inside the offices of City Hall. Federal authorities have since told the Mayor that they know of no public corruption in Portland and that they are not currently conducting any investigation of the City.

Has the FBI opened a secret investigation of City of Portland employees? If so, why?




http://cbs4.com/topstories/topstories_story_145164351.html

Early 'Invisibility Cloak' Could Be 18 Months Away
(AP) WASHINGTON Imagine an invisibility cloak that works just like the one Harry Potter inherited from his father.

Researchers in England and the United States think they know how to do that. They are laying out the blueprint and calling for help in developing the exotic materials needed to build a cloak.




http://www.guerrillanews.com./headlines/9238/Boeing_unveils_lightweight_bomb_for_urban_combat

Boeing unveils lightweight bomb for urban combat

Company's defense unit will make 24,000 for Air Force
Boeing Co. on Monday unveiled a line of small, lightweight bombs that the U.S. Air Force will use in urban combat situations like the war in Iraq.

The small-diameter bombs weigh 250 pounds and can be used by all Air Force bombers, according to Boeing. By using the smaller bombs, planes can carry about four times as many bombs and fire them from farther away. A B-2 Stealth bomber can carry as many as 80 of the small-diameter bombs.




http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060526/ap_on_go_ot/cia_leak;_ylt=Ag17FuyCpL4wOJ8SGHycXSqs0NUE;_ylu=X3 oDMTA2Z2szazkxBHNlYwN0bQ--

Judge: Reporters must give Libby documents

WASHINGTON - Time magazine must give I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby drafts of articles so the former White House aide can use them to defend himself against perjury and other charges in the CIA leak case, a federal judge ruled Friday.




http://www.nytimes.com/glogin?URI=http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/26/us/26spokane.html&OQ=_rQ3D1Q26thQ26emcQ3Dth&OP=7e91c6e4Q2FJodSJc_gQ20l__Q23LJLbbQ5BJb2JLQ5BJGQ 20JLQ5BQ20._kQ5E(dQ60jQ23Q2At

Diocese to Sell Headquarters to Help Settle Abuse Claims

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Spokane, Wash., is selling its headquarters and other property valued at about $11 million as part of its effort to settle claims by victims of sexual abuse by members of the clergy.

The diocese is one of three in the country that have filed for bankruptcy; the others are those in Portland, Ore., and Tucson.



http://www.alternet.org/rights/36553/

Is the U.S. becoming a police state? Here are the top 10 signs that it may well be the case.

1. The Internet Clampdown

2. "The Long War"

3. The USA PATRIOT Act

4. Prison Camps

5. Touchscreen Voting Machines

6. Signing Statements

7. Warrantless Wiretapping

8. Free Speech Zones

9. High-ranking Whistleblowers

10. The CIA Shakeup




http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/may2006/260506stagedcharade.htm

Another Staged Charade From The War Criminals
Bush/Blair press conference feigns Iraqi support for Globalist occupation forces.


Last night's Bush/Blair press conference was the latest in a long line of carefully choreographed, staged and scripted, PR charades designed to fool the watching audience into thinking that there was anyone outside of the Globalist coalition of the killing and their dwindling army of sycophantic cheerleaders that actually supported the never ending occupation of Iraq.




http://observer.guardian.co.uk/columnists/story/0,,1782114,00.html


Chain gang

Locking up increasing numbers of Americans is not just about fighting crime, but about boosting business, argues Paul Harris

The people in Ellsworth, Kansas are lucky: it has a prison. That statement may seem a little odd, but for the good people of Ellsworth the jail is a lifesaver. In a region of dying small towns increasingly populated by the aged, the prison is a reliable source of valuable jobs.
Ellsworth was recently part of a scheme offering free plots of land to city dwellers willing to give up the hassles of urban life for small town Kansas, and as I watched a Little League baseball game on a sunny day at the local high school, it struck me as a pretty good deal.



http://www.newsmax.com/scripts/printer_friendly.pl?s=pf&page=http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2006/5/25/170112.shtml?s=ic

Bloomberg Wants National DNA Database


Opponents of any kind of national ID card will be aghast at New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg's idea for a national DNA or fingerprint database designed to track the citizenship of all workers.

Bloomberg defended his idea: "We already have a unique identification card for everybody that works in this country," reports the New York Sun. "It's called your Social Security card, so this is not a civil liberties issue. In the day and age when everybody's got a PC on their desk with Photoshop that can replicate anything, it's become a joke. You can go buy a green card or a Social Security card for 50 bucks. I'm told it's so competitive sometimes you can get two for the price of one."



http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/printer-friendly.asp?ARTICLE_ID=50376

40,000 women 'sex trafficked' for World Cup
German government supports import of mostly poor from Central, Eastern Europe

In response to reports that 40,000 young women will be brought to Germany from Central and Eastern Europe to "sexually service" men attending the World Cup soccer championship next month, a Catholic group warns that many are desperately poor and will be "sex trafficked" against their will.

The Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute, or C-FAM, has launched a "Stop World Cup Prostitution" campaign on its website.

An estimated 3 million soccer fans – mostly men – are expected to descend on 12 German cities for the quadrennial sports event June 9 to July 9. Prostitution is legal in Germany.


Most of the women are told "they are going to be models, waitresses or some other harmless occupation," says C-FAM. "Many will be brutally assaulted by intoxicated fans."




http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=31942

Pub urinals use tech to warn drunk drivers


POLICE in Nassau Country are installing plastic censors in pub urinals that lecture punters about the perils of drink driving.
According to WCBS 880, the device is a Wizmark Urinal Communicator which has a 3.5-inch plastic screen that displays digital files. The device recognises that it is being 'Nintendoed on' and plays an MP3 which suggest you get a cab if you have been drinking.

The Wizmark project is being be distributed free to bars located in Nassau County. We notice that something similar has not been put in the ladies, and wonder what will happen when when very drunk people find themselves engaged in an unexpected conversation with Armitage Shanks



http://www.mosnews.com/news/2006/05/26/russiatoiran.shtml

Russia to Sell Anti-Aircraft Missiles to Iran

Russian defense minister Sergei Ivanov Friday reiterated Moscow’s commitment to supply Iran with sophisticated anti-aircraft missiles, Interfax news agency reported.

“If there are no extraordinary circumstances, it (the contract) will without doubt be fulfilled,” Ivanov was quoted as saying.

Defense Ministry officials have previously said Moscow would supply 29 sophisticated Tor-M1 air defense missile systems to Iran under a ˆ546.5m contract, according to Russian media reports.



http://reuters.myway.com/article/20060525/2006-05-25T195351Z_01_N25446752_RTRIDST_0_ENTERTAINMENT-VENEZUELA-VIDEO-DC.html

US video game angers Chavez allies


CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - Venezuelan lawmakers are complaining that a video game to be marketed by a U.S. company next year provides a blueprint for violently overthrowing President Hugo Chavez.

The game, "Mercenaries 2: World in Flames," simulates a military invasion of the oil-rich South American nation and will be released by Pandemic Studios of Los Angeles.

"A power-hungry tyrant messes with Venezuela's oil supply, sparking an invasion that turns the country into a war zone," Pandemic says of the game on its Web site.

Venezuelan lawmakers who back Chavez called it the latest example of a U.S. government-inspired propaganda campaign against Chavez that could even help lay the psychological groundwork for an actual invasion.



http://www.spacewar.com/2006/060525173505.c0g9xw69.html

Blair: we don't want conflict with Iran, we're too busy

LONDON, May 25 (AFP) May 25, 2006
Prime Minister Tony Blair said he did not want to start a conflict with Iran as Britain's armed forces already had enough problems to handle, in interview released Thursday by his office.




http://local.live.com/ (MS Terra site - see your house from space)

[alkemical]

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/30/science/space/30rock.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Intelligent Beings in Space!

A future space mission to Titan, Saturn's intriguing moon enveloped in clouds, might deploy a blimp to float around the thick atmosphere and survey the sand dunes and carved valleys below.

But the blimp's ability to communicate would be limited. A message would take about an hour and a half to travel more than 800 million miles to Earth, and any response would take another hour and a half to get to Titan.

http://www.geocities.com/rizzyriz2000/dollarnotes.htm

Dollar bill conspiracy -



http://yahoo.reuters.com/investing/FinanceArticle.aspx?type=economicNews&storyID=urn:newsml:reuters.com:20060530:MTFH20618_ 2006-05-30_17-39-19_WEN8529

U.S. hedge funds file for bankruptcy, law firm says

NEW YORK, May 30 (Reuters) - Bayou Management's U.S. hedge funds, which failed after losing millions of dollars in flawed trading strategies, on Tuesday filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy relief in New York, a law firm said.

The law firm Jenner & Block said court-appointed fiduciary Jeff Marwil and lawyer Jeffrey Schwartz of Dechert LLP will pursue recoveries for defrauded investors. Jenner & Block also said Bayou filed lawsuits against former investors who allegedly received fictitious profits and an out-sized return of their investments.



http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/5028708.stm

Daewoo boss gets 10 years in jail

Kim Woo-choong, the founder of Daewoo Group, which at one time was among South Korea's largest industrial firms, has been sentenced to 10 years in jail.
Kim, who was on the run for six years, was found guilty of charges including embezzlement and accounting fraud.




http://www.concordmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060529/REPOSITORY/605290320

Lead figure in phone jam to advise GOP contenders

A major figure in the Election Day phone-jamming scandal that embarrassed and nearly bankrupted the New Hampshire GOP is out of prison and back in the political game.

Charles McGee, the former executive director of the state Republican Party, pleaded guilty to conspiracy and served seven months for his part in the scheme to have a telemarketer tie up Democratic and union phone lines in 2002.

He's back at his old job with a Republican political marketing firm, Spectrum Monthly & Printing Inc., and will be helping out at the firm's "GOP campaign school" for candidates.

Richard Pease, the firm's co-president, said McGee would be available to advise candidates at the two-day event, planned for next weekend in Manchester. McGee's role at the school was reported Thursday by the New Hampshire Union Leader.



http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article621189.ece

Bush 'planted fake news stories on American TV'


Federal authorities are actively investigating dozens of American television stations for broadcasting items produced by the Bush administration and major corporations, and passing them off as normal news. Some of the fake news segments talked up success in the war in Iraq, or promoted the companies' products.




http://fairuse.100webcustomers.com/fuj/baltsun6v.htm

My husband is on the government's terrorist watch list


Although he was irritated that he had to prove his non-terrorist status instead of the government being required to fix its mistake, he faithfully mailed his application for innocence and waited for notice of freedom to arrive. Surprisingly, a response came within a couple of weeks. The Transportation Security Administration sent him a letter that could only have been written by a government lawyer. A sentence reads, "Where it has been determined that a correction to records is warranted, these records have been modified to address any delay or denial of boarding that you may have experienced as a result of the watch list screening process."



http://blog.mises.org/archives/005092.asp

Phone Tax Finally Sunsetted... After 108 Years


Several months ago Ted Roberts wrote an article discussing the tax on international phone calls that was originally levied to finance the Spanish-American War back in 1898. Today, MSNBC and others are reporting that effective July 31, this tax will finally disappear. In addition, consumers can file for a refund on this tax from March 2003 through the present - this is expected to be approximately $13 billion when the dust settles.




http://www.nraila.org/News/Read/Releases.aspx?ID=7412

Congressman Jindal Introduces the “Disaster
Recovery Personal Protection Act of 2006”

Fairfax, VA – Congressman Bobby Jindal of the First District of Louisiana introduced HR 5013, the “Disaster Recovery Personal Protection Act of 2006”, a National Rifle Association (NRA) supported bill amending federal emergency statute laws to stop local authorities from confiscating lawfully owned firearms during times of disaster.



http://www.cato.org/homepage_item.php?id=271

How Identification Is Overused and Misunderstood

Since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, demands for identification in the name of security have increased. In Identity Crisis: How Identification is Overused and Misunderstood, Cato director of information policy studies Jim Harper takes readers inside identification—a process everyone uses or is subjected to every day. In his compelling, behind-the-scenes analysis, Harper discovers and examines the real threats to individual privacy and civil liberties posed by current and emerging identification technology. Instead of a uniform, government-controlled identification system, Harper presents the framework for a competitive, responsive identification and credentialing industry that provides genuine privacy, security, anonymity, and accountability.



http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/crime/article580468.ece

Secret plans to protect Blair from terror attack left in hotel

Secret plans to protect Tony Blair from a terrorist attack were left in a hotel, it was claimed today.

They were part of a folder which lists ways in which assassins could try to kill the Prime Minister and other members of the Cabinet, it was alleged.

It includes suggested "attack scenarios" including car bombs, mortar attack, rocket grenades and suicide bombers.



http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/may2006/300506_b_NAIS.htm

Stop the NAIS

The House of Representatives recently passed funding for a new federal mandate that threatens to put thousands of small farmers and ranchers out of business. The National Animal Identification System, known as NAIS, is an expensive and unnecessary federal program that requires owners of livestock – cattle, dairy, poultry, and even horses – to tag animals with electronic tracking devices. The intrusive monitoring system amounts to nothing more than a tax on livestock owners, allowing the federal government access to detailed information about their private property.



http://www.willthomas.net/Chemtrails/Articles/Chemtrails_In_US_Schools.htm

Chemtrail Sunscreen Taught In US Schools
by William Thomas
A is for Apple.

B is for Boy.

C is for Chemtrails.


At least this is what one American father found while paging through his child's science book. SmT was astonished to find seventh graders being taught about chemtrails. And geoengineeering their home planet.

Anyone with question about the "spray programs" he now says, "should perhaps just ask their kids."

[alkemical]

Folks,

this is quick and dirty - and i maybe MIA for a few days.


http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/article621825.ece

alternatives to mushrooms



http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/5/29/203330/248

Mega-church minister linked to paramilitary video game (Updated)

Imagine: you are a foot soldier in a paramilitary group whose purpose is to remake America as a Christian theocracy, and establish its worldly vision of the dominion of Christ over all aspects of life. You are issued high-tech military weaponry, and instructed to engage the infidel on the streets of New York City. You are on a mission - both a religious mission and a military mission -- to convert or kill Catholics, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, gays, and anyone who advocates the separation of church and state - especially moderate, mainstream Christians. Your mission is "to conduct physical and spiritual warfare"; all who resist must be taken out with extreme prejudice. You have never felt so powerful, so driven by a purpose: you are 13 years old. You are playing a real-time strategy video game whose creators are linked to the empire of mega-church pastor Rick Warren, best selling author of The Purpose Driven Life.




http://www.newscientisttech.com/article/dn9237-robot-hand-controlled-by-thought-alone.html


Robot hand controlled by thought alone

A robotic hand controlled by the power of thought alone has been demonstrated by researchers in Japan.

The robotic hand mimics the movements of a person's real hand, based on real-time functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) of their brain activity. It marks another landmark in the advance towards prosthetics and computers that can be operating by thought alone.

The system was developed by Yukiyasu Kamitani and colleagues from the ATR Computational Neuroscience Laboratories in Kyoto, and researchers from the Honda Research Institute in Saitama.



http://news.com.com/Terrorism%20invoked%20in%20ISP%20snooping%20propos al/2100-1028_3-6078229.html

Terrorism invoked in ISP snooping proposal

In a radical departure from earlier statements, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has said that requiring Internet service providers to save records of their customers' online activities is necessary in the fight against terrorism, CNET News.com has learned.



http://www.team4news.com/Global/story.asp?s=4969555

"Quiet sobbing" follows White House screening of "United 93"


WHITE HOUSE When the credits for "United 93" began to roll, the "sounds of quiet sobbing" could be heard in the White House family theater.

According to Press Secretary Tony Snow, the audience invited by President Bush included family members of those aboard the plane that went down on Nine-Eleven.

[alkemical]

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.06/chemistry.html

Don't Try This at Home
Garage chemistry used to be a rite of passage for geeky kids. But in their search for terrorist cells and meth labs,

authorities are making a federal case out of DIY science.

The first startling thing Joy White saw out of her bedroom window was a man running toward her door with an M16. White’s husband, a physicist named Bob Lazar, was already outside, awakened by their barking dogs. Suddenly police officers and men in camouflage swarmed up the path, hoisting a battering ram. “Come out with your hands up immediately, Miss White!” one of them yelled through a megaphone, while another handcuffed the physicist in his underwear. Recalling that June morning in 2003, Lazar says, “If they were expecting to find Osama bin Laden, they brought along enough guys.”



http://www.newscientistspace.com/article/dn9273-native-americans-recorded-supernova-explosion.html

Native Americans recorded supernova explosion


Prehistoric Native Americans may have carved a record of a supernova explosion that appeared in the skies a millennium ago into a rock in Arizona, US.

John Barentine, an astronomer at the Apache Point Observatory in New Mexico, came across the carving while hiking in the White Tank Mountain Regional Park in Arizona.

It depicts a scorpion and an eight-pointed star. "I had just been reading about the supernova of AD 1006 and I knew it appeared in the constellation Scorpius, so the connection flashed into my mind."



http://fatemag.com/issues/2000s/2006-06article2a.html

Mystery Fires - As night settles over the Pampa—the vast expanse of Argentinean flatland that transcends the confines of the province named after it—strange sights are seen by those who make it their business to be up after dark: hunters lying in wait for large boars to appear out of the darkness, lonely truckers making their way along unlit roads to make much-needed deliveries in small towns, and farmers looking for stray animals. The farms known as estancias pepper the emptiness much like stars filling the night sky, separated by many miles between and invisible to each other.


"...This is exactly what was reported by a group of hunters in the Pampa in August 1996. After witnessing the unearthly glow and the bloody flames, they thought their fate had been sealed by a rogue prairie fire, but as they sought a means of escape, they realized that they could not hear the trademark sounds of a fire despite the approaching glow. This caused them to pause and look at the luminous dome at the center of the conflagration, which despite its reddish glow and yellow-orange core did not produce any smoke: “the fire that is not a fire,” as it is known...."



http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/02/AR2006060201410.html


BACK TO THE BUNKER

By William M. Arkin
Sunday, June 4, 2006; Page B01

On Monday, June 19, about 4,000 government workers representing more than 50 federal agencies from the State Department to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission will say goodbye to their families and set off for dozens of classified emergency facilities stretching from the Maryland and Virginia suburbs to the foothills of the Alleghenies. They will take to the
bunkers in an "evacuation" that my sources describe as the largest "continuity of government" exercise ever conducted, a
drill intended to prepare the U.S. government for an event even more catastrophic than the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.



http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nationworld/iraq/bal-te.geneva05jun05,0,4486704.story?coll=bal-home-headlines

U.S. to drop Geneva rule, officials say
Clause bars humiliation, degradation of detainees

WASHINGTON // The Pentagon has decided to omit from new detainee policies a key tenet of the Geneva Conventions that explicitly bans "humiliating and degrading treatment," according to knowledgeable military officials, a step that would mark a further shift away from strict adherence to international human rights standards.

The decision culminates a lengthy debate within the Defense Department but will not become final until the Pentagon makes new guidelines public, a step that has been delayed. However, the State Department opposes the military's decision to exclude Geneva Conventions protections and has been pushing for the Pentagon and White House to reconsider, the defense officials acknowledged.




http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1148482098838&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Wiesenthal Center official: Internet co-opted by terrorist groups

The Internet has emerged as "the virtual university of terrorism," the Simon Wiesenthal Center's Rabbi Abraham Cooper told a high-level international conference in Brussels last week.


http://www.bbvforums.org/cgi-bin/forums/board-auth.cgi?file=/8/30455.html

Harvey Wasserman

Why is Ohio's Blackwell stonewalling the Green Party off the fall ballot?
June 1, 2006

Green Party candidates who submitted more than twice the legally required number of petition signatures to get on this fall's Ohio ballot are being stonewalled by the state's infamous Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell, who has expressed personal contempt for the Greens' gubernatorial candidate, Bob Fitrakis. Blackwell served as co-chair of the Ohio 2004 Bush-Cheney campaign. As chief administrator of the statewide ballot, he
delivered Ohio's 20 electoral votes---and thus the presidency---to George W. Bush in a bitterly contested election riddled with charges of intimidation, fraud and theft, electronic and otherwise. Nearly two years later, the charges that the election was stolen continue to escalate.


http://www.antiwar.com/blog/2006/06/04/kristol-bush-for-supreme-leader/

Kristol: Bush for Supreme Leader
Sunday, June 4th, 2006 in News by Scott Horton|

Speaking of the essentially Soviet Bill Kristol, check out this great clip (courtesy of Crooks and Liars) of him pretending

that Iran is anywhere near the capability of producing nuclear weapons, and then calling for the president’s elevation to “Supreme Leader.”

Call me old fashioned, but I’d like to see our so-called servant put back inside the limits of Article II or tarred and feathered and ridden out of town on a rail.


(links on page: http://www.crooksandliars.com/2006/06/04.html#a8572)




http://www.nationmedia.com/eastafrican/current/News/Regional050620069.htm

'US risking another fiasco in Somalia'

The United States is now repor-tedly backing some of the same warlord factions that helped drive the US out of Somalia more than a decade ago.

But the switch in allegiances does not appear to be leading to a more favourable outcome for Washington. The warlord alliance said to be receiving US funding for weapons purchases is losing control of Mogadishu to militias affiliated with sharia courts. Some policymakers in Washington view the prospect of Islamist dominance of Somalia’s capital with alarm. They fear that the city could then become a staging area for al Qaeda militants believed to be hiding in Somalia.


http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1149460818253&call_pageid=

1149329604487&col=Columnist1037271774782

Police put on a `good spectacle'
Snipers, leg irons, selected evidence, police brass — all calculated to sway the public, lawyers and security experts say

"A good spectacle ... theatrical atmosphere ... like 24 ... an awards show."

Reviews for a Mirvish production, right? Maybe a Hollywood blockbuster or fast-paced new action series on Fox?Wrong. It's how several lawyers and security experts describe the sombre, indeed frightening, events which transpired in the GTA over the past weekend.

At a news conference Saturday, a dozen of the highest-ranking police officers in the province gathered to announce that an alleged terrorist cell had been shut down before it could explode a truck bomb three times more powerful than the device used in Oklahoma City. They were circumspect about Operation O-Sage, arguing time constraints in the preparation of evidence as well as police procedure.





http://www.itszone.co.uk/zone0/viewtopic.php?t=53409

Debated 6-6-6
6-4-6
On February 14, 2006, Congressman Charles Rangel (Democrat - NY) introduced a bill (Universal National Service Act of 2006 -

HR 4752 IH) aiming at drafting everyone - men and women alike - from the ages of 18 to 42 into the military for a minimum period of 2 years.
Or to quote the bill: "To provide for the common defense by requiring all persons in the United States, including women, between the ages of 18 and 42 to 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." The House is to convene on June 6 (06/06/06] to debate and possibly adopt this bill, that is, unless a vast public outcry succeeds in derailing this insanity, which you can do by writing a letter of protest to your congress person.

http://www.conservativeusa.org/mega-cong.htm or http://www.webslingerz.com/jhoffman/congress-email.html
Phone calls are even better. The numbers of all US Representatives are at:
http://clerk.house.gov/members/index.html
If you question the validity of this bill, go to:
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=h109-4752 http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c109:H.R.4752



http://english.pravda.ru/news/world/06-06-2006/81579-prostitution-0


U.S. warns Germany about prostitution risk

The United States accused 12 nations Monday of failing to do enough to stop the modern-day slave trade in prostitutes, child sex slaves and forced laborers and warned key ally Germany that it should do more to stop an expected tide of trafficking for sexual exploitation during the coming World Cup.

[alkemical]

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-06-06-senate-phone-companies_x.htm

Senators won't grill phone companies

WASHINGTON — A last-minute deal Tuesday with Vice President Cheney averted a possible confrontation between the Senate Judiciary Committee and U.S. telephone companies about the National Security Agency's database of customer calling records.
The deal was announced by Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., the committee chairman, and Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah. They said Cheney, who plays a key role supervising NSA counterterrorism efforts, promised that the Bush administration would consider legislation proposed by Specter that would place a domestic surveillance program under scrutiny of a special federal court.

In return, Specter agreed to postpone indefinitely asking executives from the nation's telecommunication companies to testify about another program in which the NSA collects records of domestic calls.



http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-06-06-delay-interview_x.htm

DeLay: GOP's 'panic, depression' risk losing elections

WASHINGTON — Former House majority leader Tom DeLay said he's "disappointed" in three ex-associates who pleaded guilty in a federal probe of political corruption, but he said their admissions "doesn't mean I knew" of their efforts to bribe Congress.
DELAY'S DEPARTURE: Democrats lose target

The Texas Republican, who is resigning his House seat Friday, told USA TODAY that he was surprised by revelations that Tony Rudy, a former top aide, and Jack Abramoff, a former lobbyist and longtime political supporter, tried to buy influence with lawmakers.




http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2006-06-04-terror-kids_x.htm

Teenagers who plot violence being charged as terrorists

Schools cracking down on students who plot violent attacks against classmates and educators are increasingly turning to a new form of prosecution: charging the suspects as terrorists.
Typically, students involved in such crimes are charged with offenses such as conspiracy, attempted assault or making bomb threats. But prosecutors say state legislatures now allow them to get tough — with charges that permit longer sentences — to prevent attacks such as the 1999 shootings at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., which left 15 people dead, including the two teenage gunmen.



http://www.usatoday.com/news/offbeat/2006-05-31-officer-doughnuts_x.htm

Police officer just says no to doughnuts

ELKHORN, Wis. (AP) — What kind of officer swears off doughnuts for a year?
In this case, one who ate 13 of them in three minutes, good enough to earn the title of world champion doughnut-eating officer.

Walworth County Jail Training Sgt. Howard Sawyers, who accomplished the feat last month at a law enforcement convention and said since then he has not been in a hurry to have another one.





http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/2006-06-06-cloning_x.htm


Harvard, Boston hospital to attempt embryo cloning

Scientists at Harvard and Children's Hospital Boston announced Tuesday they have the green light to clone human embryos that could generate stem cell lines for specific diseases.
The researchers join a small cadre of scientists worldwide attempting to do what a South Korean scientist claimed to have done, only to have his work unravel when it was exposed as a fraud.




http://www.washtimes.com/national/20060607-122638-5703r.htm

Senate to consider letting Hawaiians pursue sovereignty


Hawaii Sen. Daniel K. Akaka thinks Hawaiians should be allowed to govern themselves as Native Americans and Alaskans do, and after seven years of pushing a bill to start the process, the Senate is expected to take it up this week.
Mr. Akaka says the bill is a way to give "indigenous" Hawaiians a sense of pride and a chance for sovereignty for the first time since 1893, when Queen Liliuokalani was deposed and lands were illegally seized by U.S. Marines and a cadre of sugar-plantation businessmen.
"For the first time, if it passes, Hawaiians will have parity and be able to form a government entity to address their concerns, since the overthrow," Mr. Akaka said.
Republican senators annually have blocked the legislation, saying it would violate the Constitution by establishing a sovereign race-based government. It is only coming up now through a deal worked out between Democratic and Republican leaders to move other bills.




http://www.teamliberty.net/id267.html

FBI says, "No hard evidence connecting Bin Laden to 9/11"


June 6, 2006 – This past weekend, a thought provoking e-mail circulated through Internet news groups, bringing attention to the FBI’s Most Wanted Terrorist web page for Usama Bin Laden.[1] (See bottom of this web page for Most Wanted page) In the e-mail, the question is asked, “Why doesn’t Usama Bin Laden’s Most Wanted poster make any direct connection with the events of September 11, 2001?” The FBI says on its Bin Laden web page that Usama Bin Laden is wanted in connection with the August 7, 1998 bombings of the United States Embassies in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and Nairobi, Kenya. According to the FBI, these attacks killed over 200 people. The FBI concludes its reason for “wanting” Bin Laden by saying, “In addition, Bin Laden is a suspect in other terrorists attacks throughout the world.”





http://vdare.com/letters/tl_060506.htm


Today’s Letter: A Florida Reader Is Reported To The FBI For Criticizing Senator Arlen Specter





http://www.huffingtonpost.com/russell-shaw/ann-coulter-bitch-is-t_b_22354.html

Ann Coulter, "Bitch" Is Too Kind a Word For You

These self-obsessed women seem genuinely unaware that 9-11 was an attack on our nation and acted like as if the terrorist attack only happened to them. They believe the entire country was required to marinate in their exquisite personal agony.


Apparently, denouncing bush was part of the closure process."

Then Matt said "and this part is the part I really need to talk to you about: 'These broads are millionaires, lionized on TV and in articles about them, reveling in their status as celebrities and stalked by griefparrazies. I have never seen people enjoying their husband's death so much.'




http://ipaction.org/blog/2006/06/worst-bill-youve-never-heard-of.html


The worst bill you’ve never heard of

This will be a busy week in the House -- Congress goes into summer recess Friday, but not before considering the Section 115 Reform Act of 2006 (SIRA). Never heard of SIRA? That’s the way Big Copyright and their lackey’s want it, and it's bad news for you.

Simply put, SIRA fundamentally redefines copyright and fair use in the digital world. It would require all incidental copies of music to be licensed separately from the originating copy. Even copies of songs that are cached in your computer's memory or buffered over a network would need yet another license. Once again, Big Copyright is looking for a way to double-dip into your wallet, extracting payment for the same content at multiple levels.
Today, so-called "incidental" copies don't need to be licensed; they're made in the process of doing *other* things, like listening to your MP3 library or plugging into a Net radio station. If you paid for the MP3 and the radio station is up-to-date with its bookkeeping, nobody should have to pay again, right? Not if SIRA becomes law. Out of the blue, copyright holders would have created an entire new market to charge for -- and sue over. Good for them. Bad for us.



http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=389357&in_page_id=1770

Special forces to use strap-on 'Batwings'

Elite special forces troops being dropped behind enemy lines on covert missions are to ditch their traditional parachutes in favour of strap-on stealth wings.

The lightweight carbon fibre mono-wings will allow them to jump from high altitudes and then glide 120 miles or more before landing - making them almost impossible to spot, as their aircraft can avoid flying anywhere near the target.




http://www.theonion.com/content/node/49182&rss=1


NSA Wiretap Reveals Subject May Be Po Much For Long-Distance


The director of the National Security Agency announced at a press conference Tuesday that the ongoing phone surveillance of Cincinnati resident Greg Wyckham has yielded "overwhelming and incontrovertible" evidence that the 37-year-old high-school teacher and married father of three is wasting money on a long-distance plan that does not suit his calling needs.




http://www.knx1070.com/pages/42897.php?

U.S. Lawmakers Took Nearly $50 Million in Free Trips


WASHINGTON, DC (KNX) -- Members of Congress and their aides took free trips worth nearly $50 million paid for by corporations, trade associations and other private groups between January 2000 and June 2005, according to a study released by the Center for Public Integrity, American Public Media and Northwestern University's Medill News Service.




http://www.caller.com/ccct/local_news/article/0,1641,CCCT_811_4753903,00.html

The free trips of Solomon Ortiz: Convicted pair paid for some

U.S. Rep. Solomon P. Ortiz accepted free trips to China from a Houston-based husband-and-wife business team convicted recently in an illegal immigration scheme involving Chinese nationals.

Ortiz spokeswoman Cathy Travis couldn't reach him Monday, but said she is sure he was unaware of the crimes committed by Kenneth and Ping Lee Cohen, of Houston. The Cohens pleaded guilty in February to conspiracy to defraud the U.S. government and are awaiting sentencing.




http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article13517.htm


Firms Donated to Groups That Gave Judges Free Trips

05/25/06 "Washington Post" -- -- Two organizations that have provided free trips to hundreds of federal judges received large contributions from tobacco, oil and other corporate interests, according to documents released yesterday.

The Montana-based Foundation for Research on Economics and the Environment (FREE) and George Mason University's Law & Economics Center previously said corporate money does not pay for the judges' seminars or declined to disclose their donors.

But documents released by the Community Rights Counsel, a nonprofit Washington law firm, show that corporations including Exxon Mobil, Philip Morris and R.J. Reynolds Tobacco have contributed tens of thousands of dollars toward these programs. The new information comes as judicial trips are receiving increased scrutiny on Capitol Hill, where bills would either outlaw such trips or create an inspector general for the judicial branch.




http://athensnews.com/issue/article.php3?story_id=25082


Big Brother's new toy: Another bloated gas bag watching you from the sky

Last week, a fire ignited at the Akron Airdock that once housed a fleet of Goodyear blimps. Firemen rushed to the 211-foot-tall structure and quickly doused the flames. Reporters and photographers descended on the landmark. Many were surprised to learn the blimps were no longer being stored there.

Turns out Lockheed Martin -- the company that gave us the Trident intercontinental ballistic missile -- was renovating the site for an upcoming project when the fire started. It's being turned into a hangar for a prototype airship. If you're frightened of this administration's habit of spying on American citizens, you may want to stop reading.




http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=693485

Heroin: The solution?
The liberalisation of drug laws in Zurich has led to a massive fall in the number of new heroin users, according to a study published yesterday. Now Britain, which has the highest number of drug deaths in Europe, is being urged to follow suit

By Jeremy Laurance

02 June 2006
Drugs charities called yesterday for Britain to abandon its tough approach to heroin use after research showed one European city had cut the number of new addicts by transforming the image of heroin into a "loser drug".

The UK should follow the example of Zurich, which adopted a liberal drug policy a decade ago, and has seen an 82 per cent decline in new users of heroin, experts say.

[defenseman]

Senate to consider letting Hawaiians pursue sovereignty


Hawaii Sen. Daniel K. Akaka thinks Hawaiians should be allowed to govern themselves as Native Americans and Alaskans do, and after seven years of pushing a bill to start the process, the Senate is expected to take it up this week.
Mr. Akaka says the bill is a way to give "indigenous" Hawaiians a sense of pride and a chance for sovereignty for the first time since 1893, when Queen Liliuokalani was deposed and lands were illegally seized by U.S. Marines and a cadre of sugar-plantation businessmen.
"For the first time, if it passes, Hawaiians will have parity and be able to form a government entity to address their concerns, since the overthrow," Mr. Akaka said.
Republican senators annually have blocked the legislation, saying it would violate the Constitution by establishing a sovereign race-based government. It is only coming up now through a deal worked out between Democratic and Republican leaders to move other bills. You have no idea how happy I am I sold my home in the islands last year. These guys get this, and you haven't seen corruption. Incredible amount of back door dealings. They would set a new standard for the term "corruption"......Wikopedia ..corruption=hawaiian politics and business

[alkemical]

really dman? I've never been there, and that story interested me - any more info?

[defenseman]

really dman? I've never been there, and that story interested me - any more info?

the islands have been heavily democratic for years. In 2004?2002?, if I recall they elected the first republican, female to boot in I can't remember(linda lingle). In any case, the reason she was chosen over a the normal democratic candidate? Corruption was part of it, failure to get anything done (again) by the previous two or three democratic governors, was the other. Lots of bradda this and bradda that, and we're working on it..The previous two governors John Waieha and Ben Cayetono were as about a corrupt as they come. Both were accused of skimming here and there, doing this , doing that. Incredible......so the hawaiians picked Lingle. The honolulu star bulletin I'm sure has back edition stuff on the internet. Millions of dollars squandered and or "unaccounted" for with these two guys in office. Give them what they want, well folks, you can kiss off that place for a while. They will screw it up, i gaurantee it....seen it, watched it for years....great place to visit. IF the "locals" have their way, I mean of hawaiian "decent", being a howlee in hawaii ? You'll get the ever loving s**t taxed out of you with ANYONE of ANY minut amount of local blood in them not paying a dime. I gaurantee it, trust me. They count of "howlees" for their tourism income, and behind closed doors, ALOT of them hate us...dman

[alkemical]

why do they hate us dman?

I've heard that - and about other places to visit too.

[defenseman]

why do they hate us dman?

I've heard that - and about other places to visit too.

Society of haves and have nots. ALOT of the locals ARE NOT educated anywhere near as well as they should be. MOST of the kids do go to college, go to the mainland or UH. Upon graduating from UH, they leave for the most part. Not all but I'd say a large percentage. For , one of the costliest states in the union, it's average salary ranks pretty darn low. Why? Hmmm...how about TOURISM. Hotel cleaners, bartenders, towell girls, etc...etc..bus drivers....the entire island chain is pretty much driven by tourism. That said, when GIVEN the opportunity to bring in the mainland mentality for job creation, businesses, etc...etc...etc..it's normally shut down hard. The locals who DO STAY in the islands, can't compete for alot of the jobs that are technical in nature or some other special training , because, they're state didn't INVEST in their own people. So Here's dman , buying a home in mililani in 1986, for virtually peanuts by todays standards and living quite nicely on a military salary. Some take exception to the fact that I (military) can purchase a home in the islands, and they can't. In '86, it wasn't too bad. NOW? Holy s**t, the parents are "promoting" racism. Freshman year in HS for my son, three or so fights at mililani High school. Why? he was spit on by a gang of locals on each occasion. School board? DID NOTHING. I got outta there as soon as I could. Definitely racists, definitely a problem with "you got it bradda, why can't I". I could go on and on. In short, GREAT place to visit. IF, you desire to live there, BE DAMN careful where you live. Big island is nice. I can deal with that. Mililani, was pretty much one the best towns on Oahu, and alot of the kids at the High school did not like at all, howlees...dman

[alkemical]

interesting..... thanks dman

[alkemical]

http://www.upi.com/SecurityTerrorism/view.php?StoryID=20060607-023522-7802r


Army has to turn over Halliburton docs
WASHINGTON, June 7 (UPI) -- A U.S. district court judge has ordered the Army to release 14 documents, including six emails, dealing with the Halliburton oil contract in Iraq.

U.S. District Court Judge Ricardo M. Urbina also ordered the Army to give to the court an additional six documents for the court to review to make a further determination.

At issue is a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by Judicial Watch, an anti-corruption public interest group. Judicial Watch believes the award of a multi-billion contract to Halliburton subsidiary KBR for the restoration of Iraq's oil fields may have been unduly influenced by Vice President Dick Cheney, who headed Halliburton for five years prior to joining President George. W. Bush's campaign.



http://news.independent.co.uk/world/africa/article717647.ece

Somalia must not become a haven for al-Qa'ida militants, Bush warns


Somalia must not become a haven for al-Qa'ida militants, Bush warns
By Kim Sengupta in Nairobi
Published: 08 June 2006
International ramifications over Islamist victories in Somalia continue, with President George Bush declaring he will not allow the country to become an "al-Qa'ida haven" even as the militias themselves vowed to make the Horn of Africa "a land under the Koran".



http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060607/LOCAL/60607024

Homeland security unveils $835,000 RV

The Indiana Department of Homeland Security revealed its newest tool for protecting Hoosiers today: a brand new 53-foot mobile command center.


The expandable dark blue trailer boasts three rooms that can accommodate a crew of 21, each workstation with its own separate phone line, and individual laptops backed up by two separate servers. Several large flat screen televisions are among other amenities such as a coffee maker and microwave.
State officials said the advantage of the mobile command unit is its ability to facilitate communication between multiple emergency response agencies in the event of an emergency. The vehicle's 52-foot antenna aids communication and is fitted with a 360-degree pan-zoom camera.




http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003046811_prison08.html



Report details failure of U.S. prison system
By Jenifer Warren

Los Angeles Times

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Americans spend $60 billion a year to imprison 2.2 million people — exceeding any other nation — but receive a dismal return on the investment, according to a report to be released today by a commission urging greater public scrutiny of what goes on behind bars.
The report, "Confronting Confinement," says legislators passing get-tough laws have packed the nation's jails and prisons to overflowing with convicts, most poor and uneducated, but have done little to help them emerge as better citizens upon release.




http://newstandardnews.net/content/?action=show_item&itemid=3261

Cheney’s Office Declares Exemption from Secrecy OversightJune 7 –

Thickening the haze of secrecy surrounding the executive branch, the Office of Vice President Dick Cheney has declared itself exempt from a yearly requirement to report how it uses its power to classify secret information.


In its 2005 report to the president released last month, the Information Security Oversight Office (ISOO), a branch of the National Archives, provides a quantitative overview of hundreds of thousands of pages of classified and declassified documents. But the vice president’s input consists of a single footnote explaining that his office failed to meet its reporting requirements for the third year in a row.




http://torontosun.com/News/Canada/2006/06/07/1618360-sun.html


Sex slaves sold to Canada? Israeli cops bust ring that allegedly shipped unwilling prostitutes here

JERUSALEM -- Israeli police have uncovered an Israeli-Canadian prostitution ring that may have included trafficking Israeli women to Canada, police said yesterday.

Three Israelis were arrested this week in connection with the case, spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said. The ring worked over the past few months to recruit dozens of young Israeli women who were sent to Canada, where they were promised large salaries, Rosenfeld said.

The women answered ads for "escort services" and were subjected to degrading interviews that involved photographing them nude before they were sent to Canada, he said. Although some knew they were going to work in prostitution, others may have been sent against their will, he said.




http://www.rawstory.com/showarticle.php?src=http%3A%2F%2Fabcnews.go.com%2F Business%2Fprint%3Fid%3D2053478

Halliburton sees earnings doubling in coming years

NEW YORK - Energy services company Halliburton Co. <HAL.N> expects net income and earnings per share to double over the next three to five years, Chief Financial Officer Cris Gaut said on Thursday.

In a presentation to investors, Gaut also forecast revenue growth for the energy services group of the company of 20 percent per year or more over the next three to five years.


Once it spins off an interest in its engineering and construction arm KBR, Halliburton will be more of a pure-play energy services company.


Gaut said the company would use the proceeds from the initial public offering of a KBR stake to help fund its acquisition strategy.


The company will spend $1 billion to $2 billion a year on deals, Gaut said, to add technology, expand its geographic reach and make better use of its distribution network.




http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/Story.asp?Article=145678&Sn=BNEW&IssueID=29080

US officer is facing rape trial

A GENERAL court martial hearing for a US Navy serviceman accused of raping a Bahrain resident is expected to begin next week.The 26-year-old Petty Officer 3rd Class faces trial at the Naval Support Activity (NSA) Bahrain in Juffair, for allegedly raping a woman at her home.

He is being charged with rape, forcible sodomy, assault with intent to commit rape, adultery and indecent assault, US Naval Forces Central Command and US Fifth Fleet public affairs officer Commander Jeff Breslau told the GDN yesterday.




http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/june2006/080606militaryconnections.htm

Toronto Terrorist Ringleader Has Military Connections

The much vaunted Toronto terrorist plot sank deeper into the abyss of absurdity late Wednesday when it was revealed that the alleged ringleader of the cell, Steven Vikash Chand, was a former Canadian soldier.





http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/07/technology/07cnd-voice.html?ei=5090&en=b9c45fd19738a9a4&ex=1307332800&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=print



Hacker Said to Resell Internet Phone Service


Federal authorities arrested one man in Miami and another in Spokane, Wash., today in connection with what they said was a hacking scheme involving the resale of Internet telephone service.

The suspects were said to have illegally tapped into the lines of legitimate Internet phone companies, saddling them with the expense of extra traffic, while collecting more than $1 million in connection fees.


The case, one of the first involving this kind of elaborate Internet phone hacking, illustrated how Internet-based communications may be criminally exploited, and raised fresh questions about the security of phone traffic over largely unregulated networks.



http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/couriernews/business/3_3_EL08_STORESPIES_S1.htm


Are your groceries spying on you?


Has your electronics store (or drugstore or music store or department store) recently replaced its metal shelves with plastic ones? Such a move could signal a switch to a type of product tracking that has the potential to invade your privacy.

Radio Frequency Identification, or RFID, is a wireless technology that allows objects and even people to be tagged and tracked. RFID tags contain microchips and tiny radio antennas and are embedded in products or stuck on labels. (Tags slightly larger than a grain of rice can be implanted under the skin.)

Once activated, they transmit a unique identifying number to an electronic reader, which, in turn, links to a computer database where information about the product or person is stored.

Metal, as in shelves, can interfere with transmissions between tags and readers.

Although it sounds like science fiction, radio tagging is very much a reality. For years, railroads and the U.S. Department of Defense used radio tags to track inventory. Cars outfitted with radio tags that mark their passage have long breezed through tollbooths, while ExxonMobil's Speedpass — an RFID tag in the form of a key fob — enables drivers to pay for gas without swiping a card or using a PIN.




http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/health_medical/article717596.ece

Prozac cleared for children aged eight despite fears of suicide risk


Children as young as eight can be given the antidepressant Prozac, the European Medicines Agency (EMEA) has ruled.

The EMEA said that the drug was safe for young people to take, despite concerns that it can trigger suicidal feelings in patients.

However, the regulator's ruling said Prozac should only be given to children with moderate to severe depression who have not responded to several sessions of psychological therapy. The drug should also be given in small doses and must be used alongside counselling.









http://www.cyberpresse.ca/article/20060608/CPACTUALITES/606080550/5046/CPDROIT


Réunion du club Bilderberg à Ottawa : l'élite de la planète se rencontre


Une réunion ultra secrète regroupant jusqu'à 120 personnalités parmi les plus influentes au monde devrait s'amorcer aujourd'hui dans un luxueux hôtel de Kanata.

Chefs d'État, têtes couronnées, ministres, pdg de multinationales, diplomates de premier rang et magnats des médias forment ce club privé mieux connu sous le nom de Bilderberg. Il se rencontre annuellement depuis 1954 tout en gardant la plus grande discrétion quant au contenu des débats.


Translation supplied by a WRH reader:
An ultra-secret meeting of up to 120 of the most influential leaders in the world should take place today in a luxurious Kanata hotel.

Heads of states, crowned heads, ministers, CEOs of multinational corporations, first-rank diplomats and media tycoons form this private club better known as the Bilderberg. It has been holding meetings every year since 1954 whilst keeping the contents of its debates in high secrecy.

Contrarily to the Summit of the Americas, the G8 and the G20, those meetings get no media coverage because they are held behind closed doors. The goal of those conferences which are to last until Sunday in Brookstreet Hotel, on Leggett in the Kanata sector, is to discuss global problems and challenges.

According to French daily Libération, the 2003 meeting involved a clash between former diplomat and current Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin and the warhawks of the Bush administration, where Villepin severely rebuked the foreign policy of the United States.

Groups of protestors, who accuse the Bilderberg Group of holding a hidden international agenda and of forming a secret government, attempt every year to find the location of the annual meeting to denounce what they consider to be an undemocratic approach.





http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/5051142.stm


High hopes for drone in LA skies

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), commonly known as drone aircraft, are about to be launched for the first time by the police in Los Angeles.

UAVs have long been used by the military in war zones such as Iraq or Afghanistan. But the technology has been adapted for domestic use and could revolutionise the way law enforcement agencies carry out surveillance and rescue operations.

The Los Angeles Sheriff's Department (LASD) has been experimenting with a drone called SkySeer, which it intends to put into service later this month.




http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/june2006/080606alexjones.htm



Alex Jones Detained On Orders Of Bilderberg Group


Alex Jones and his team were detained by Canadian immigration on orders of the Bilderberg Group for a 15 hour nightmare of interrogation, accusations and threats of arrests in anticipation of the conference in Ottawa which starts today.

The group were detained at 11:45pm last night and only released after 2pm today.

Customs openly told Alex as soon as they brought him into custody that the Bilderberg Group was aware of his arrival and that this was the reason for his detainment. All three members of the team were instantly detained despite going through different immigration desks.

[alkemical]

http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/Post_Specter_compromise_gives_Bush_amnesty_0609.ht ml


Post: Specter 'compromise' gives Bush amnesty for wiretaps

RAW STORY
Published: Friday June 9, 2006


Print This | Email This

Excerpts from today's Washington Post:

#
Sen. Arlen Specter's approach modifies his earlier position that the NSA eavesdropping program, which targets international telephone calls and e-mails in which one party is suspected of links to terrorists, must be subject to supervision by the secret court set up under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).




http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0606/S00114.htm


Richard Perle reveals US War Plans in the Iran
Friday, 9 June 2006, 11:30 am
Opinion: Global Research


A New "Perle Harbor": Neocon Foreign Policy Architect Richard Perle reveals US War Plans in the Iranian Theater
by Dr. Michael Carmichael
June 7, 2006
GlobalResearch.ca


Perle emphasised that President Ahmadinejad holds fanatical religious beliefs involving the necessity for an Armageddonite conflict to trigger the return of the Hidden Imam at the end of the world in the Shiite tradition for the Last Judgement and the Islamic Apocalypse. Perle singled out the fanaticism of Islamic terrorism as the most serious threat to international security, and he praised the Israeli air-strike against Saddam’s nuclear reactor in 1981 as a model of pre-emptive military intervention. In his view, the threat of precision air-strikes against the nuclear infrastructure of Iran constitute the best negotiating option.

An Iranian student asked Perle whether he considered the Mearsheimer and Walt paper, “The Israel Lobby,” to be, “anti-Semitic.” Castigating the eighty-five page paper as, “bad scholarship,” Perle admitted that he did not know what he was talking about when he confessed that he had not read it in its entirety. This question put Perle on the defensive, and he asserted that there was no secret agenda amongst America’s plethora of, “Jewish groups,” that sought to place the national security of Israel above that of the United States.




http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=2057857

Report: Abramoff Ex-Partner Knew of Slaying

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. Jun 9, 2006 (AP)— A man who purchased SunCruz Casinos with lobbyist Jack Abramoff in 2000 has told authorities he knows who killed the casino's founder the following year, according to a report published Friday.

Adam Kidan told authorities in a 2 1/2-hour interview last month that John Gurino, who was later killed by a business partner, shot SunCruz founder Konstantinos "Gus" Boulis in 2001, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported. The paper did not say how it obtained the taped interview.



http://truthpackagemachine.blogspot.com/2006/05/columbines-third-shooter.html


Columbine's Third Shooter

What is never discussed is the amount of explosives, 95 bombs, that were placed around the school, and who did it. The other buried item is the 52 witnesses that saw a third shooter.



Third Shooter Resurfaces

As the investigation dragged on, and some of the TCM members started to crack, their families were threatened. One TCM member's father hada bizarre lab accident, but the most serious was the execution of Stephanie Hart, who could identify the third shooter with the mask on. On Feb 15, 2000, at 10:55( AM OR PM?) TCM members stalked out a sub sandwich shop where Stephanie picked up her boyfriend, then a shooter executed the two with a bullet to the back of each of their heads.




http://www.unknownnews.org/060608stinkybadges.html


Cop charged with child pornography for photos
of naked underage girlfriend on squad car's hood

Nude photos that produced a child pornography charge against a married Vidor policeman were taken of his 17-year-old girlfriend, according to a suspension letter The Enterprise obtained Wednesday.

An Orange County grand jury last month indicted Chad Everette Bourque, 32, on the third-degree felony charge punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine.




http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-6081882.html?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=zdnn

House rejects Net neutrality rules


The U.S. House of Representatives definitively rejected the concept of Net neutrality on Thursday, dealing a bitter blow to Internet companies like Amazon.com, eBay and Google that had engaged in a last-minute lobbying campaign to support it.

By a 269-152 vote that fell largely along party lines, the House Republican leadership mustered enough votes to reject a Democrat-backed amendment that would have enshrined stiff Net neutrality regulations into federal law and prevented broadband providers from treating some Internet sites differently from others






Amesj's Link of the day:

http://www.darpa.mil

[bendog]

was up with the third shooter stuff and what's the thing about net neutrality?

[alkemical]

I've heard about the 3rd shooter before with columbine, where they think klebold/harris had an accomplice - but i can't find more than... speculation on it - but i find it interesting, and there's enough 'what if' to pique my interest.

net neutrality states that - orangemane.com is an equal to say.... espn.com - no site is 'more' than other site. They want to split the net into pay per use - so those with money can regulate the net, and those without loose out. They won't get bandwith speeds, etc that other 'bigger' sites recieve. so it creates a two tiered 'class' system on the internet.

[alkemical]

or another way bendog,

verizion, qwest, comcast - can dictate a 'toll' to be paid to get premium bandwidth - and the sites that can't are regulated to the slow lane.

[bendog]

God damn republican bastards. God dammit. I gotta put up with Benny Thompson and Cynthia McKinney, but god dammit there mere pikers in the game of graft. God dammit, I shoudda voted for gore. He'd veto that **** faster than WJC could drop drawers and pop three viagra.

[alkemical]

God damn republican bastards. God dammit. I gotta put up with Benny Thompson and Cynthia McKinney, but god dammit there mere pikers in the game of graft. God dammit, I shoudda voted for gore. He'd veto that **** faster than WJC could drop drawers and pop three viagra.


ya know, the reason why the net has become what it has, is it was left alone.

[alkemical]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4970452.stm


Search for India's ancient city
Archaeologists working on India's south-west coast believe they may have solved the mystery of the location of a major port which was key to trade between India and the Roman Empire - Muziris, in the modern-day state of Kerala. For many years, people have been in search of the almost mythical port, known as Vanchi to locals. Much-recorded in Roman times, Muziris was a major centre for trade between Rome and southern India - but appeared to have simply disappeared.




http://www.djournal.com/pages/story.asp?ID=221498&pub=1&div=News


Psychics in Northeast Mississippi


The largest-held belief - 40 percent - was in extrasensory perception, or ESP. Between 20-37 percent of others polled

believed in one or a combination of other things like ghosts, telepathy, clairvoyance, astrology, communicating with the

dead, witches and reincarnation. Nine percent said they believed one could channel the dead into their own body.



http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,198988,00.html

Foiled Burglar Sues Store Employees for 'Emotional Distress'
Sunday , June 11, 2006


ROCHESTER, N.Y. — A man who was beaten by employees of a store he was trying to rob is now suing.

Police say Dana Buckman entered the AutoZone in Rochester, New York, last July, brandished a semi-automatic pistol and demanded cash.

That's when employees Eli Crespo and Jerry Vega beat him with a pipe and held Buckman at bay with his own gun. Buckman escaped when they retreated into the store to call 911, but he was arrested a week later. He pleaded guilty to first-degree robbery and was sentenced to 18 years in prison as a repeat violent felon. Now Buckman is suing the auto parts store and the two employees who beat him, claiming they committed assault and battery and intentionally inflicted emotional distress.



http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/11/AR2006061100739.html

Mission Accomplished?

The doors may be closing shortly on the nine-year-old Project for a New American Century, the neoconservative think tank headed by William Kristol , former chief of staff to Vice President Dan Quayle and now editor of the Weekly Standard, which is must reading for neocon cogitators and agitators.
There had been debate about PNAC's future, but the feeling, a source said, was of "goal accomplished" and it looks to be heading toward closing. Former executive director Gary J. Schmitt , who had been executive director of President Ronald Reagan 's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board, left recently for a post at the American Enterprise Institute. (Not a big move. Actually, only five floors up from PNAC.) Still, seems like a short century.




http://www.humaneventsonline.com/article.php?id=15497


Bush Administration Quietly Plans NAFTA Super Highway


by Jerome R. Corsi
Posted Jun 12, 2006

Quietly but systematically, the Bush Administration is advancing the plan to build a huge NAFTA Super Highway, four football-fields-wide, through the heart of the U.S. along Interstate 35, from the Mexican border at Laredo, Tex., to the Canadian border north of Duluth, Minn.


Once complete, the new road will allow containers from the Far East to enter the United States through the Mexican port of Lazaro Cardenas, bypassing the Longshoreman’s Union in the process. The Mexican trucks, without the involvement of the Teamsters Union, will drive on what will be the nation’s most modern highway straight into the heart of America. The Mexican
trucks will cross border in FAST lanes, checked only electronically by the new “SENTRI” system. The first customs stop will be a Mexican customs office in Kansas City, their new Smart Port complex, a facility being built for Mexico at a cost of $3 million to the U.S. taxpayers in Kansas City.



http://www.alternet.org/movies/37373/

Using Children as 'God's Army'
By Kirsten A. Powers, The American Prospect
Posted on June 12, 2006, Printed on June 12, 2006


Gandhi once said if Christians lived according to their faith, there would be no Hindus left in India. He knew how powerful the fundamental tenets of Christianity -- fighting poverty, caring for the least among us, loving your enemies, eschewing materialism and embracing humility -- could be if everyone who called themselves a Christian truly followed them. The new documentary, Jesus Camp, which chronicles a North Dakota summer camp where kids as young as 6 are taught to become dedicated Christian soldiers in "God's army," is an illustration of this sentiment in the extreme.The film, by Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady, the duo who also directed the critically-acclaimed The Boys of Baraka, opened to an appreciative and flabbergasted audience at the 2006 TriBeca Film Festival, where it received the Special Jury Award. The directors skillfully captured the daily interactions of a world that would be foreign to most viewers: children speaking in tongues and talking of being "born again" at age 5. The star of the film is Pastor Becky Fischer, who explains the startling mission of her "Kids on Fire" camp: "I want young people to be as committed to laying down their lives for the Gospel as they are in Pakistan." At the camp, the children are asked: "How many of you want to be those who will give up your life for Jesus?" Little hands shoot up from every direction. They are told: "We have to break the power of the enemy over the government." At one point, Becky yells: "This means war! Are you a part of it or not?"




http://www.washtimes.com/national/20060612-123713-4122r.htm

Homeland Security accepts fake ID


The Department of Homeland Security allowed a man to enter its headquarters last week using a fake Matricula Consular card as identification, despite federal rules that say the Mexican-issued card is not valid ID at government buildings. Bruce DeCell, a retired New York City police officer, used his phony card -- which lists his place of birth as "Tijuana, B.C." and his address as "123 Fraud Blvd." on an incorrectly spelled "Staton Island, N.Y." -- to enter the building Wednesday for a meeting with DHS officials.
Mr. DeCell said he has had the card for four years and has used it again and again to board airliners and enter government buildings, without being turned down once. But he said he was surprised that DHS, the agency in charge of determining secure IDs, accepted it. "Obviously, it's not working," Mr. DeCell said.


http://www.dailybulletin.com/news/ci_3925947

'No-work list' predicted
Employee verification system would affect all workers, privacy experts say

By Lisa Friedman, Staff Writer
Inland Valley Daily Bulletin

WASHINGTON - Remember the Department of Homeland Security's "no-fly'' lists that erratically flagged 3-year-old children and dozens of men named David Nelson as terrorists seeking to board commercial airplanes?
Well, now privacy experts are warning America to prepare for the "no-work'' list. As Congress debates immigration reform, experts say a little-discussed aspect of the bill, mandatory employee eligibility verification, is likely to have a colossal impact on the lives of every person in the U.S. labor market -- citizen and foreigner alike. "Everyone who wants to work will feel this provision,'' said Tim Sparapani, legal counsel for the American Civil Liberties
Union. "People are just beginning to understand the implications of it, and they're big.''

[alkemical]

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=105318


Goodbye USA, Hello North American Union?


Goodbye USA, Hello North American Union? ...If You're Not Scared, You Should Be

Jerome R. Corsi PhD, tells us what is waiting for the American People by the year 2010. Bush signed an agreement last year

with Mexico and Canada to merge into a North American Union (NAU) similar to the European Union. The USA will be subject to a new 'Umbrella Government' that will call the shots and erode U.S. sovereignty. Could this be why Bush has been stalling on sealing the southern border of the USA with Mexico? How dies this affect Israel? Startling news you must hear and research yourself.



http://www.opinionjournal.com/columnists/pnoonan/?id=110008453


Third Time - America may be ready for a new political party

Something's happening. I have a feeling we're at some new beginning, that a big breakup's coming, and that though it isn't and will not be immediately apparent, we'll someday look back on this era as the time when a shift began.

All my adult life, people have been saying that the two-party system is ending, that the Democrats' and Republicans' control of political power in America is winding down. According to the traditional critique, the two parties no longer offer the people the choice they want and deserve. Sometimes it's said they are too much alike--Tweedledum and Tweedledee. Sometimes it's said they're too polarizing--too red and too blue for a nation in which many see things through purple glasses.




http://www.nypost.com/business/bankruptcy_filings_rise_after_reforms_business_.ht m


BANKRUPTCY FILINGS RISE AFTER REFORMS


June 13, 2006 -- WASHINGTON - A new law to deter American consumers from seeking bankruptcy protection made filings plunge to a 20-year low in the first-quarter of 2006, but a rapid rise in new cases since then raises questions about whether the law is working as expected.
The 2005 bankruptcy reform law was pushed through Congress by banks and credit card companies that sought to prevent abuse by individuals trying to wipe their financial slates clean from runaway debt.




http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/business/articles/0613autoloans0613.html


Car buyers stymied by negative equity

Zero-interest deals and long-term car loans are boosting sales, but they are producing one troubling side effect: a growing number of drivers owe more on their vehicle than it's worth at trade-in time. Last month, nearly 29 percent of U.S. car buyers found themselves "upside-down" on their loans, owing an average of $3,789 more than their trade-in value for the highest level since September 2004.



http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13285341/

Farewell to the flippers: Home prices are falling
Buyers in some cooling markets know they’re in the driver’s seat


NEW YORK - Low-ball bidders, persnickety buyers and cancellations are now the rule in once-hot housing markets. Rising interest rates and sky-high home prices have cooled real-estate investment, “particularly in high-end markets in some juiced-up parts of the country where speculation was most rampant,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Economy.com.




http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060613/ap_on_bi_ge/japan_markets


Japan stock market takes big 1-day tumble


TOKYO - Japan's stock market plunged 4 percent Tuesday, its biggest one-day loss in two years, amid renewed uncertainty over the outlook for U.S. economy, Japan's biggest export market. The Nikkei 225 index fell 614.41 points, or 4.14 percent, to finish at 14,218.60 points, the biggest percentage in a single day loss since May 10, 2004. The index has now tumbled 11.75 percent since the beginning of this year.





http://www.safehaven.com/article-5346.htm


Asset Deflation Takes Hold


2005 was a 40 yard fake-out for investors. Whoever bought pretty much anything for investment in 2005 will get short-sheeted. Mind you, it's not easy for me to say that; I happen to be an investor, and an investment realtor. But the fact is, 2005/early 2006 was the worst time possibly ever to invest in pretty much everything, even though many asset classes looked
like they were poised to do well.





http://www.belleville.com/mld/belleville/news/state/14798268.htm?source=rss&channel=belleville_state


Minority students' teachers are worst
Associated Press
CHICAGO - School districts like Chicago, with high percentages of low-income and minority students, are more likely to have

teachers who are unqualified, inexperienced, and less talented academically, a study says. "We take the children who have less, then turn around and give them teachers who have less to offer," said Heather Peske, co-author of the report for The Education Trust, a Washington-based nonprofit think tank that tracks state compliance with President Bush's No Child Left Behind law.




http://www.rawstory.com/showoutarticle.php?src=http%3A%2F%2Fthinkprogress. org%2F2006%2F06%2F12%2Ftice-follow-up

NSA Blocking Whistleblower From Telling Committee About Shocking, Illegal Activities

Last month, ThinkProgress reported that NSA whistleblower Russell Tice would meet with members of the Senate Armed Services Committee to discuss undisclosed unlawful activity that the Agency has engaged in. “I think the people I talk to next week are going to be shocked when I tell them what I have to tell them,” Tice said. Since that time, little has been reported of Tice’s meeting. CongressDaily (sub. req’d) follows-up today, “Tice met last month in a closed session with senior staff from the Senate Armed Services Committee. Tice said he told the staffers everything he knew. But he said the aides did not say how, or if, they would follow up on his allegations.”



http://calltodecision.com/aeb.htm

Attorney Elsebeth Baumgartner is facing 66 years and 6 months in jail in a political payback case for uncovering serious corruption in Cuyahoga Country, OH, which leads directly to the White House. She faces 109 years for emailing a ranking Ohio judge and running a controversial website accusing high-ranking Ohio officials of serious crimes. She is now being held in jail as a political prisoner.

She exposed case fixing via visiting judges to cover up federal grant fraud, insurance fraud and thefts of public resources

by Ohio law firms. She reported this to the FBI and the DOJ including allegations of extortion, drug trafficking, weapons running and various sex crimes including child pornography and other crimes against women and children. She has already spent 244 days in jail, including 10 days in solitary confinement. She is considered a domestic terrorist. She has been denied legal counsel, clergy and even a phone call.



http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/Florida_House_candidate_to_face_litany_0612.html


Florida House candidate to face litany of criminal charges after alleging vote fraud

In an exclusive interview with Florida House of Representatives candidate Charlie Grapski - arrested after he filed a lawsuit alleging voting fraud against Alachua County City Manager Clovis Watson, RAW STORY learns of corruption allegations that can only be described as not seen since the days of Boss Tweed. Charlie Grapski, a Democrat running for the Florida House of Representatives, was arrested in April after filing a lawsuit alleging that City officials abused power and influenced the outcome of an election by manipulating the absentee voting process. The story, however, does not start or end with election fraud allegations. What Grapski tells is a tale that one cannot imagine occurring in a law abiding country, one of false arrest, intimidation, and a crony-business system all centered around money interests.




http://breakingnews.iol.ie/news/story.asp?j=214393085&p=zy43939xx&n=214393971


Former Saddam aide dragged from court
12/06/2006 - 18:19:50

Saddam Hussein’s former intelligence chief was manhandled by guards as they dragged him out of court today for arguing with the judge, fuelling defence protests that it is being treated unfairly in the trial of the ousted Iraqi leader and members of his regime.

An American lawyer on the team, Curtis Doebbler, said the defence is at a “serious disadvantage,” accusing the court of ignoring its requests, intimidating witnesses and rushing it while giving the prosecution all the time it needed to present its case.




http://www.independent.org/newsroom/article.asp?id=1735


Eminent Domain Roulette
May 30, 2006
Benjamin Powell
Investor's Business Daily



Wal-Mart found itself on the other side of the table this week when the Hercules, Calif., City Council decided to use eminent

domain to stop Wal-Mart from opening a new store in town. The council voted to seize Wal-Mart’s land. Wal-Mart now finds itself to be the victim of the same strategy it has used to gain a foothold in other communities: using the threat of eminent domain to pressure property owners to sell.
Hercules is a leader in using so-called ”smart growth” policies to plan development. City plans regulate everything from architectural styles to front porches on homes. However, Hercules’s councilmen will be no more successful in centrally planning its local economy than the Soviet Union’s bureaucrats were in planning theirs. The market’s competitive process, which offers monetary profits or losses, is much better than city planners at figuring out which businesses should offer which products in what locations.



http://www.the-rude-awakening.com/RAissues/2006/march/052506.html

Joy of being homeless


The nice, young family that acquired your editor's home,
obtained a beautiful residence at a reasonable price. They
are thrilled. But so is the seller. He unloaded an asset
that was beginning to feel more like a debtor's prison than
his personal castle. For six years he loved residing in
this home that he had designed and built for his family.
But during the final year of his residency, he loved it
somewhat less than before...primarily because he had been
planning a move back to California, the land of his youth.
Home-ownership on the East Coast, therefore, impeded his
path to the West Coast. Hence his heightened sense of
anxiety and urgency as the "Housing Bubble" headlines began
to accumulate atop the nation's newspapers.


http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/05/31/MNG5JJ5LQN10.DTL


Oakland votes to grant diplomas despite exit exam requirement

In defiance of state law, the Oakland school board voted tonight to grant diplomas to seniors who have not passed the state-required exit exam, in a 4-2 vote. However, because the bankrupt district is under state control and the board has been stripped of decision-making powers, the resolution cannot be enforced unless approved by state-appointed Administrator Randolph Ward.




http://english.ohmynews.com/articleview/article_view.asp?no=297728&rel_no=1


Pyeongtaek's Mystery Ball in the Sky
Residents are puzzled about a giant golf ball near U.S. military base


"Its been there about seven or eight years. We have no idea what it is; we just thought it might be a water tank or something. People have said is an oil tank, or some kind of antenna. But why should we even bother to try to figure it out. Isn't it easier if we just consider it as a big ball? I like it because it makes the scene of our village very familiar from a distance."

A titan standing 30 meters tall, the "ball" is about eight years old. For the residents living near the field of Daechu-ri, located in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, their lives have revolved around a mysterious ball mounted in the sky, all the while never knowing exactly what it is.






http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/06/12/youtube_owns_derivative_works/


YouTube owns YourStuff


Never trust a hippy - John Lydon

The latest attempt to rebrand the web, "Web 2.0" has been evangelized as a platform for sharing - but it's increasingly looking like a platform tilted steeply in one direction.


Millions may be about to discover what singer Billy Bragg found out recently - that "community" hosting web sites can do as they please with creative material you submit. In its Terms & Conditions, the wildly popular video sharing site YouTube emphasizes that "you retain all of your ownership rights in your User Submissions".

There's quite a large "BUT...", however. Not only does YouTube retain the right to create derivative works, but so do the users, and so too, does YouTube's successor company. Since YouTube has all the hallmarks of a very shortlived business - it's burned through $11.5m of venture investment (Sequoia Capital is the fall guy here) and has no revenue channels - this is more pertinent than may appear.

The license that you grant YouTube is worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, sublicenseable and transferable. The simplest way to terminate it is by withdrawing your video. But even this is problematic, as OpenTV's Nathan Freitas wrote recently: "It is good to know that if you delete a video from YouTube, then the rights you have granted them terminate. However, once
they have distributed your video 'in any media format and through any media channel', that’s a little hard to take back, right?"

[alkemical]

"When our life ceases to be inward and private, conversation degenerates into mere gossip. We rarely meet a man who can tell us any news which he has not read in a newspaper, or been told by his neighbor; and, for the most part, the only difference between us and our fellow is, that he has seen the newspaper, or been out to tea, and we have not. In proportion as our inward life fails, we go more constantly and desperately to the post-office." ~ Henry David Thoreau



http://tech.moneycontrol.com/news/riaa-sues-youtube-users/1526/india/


RIAA sues Youtube users
Thursday June 15th 2006, 2:45 pm
Filed under: News
By: Jayesh Mansukhani
It seems our friends over at the RIAA just cannot get enough. The latest BS to emerge from there are cease-and-desist letters to Youtube users who have dared to put up videos of things such as themselves dancing to music they haven’t licensed.

Clearly an insanity plea no longer covers the RIAA’s stupidity. From trying to orchestrate illegal takedowns in other countries a la The Pirate Bay to sending cease-and-desist letters to some poor user who has just recorded himself doing silly things to a song no one will even remember a week later. Youtube is all about expressing yourself in your own little corner on the net. Guess with Big Brother watching, soon even putting out harmless videos will become illegal.



http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,1797814,00.html


Butterfly effect: New species hatches in lab

James Randerson, science correspondent
Thursday June 15, 2006
The Guardian


The creation of a new species, something that scientific orthodoxy says should take thousands of years of genetic isolation has been achieved in the lab in just three months.
Scientists think they have recreated the process that produced a stunning South American butterfly called Heliconius heurippa virtually overnight. And they suggest that similar rapid species creation could help to explain puzzling groups of closely related species such as Darwin's finches and cichlid fish. The finding is yet another challenge to the charge from creationists that evolutionary biologists are unable to explain large scale evolutionary shifts that result in new species.




http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/14/technology/14search.html?_r=1&hp&ex=1150257600&en=4b91d1f7096cf107&ei=5094&partner=homepage&oref=slogin


Hiding in Plain Sight, Google Seeks More Power


Google is building two computing centers, top and left, each the size of a football field, in The Dalles, Ore.


THE DALLES, Ore., June 8 — On the banks of the windswept Columbia River, Google is working on a secret weapon in its quest to dominate the next generation of Internet computing. But it is hard to keep a secret when it is a computing center as big as two football fields, with twin cooling plants protruding four stories into the sky.



The complex, sprawling like an information-age factory, heralds a substantial expansion of a worldwide computing network handling billions of search queries a day and a growing repertory of other Internet services.



http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19025556.200?DCMP=NLC-nletter&nsref=mg19025556.200


Pentagon sets its sights on social networking websites


"I AM continually shocked and appalled at the details people voluntarily post online about themselves." So says Jon Callas, chief security officer at PGP, a Silicon Valley-based maker of encryption software. He is far from alone in noticing that fast-growing social networking websites such as MySpace and Friendster are a snoop's dream.

New Scientist has discovered that Pentagon's National Security Agency, which specialises in eavesdropping and code-breaking, is funding research into the mass harvesting of the information that people post about themselves on social networks. And it could harness advances in internet technology - specifically the forthcoming "semantic web" championed by the web standards organisation W3C - to combine data from social networking websites with details such as banking, retail and property records, allowing the NSA to build extensive, all-embracing personal profiles of individuals.




http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060609/ap_on_re_us/fast_food_ban


Pa. schools weigh parental fast-food ban


PALMYRA, Pa. - Parents who visit their children at lunch would be required to eat school food rather than bring the children fast-food lunches under a proposed wellness policy in the Palmyra Area School District.

That doesn't set well with some parents. Lori Swisher, who has three children at Forge Road Elementary School, agreed the schools don't need soda machines or daily doughnuts, but bristled at "one more government restriction."

Swisher said she occasionally has brought pizza or a sub to her kids at school. "I like to think I serve mostly healthy meals, but when all three have sports, sometimes fast food is the option," she said.





http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Front_Page/HF14Aa01.html

US opens new war front in North Africa
By Jason Motlagh

Despite a setback in Somalia, where anti-Islamist warlords recently lost control of the capital, Mogadishu, to a jihadist militia, the United States is plunging into a far vaster set of commitments, stretching across the "Wild West" of Saharan Africa.

Over the next five years, Washington is expected to spend US$500 million on an overt counter-terror program to secure what it has dubbed the latest front in its "global war on terror". Detractors insist the move could backfire and have the same unintended consequences as in the Horn of Africa, albeit on a much larger scale with even more at stake.




http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/06/13/911.hijacker/


Web site: Al Qaeda IDs 20th 9/11 hijacker

(CNN) -- Al Qaeda identified a Saudi militant, who was killed in 2004, as the 20th hijacker in the September 11, 2001, attack on the United States, according to a statement published Tuesday on an Islamist Web site.

"Turki bin Fheid al-Muteiri -- Fawaz al-Nashmi -- may God accept him as a martyr (was) the one chosen by Sheikh Osama bin Laden to be the martyrdom-seeker number 20 in the raid on September 11, 2001," the statement said.




http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/fakealqaeda.html

The Phony (Mossad)
Al Qaeda Cell in Palestine

Al-Qaeda cleric exposed as an MI5 double agent

ONE of al-Qaeda's most dangerous figures has been revealed as a double agent working for MI5, raising criticism from European governments, which repeatedly called for his arrest.

Britain ignored warnings - which began before the September 11 attacks - from half a dozen friendly governments about Abu Qatada's links with terrorist groups and refused to arrest him. Intelligence chiefs hid from European allies their intention to use the cleric as a key informer against Islamic militants in Britain.



http://www.thewe.cc/contents/more/archive/mossad.htm

The unresolved role of Mossad in 9-11

In the hours following the World Trade Center attack, millions of American Jews were shocked and deeply hurt at accusations spreading around the world like wildfire that Israel had been behind the attack, and had even warned thousands of Jews working in the Twin Towers not to go to work that morning.

The rumors were not restricted to wild-eyed terrorist sympathizers overflowing with anti-Jewish hatred. Sheikh Muhammed Al-Gamei-a was, until shortly after the attacks the US representative of Egypt's Al-Azhar University in New York City — westernized, educated, seemingly rational.

He had also served as Imam of the Islamic Cultural Center and mosque in New York, but he fled America after the attacks, claiming Muslim life in America had become unbearable because of the "Zionist plot."



http://baltimorechronicle.com/2006/060806Lindorff.shtml


The Case of the Missing $21 Billion
Who's Following the Iraq Money?

During the days of the Nixon Watergate scandal investigation, reporter Bob Woodword was famously advised by his mysterious source, Deep Throat, to "follow the money" as a way of cracking the story.
Well, there is a lot of money to follow in the current scandal that can be best described as the Bush/Cheney administration, and so far, nobody's doing it.

My bet for the place that needs the most following is the more than $9 billion that has gone missing without a trace in Iraq--as well as $12 billion in cash that the Pentagon flew into Iraq straight from Federal Reserve vaults via military transports, and for which there has been little or no accounting.



http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/issues/iraq/dfi/2006/0320awash.htm

‘Iraq Was Awash in Cash. We Played
Football with Bricks of $100 Bills’

At the beginning of the Iraq war, the UN entrusted $23bn of Iraqi money to the US-led coalition to redevelop the country. With the infrastructure of the country still in ruins, where has all that money gone? Callum Macrae and Ali Fadhil on one of the greatest financial scandals of all time.

In a dilapidated maternity and paediatric hospital in Diwaniyah, 100 miles south of Baghdad, Zahara and Abbas, premature twins just two days old, lie desperately ill. The hospital has neither the equipment nor the drugs that could save their lives. On the other side of the world, in a federal courthouse in Virginia, US, two men - one a former CIA agent and Republican candidate for Congress, the other a former army ranger - are found guilty of fraudulently obtaining $3m (£1.7m) intended for the reconstruction of Iraq. These two events have no direct link, but they are none the less products of the same thing: a financial scandal that in terms of sheer scale must rank as one of the greatest in history.





http://today.reuters.com/News/newsArticle.aspx?type=businessNews&storyID=2006-06-14T163116Z_01_N14226570_RTRUKOC_0_US-AUTOS-FORD-MEXICO.xml&pageNumber=1&imageid=&cap=&sz=13&WTModLoc=NewsArt-C1-ArticlePage1


Ford to invest up to $9.2 bln in Mexico: report


Mark Fields, the executive vice president in charge of the North American restructuring effort, said in January the company was looking to build a new low-cost assembly plant in North America.

The document also indicated that Ford expects to increase its purchases of Mexican-made components by 300 percent, while suppliers could increase their investment by $3.6 billion.

Ford, which is hoping to attract incentives from the Mexican government, also said it was prepared to shift some professional engineering and purchasing jobs to Ford of Mexico as part of the expansion plan, according to the document.

It also noted the political sensitivities involved in the announcement of any expansion. Any announcement would have to come after the United Auto Workers convention, which is being held this week in Las Vegas, the newspaper said.




http://www.humaneventsonline.com/article.php?id=15497


Bush Administration Quietly Plans NAFTA Super Highway


Quietly but systematically, the Bush Administration is advancing the plan to build a huge NAFTA Super Highway, four football-fields-wide, through the heart of the U.S. along Interstate 35, from the Mexican border at Laredo, Tex., to the Canadian border north of Duluth, Minn.

[alkemical]

for those of you who liked my thread, sorry i have/had been reaaaaaaaly busy latley - here's an installment.



http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/AFSCsuesDOJ.php

AFSC Sues the U.S. Defense Department for Unlawful Surveillance

Janis D. Shields, Director Media and Public Relations
(215) 241-7060, AFTER HOURS 302-545-6596
THE AMERICAN FRIENDS SERVICE COMMITTEE SUES THE U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT FOR UNLAWFUL SURVEILLANCE

Says Illegal Spying Violates Constitutional Protections Guaranteed Every American

PHILADELPHIA - JUNE 14 -- The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) today became plaintiff in a federal lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union that challenges the Pentagon's failure to turn over information detailing secret surveillance of peace groups and private citizens.



http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060620/ap_on_re_us/new_orleans_national_guard

National Guard arrives in New Orleans

NEW ORLEANS - Nine months after they rode to the rescue in the desperate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, National Guardsmen carrying M-16s returned to the city Tuesday to reinforce a depleted police department and battle a surge in violence. The 100 or so soldiers will patrol the streets in ravaged neighborhoods left deserted by Katrina, freeing up police officers to concentrate on more heavily populated sections.


http://www.politicalgateway.com/news/read/20123

Missing publisher's body found

ANNAPOLIS, Md., June 19 (UPI) -- The body of missing Maryland publisher Philip Merrill has been discovered in the Chesapeake Bay, The Washington Post said. A boater spotted the body drifting about a mile southwest of Poplar Island, and about 11 miles northeast of where his empty
sailboat was found June 10 by two jet skiers. The boater was not connected to the nine-day search conducted since Merrill's disappearance. Police said they still believe there was no foul play involved in the death, but are waiting for the results of an autopsy, the Post said. The 72-year-old Merrill, whose Annapolis-based holdings included Washingtonian magazine and the Capital newspaper, was NATO assistant secretary-general in the early 1990s, and president of the Export-Import Bank of the United States from 2002 until
last year, the Post said.



http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/sns-ap-lobbyist-probe,0,1986145.story?coll=ny-leadnationalnews-headlines


Safavian Found Guilty in Lobbyist Trial


WASHINGTON -- The Justice Department on Tuesday won its first trial in the probe of influence peddler Jack Abramoff, convicting a former Bush administration official in a case that touched on questionable behavior by members of Congress. A jury found David Safavian had hidden details of his relationship with Abramoff from a General Services Administration
ethics lawyer, the GSA's Inspector General's office and the Senate Indian Affairs Committee and had obstructed the IG.



http://www.marketwatch.com/News/Story/Story.aspx?dist=newsfinder&siteid=google&guid=%7b59A7B7B5-ADFC-4F9F-89BF-7A705F28F3F5%7d&keyword=


U.S. pension peril grows with bankruptcies
Time running out for government agency as firms drop retirement payouts



SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- In 2002, a bankrupt Bethlehem Steel stunned 100,000 workers with the news it would no longer back their pensions. It was the biggest default in a brutal year during which companies dropped responsibility for 157 pension plans onto the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, the little-known federal agency that insures private retirement packages. The trend has since accelerated. Another 467 companies, including giant employers like United Airlines, have joined those who can't -- or won't -- honor pledges to retirees.




http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2006/06/20/2003314604

What are George Bush's gift-givers trying to tell him?

A braided leather whip, a sniper rifle, six jars of fertilizer and a copy of the Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook were among the presents foreign leaders have given US President George W. Bush. They are clearly trying to tell him something. The inventory of official gifts from 2004, published this week by the US State Department, reads like the wish list of the sort of paranoid survivalist who holes up in his log cabin to await Armageddon, having long ago severed all ties with the rest of the world.


http://www.rense.com/general72/waste.htm

Ames Lab Dumps Prion Wastes Into Public Sewers

Ames, Iowa Federal Animal Lab Discharges Infectious Prion Wastes To Public Sewers

EPA acknowledges sewage treatment reconcentrates prions in sewage sludge - fecal feces. "The room in Building 5 where workers perform necropsies has drains on the floor that eventually lead to the Ames sewage
treatment plant and then into the South Skunk River. Workers flush tissue scraps, blood, urine and other items down the drain into a heated storage tank and then on to the city sewage plant." ""It is known that CWD is an environmental contaminant from work done at Colorado State University," Morgan wrote. "It most likely is a fecal contamination that occurs, but that is not entirely proven (a good research project). It is known the sewage treatment does not kill prions, and it is also known that CWD is coming this direction naturally."

[note:
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) acknowledges that no sludge biosolids pathogen reduction method -- including composting -- inactivates infectious prions}



http://www.rumormillnews.com/cgi-bin/archive.cgi?read=68463


Is MITRE Corp. The Trojan Horse of 9/11? *PIC*


Did a central controller with "super user" privileges of the command and control systems of the Department of Defense, NORAD, the Air Force, and the FAA, control the aerial attacks of 9/11? There is only one agency that has that capability – a little-known private company known as MITRE Corp.
There are basically two versions of events surrounding the terror attacks of September 11, 2001. There is the government version, propagated by the controlled media, which claims that 19 Arab terrorists, organized by Osama Bin Laden in Afghanistan, hijacked 4 passenger aircraft and used them to attack the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. This version, used to launch the "war on terror" and two invasions in the Middle East, is challenged by a lack of evidence. On the other hand, a host of unofficial explanations, based on available evidence, make up what can be called the "inside
job" or anti-government version. This version basically claims that agents embedded within the U.S. military and intelligence organizations conspired to carry out the terror attacks. The two foreign nations most often implicated in the unofficial explanations of 9/11 are Israel and Britain. Both countries are supporters and beneficiaries of the Bush administration's "war on terror."




http://www.rawstory.com/showarticle.php?src=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.democrats.com %2Fnode%2F9271


GOP Kills Senate Bill to Police Halliburton


I suppose it's old news at this point that the Bush administration lied us into the Iraq war and that the cost of this mess will be fully realized by the next generation when Bush leaves office with the biggest budget deficit in U.S. history. And, while Democrats have been complaining for years about the GOP-led Congress abandoning its oversight of the executive branch's
wrongdoing, a vote that took place in the Senate last week shows how the Republican desire to ignore fraud and abuse extends
right into killing legislation that would help stop defense contractors from ripping off the American people. In an effort to stop companies like Halliburton and its subsidiaries from cheating our troops and stealing from Americans, Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND), introduced S.AMDT.4230 and attached it to the Defense Authorization bill currently being debated
in the Senate. The bill was intended to improve contracting "by eliminating fraud and abuse and improving competition in contracting and procurement."




http://license.icopyright.net/user/viewFreeUse.act?fuid=NTI1MDA=


Digital camera blocking technology created
By Jonathan Jay Gibian

Georgia Institute of Technology scientists say they've created a prototype device that can block digital video cameras from working in a specific area.
The scientists say the prototype -- which could be used to stymie unwanted use of video or still cameras -- uses off-the-shelf equipment to scan for, find and neutralize digital cameras. The system works by looking for the reflectivity and shape of the image-producing sensors used in digital cameras.
Associate GIT Professor Gregory Abowd, who led the study, says the camera-neutralizing technology shows commercial promise in two principal fields -- protecting areas against espionage photography and stopping video copying.


http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2006/6/11/3145/97664


China Purchased US Spy Plane Technology from Israel

A Chinese spy plane recently crashed near Nanjing "revealing details of a covert Chinese espionage effort to copy Israeli technology in an attempt to match the United States in any future air and sea battle," the Times Online is saying. 40 people were killed in the crash, 35 of them China's top electronic warfare experts. According to The Times report, it appears the spy technology the Chinese technicians were experimenting with was American-made, and they acquired it through Israel.


http://chronicle.com/free/v52/i42/42a01001.htm

Professors of Paranoia?
Academics give a scholarly stamp to 9/11 conspiracy theories



Nearly five years have gone by since it happened. The trial of Zacarias Moussaoui is over. Construction of the Freedom Tower just began. Oliver Stone's movie about the attacks is due out in theaters soon. And colleges are offering degrees in homeland-security management. The post-9/11 era is barreling along. And yet a whole subculture is still stuck at that first morning. They are playing and replaying the footage of the disaster, looking for clues that it was an "inside job." They feel sure the post-9/11 era is built on a lie.
In recent months, interest in September 11-conspiracy theories has surged. Since January, traffic to the major conspiracy Web sites has increased steadily. The number of blogs that mention "9/11" and "conspiracy" each day has climbed from a handful to over a hundred.




http://www.patriotdaily.com/bm/blog/what-is-the-real-purpose-.shtml


What Is The Real Purpose Of Bush's NSA Surveillance?

The Baltimore Sun reported today that Bush rejected President Clinton's effective, legal surveillance program that did not invade privacy to adopt the current NSA spying program, which is ineffective, illegal and invasive of citizens' privacy rights. So, the question jumping off the page may be: Why would Bush use a program that does not actually assist the finding of terrorists, yet also has the disadvantage of invading Americans' privacy rights? The Clinton surveillance program, called ThinThread, was created during the late 1990s to "gather and analyze massive amounts of communications data without running afoul of privacy laws." Several bloggers provide excellent posts on the components and nature of the program.



http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=50730

Mexican customs to be stationed in Kansas City
New 'inland port' in heartland part of international plan that bypasses unions
A Mexican customs office is being built in the U.S. heartland as part of a newly designed "inland port" facility that links with a Mexican seaport, an official in Kansas City confirms. Tasha Hammes of the Kansas City Area Development Council wrote to author and WND columnist Jerome Corsi to correct some details of a column on the subject, but she affirmed that a key purpose of the Kansas City Inland Port, or SmartPort, will be to facilitate the movement of containers from the Far East through the Mexican port at Lazaro Cardenas rather that the West Coast ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.



http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/june2006/210606cfrplan.htm


CFR/Bilderberg Plan To Erase US Borders Finally Gets Attention


The open plan to merge the US with Mexico and Canada and create a Pan American Union networked by a NAFTA Super Highway has long been a Globalist brainchild but its very real and prescient implementation on behalf of the Council on Foreign Relations has finally been reported on by mainstream news outlets After nearly ten years of reporting by Alex Jones and the rest of the Patriot Movement, the establishment press is finally covering serious reports on the plan for a Pan-American Union, based on recent articles by Human Events columnist Jerome Corsi.




http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/060620_space_bubbles.html


Earth Surrounded by Giant Fizzy Bubbles


The space above you is fizzing with activity as bubbles of superhot gas constantly grow and pop around Earth, scientists announced today.

Astronomers found the activity up where Earth's magnetic field meets a constant stream of particles flowing out from the Sun. While space is commonly called a vacuum, in fact there is gas everywhere, albeit not as dense as the air you breathe.

[Hotrod]

I just kind of glanced thru todays issue and realized I have not read this thread in awhile and have been sleeping better ;)

The Bush gifts article is hilarious Ha!

[alkemical]

lol hotrod....

;)


the prions story was important, because prions are what causes mad cow to be passed to other animals. To kill them you either bleach them or you have to get 'cook' them at up to 1200 degrees i believe.

[alkemical]

http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/science/06/15/johnpaul.hawking.ap/index.html

The physicist, the pope and the birth of the universe

HONG KONG, China (AP) -- Famed physicist Stephen Hawking said Thursday that Pope John Paul II tried to discourage him and other scientists attending a cosmology conference at the Vatican from trying to figure out how the universe began. The British scientist joked he was lucky the pope didn't realize he had already presented a paper at the gathering suggesting
how the universe was created. "I didn't fancy the thought of being handed over to the Inquisition like Galileo," Hawking said in a lecture to a sold-out
audience at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. John Paul died in 2005; Hawking did not say when the Vatican meeting was held.


http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/science/06/19/arctic.seedvault.ap/index.html


Norway building 'doomsday vault' to protect seeds

OSLO, Norway (AP) -- It sounds like something from a science fiction film -- a doomsday vault carved into a frozen mountainside on a secluded Arctic island ready to serve as a Noah's Ark for seeds in case of a global catastrophe. But Norway's ambitious project is on its way to becoming reality. Construction began Monday on the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, designed to house as many as 3 million of the world's crop seeds.


http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/06/21/ap/politics/mainD8ICR1601.shtml

3 Poll Workers, 3 Felons Charged in Tenn.

MEMPHIS, Tenn., Jun. 21, 2006

(AP) Three poll workers accused of casting ballots in the name of dead voters were among six people indicted on charges of violating election laws in a state Senate race, a prosecutor announced Wednesday. Prosecutor Bill Gibbons said his investigation found no evidence of a widespread conspiracy to throw the election to either candidate. Democrat Ophelia Ford was certified the winner over Republican Terry Roland by 13 votes last September. The state Senate overturned the election this year amid allegations of irregularities. "There was an effort on the part of certain individuals ... to cast some illegal votes for Miss Ford. But I stress that there
is nothing to indicate that she knew anything about that," Gibbons said.
None of those indicted worked for either of the campaigns and neither candidate has been accused of wrongdoing, officials said. The poll workers are charged with official misconduct. Three felons who cast ballots also were charged with violating election laws. All the counts are felonies.


http://www.columbiatribune.com/2006/Jun/20060620News007.asp


Janitor strives to unlock code behind graffiti
Public scrawling not unusual, police say.

Ken Roberts has seen plenty of graffiti, but a spray-painted message that appeared on a Boone County government building during the weekend still has him scratching his head. "It’s not your basic vandals; it’s actually a conspiracy movement," said Roberts, who heads the county’s facilities
maintenance department. In neatly scrawled red paint, the graffiti artist sometime over the weekend wrote, "problem reaction solution… get it yet?"
on a shed near the Boone County Johnson Building. A small stencil sketch of what appears to be a Continental soldier is next to the message.


http://www.ncc-1776.org/tle2002/libe195-20021021-04.html

The Pagan Libertarian Connection



http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2006/06/21/BUG9VJHB9C1.DTL&type=business


AT&T rewrites rules: Your data isn't yours


AT&T has issued an updated privacy policy that takes effect Friday. The changes are significant because they appear to give the telecom giant more latitude when it comes to sharing customers' personal data with government officials. The new policy says that AT&T -- not customers -- owns customers' confidential info and can use it "to protect its legitimate
business interests, safeguard others, or respond to legal process."



http://fairuse.100webcustomers.com/fairenough/salon018.html


Is the NSA spying on U.S. Internet traffic?
Salon exclusive: Two former AT&T employees say the telecom giant has maintained a secret, highly secure room in St. Louis since 2002. Intelligence experts say it bears the earmarks of a National Security Agency operation. Jun. 21, 2006 | In a pivotal network operations center in metropolitan St. Louis, AT&T has maintained a secret, highly secured room since 2002
where government work is being conducted, according to two former AT&T workers once employed at the center. In interviews with Salon, the former AT&T workers said that only government officials or AT&T employees with top-secret security clearance are admitted to the room, located inside AT&T's facility in Bridgeton. The room's tight security includes a biometric "mantrap" or highly sophisticated double door, secured with retinal and fingerprint scanners. The former workers say company supervisors told them that employees working inside the room were "monitoring network traffic" and that the room was being used by "a government agency."


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/5100964.stm

Enron boss wants verdict quashed Former Enron boss Jeffrey Skilling is asking a judge to overturn last month's court verdict

that found him guilty of fraud and conspiracy at the firm.
In a motion filed with the US District Court in Houston, Skilling claims that the evidence presented at the trial was "legally insufficient". If the verdict will not be overturned, Skilling said he wants a retrial. Along with Enron founder Kenneth Lay, Skilling was convicted of hiding Enron's debts before its 2001 collapse.


http://www.worldreports.org/news/the_trustor_the_cia_

CRUNCH TIME FOR THE BANKS AND THE CROOKS
THE TRUSTOR THE CIA SAID WAS DEAD SEEKS $70 TRILLION

LONDON, 21 June 2006 – The integrity of the international banking system is on the line this week. This is because the behaviour of certain banks is being closely watched by a team of informed observers who are privy to scandals that the banks in question hope can still be swept under their plush boardroom carpets. Collectively, the scandals represent the most brazen attempt by banks to seize the funds of their depositors, in history. The
relevant funds, which amounted – when fitfully paid out in 1989-93 – to about $27.5 trillion, are now believed to be worth approaching $70 trillion. They represent assets corralled on Presidential instructions by the US Treasury’s most distinguished Secret Service financial agent, Leo E. Wanta. He remains the Trustor of these funds.



http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/Technology/Story?id=2105128&page=1

What Pentagon Officials Thought Was Jihadist Propaganda Is a Teen's Homemade Video

June 21, 2006 — What if terrorists took an American video game, twisted it into an anti-American video game and posted it on insurgent Web sites, complete with a splashy high-tech advertisement? And what if the goal of the video game was to attract new, young terrorists and condition them to kill U.S soldiers? The Pentagon testified that is exactly what happened with a video game called "Battlefield 2: Armored Fury." But the maker of the "advertisement" says he was only making a spoof video out of his favorite game — not recruiting terrorists.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060622/pl_nm/security_usda_dc_1

USDA says hacker may have stolen employees' data

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A computer hacker may have stolen "personal identity information" for 26,000 current and former Agriculture Department headquarters employees, agency officials said. USDA announced the security breach shortly before midnight on Wednesday, nearly three weeks after it occurred. It offered one year of free credit-monitoring services to the potentially affected employees. The agency said that its computer systems were illegally accessed during the first weekend of June. Officials said that at
first they thought the personal information was still protected, but now they are not sure the data is safe.

[freak6]

Just the humble opinion of one proud neocon:

Amesj523: "…pro war, pro big business, pro Israel."
Me: You better believe it.

Amesj523: "…think your life, and property, belong to them."
Me: Wouldn't want your life and I'm betting my property's better than yours as well. So no, thank you.

Amesj523: "…think the interests of a foreign nation override American interests."
Me: Can't go for this one yet. I'll work on it.

Amesj523: "…war criminals and have actively engaged in and endorsed crimes against humanity."
Me: Usually you don't have to worry about the war criminal thing unless you lose the war. So be sure not to lose. And if such a thing as crimes against humanity exists, sure, whatever. You believe in it so you get to define it.

Amesj523: "…willing to sacrifice American blood to further the interest of corporate America and a foreign nation."
Me: Corporate America yes, foreign nation no. Unless it's in American corporate interest to shed the blood for a foreign nation. Then yes.

Amesj523: "…believe in murder, genocide, rape, torture, destruction of private property, looting, and the police state."
Me: I believe they all have their place, but I don't practice any of these at home.

Amesj523: "…traitors, enemies of the free market, bane of freedom lovers, enslavers of humanity."
Me: Love free markets, the rest of the list are on their own.

Amesj523: "…liars, deceivers, charlatans, and con artists."
Me: Nope. Comfortable enough to admit my superiority.

Amesj523: "…servants of Leviathan, ready to squash anyone who stands in its way."
Me: Love that sound of innocent idealists being squashed. Stand right where you are...

And this is what is wrong with America folks.

WWJD?

Throw up and die.

[alkemical]

And this is what is wrong with America folks.

WWJD?

Throw up and die.


to be honest, i never saw the original post... lol


I am what is wrong with america, i will admit it.

[alkemical]

http://www.americanfreepress.net/html/big_surprises_at_bilderberg.html


BIG SURPRISES AT BILDERBERG

EVEN POLICE-STATE SECURITY CANNOT SILENCE HONEST MEDIA

Bilderberg expects interest rates to rise and many Americans to lose their
homes in the months ahead. Meanwhile, they hope they can pressure President Bush to refrain from an all-out invasion of Iran while maintaining oil prices at their current record-high levels of about $70 a barrel.

Timothy Geithner, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, predicted rising interest rates and difficulties for families that have obtained adjustable rate mortgages, or “variable” interest rates. Many are likely to lose their homes as rising home mortgage rates add hundreds of dollars to their monthly payments, he said. While most listened solemnly and some expressed concern, one was heard to say, “stupid Americans deserve their fate.”




http://www.informationliberation.com/?id=12462

COOPER: All right Mike Brooks working his sources. I want to go now to Brian Andrews from our affiliate WFOR who is in Miami. He also has some new information. He's spoken to a woman who said she's the godmother of a suspect arrested today. Brian, what have you heard?

BRIAN ANDREWS, WFOR CORRESPONDENT: Anderson we're out here at the FBI offices in North Miami Beach. This is one of the buildings that our federal sources are telling us this group wanted to blow up as part of their plot.

As we got here to the FBI building we ran into family members of one of the defendants who was arrested this afternoon who is still inside being processed before being taken down to the federal detention center.

We're being told by his family that he's a 32-year-old guy named Nassir Baptiste (ph). He goes by the name of Prince Manner. He's one of the elders at this Masonic lodge raided earlier in the day by the FBI. That's where the five people were taken into custody. His family and friends tell us that he's a nice guy, he's a construction worker, he's married, and they say they have no idea what he would be doing with al Qaeda.




http://www.cbc.ca/bc/story/bc_wuf-security20060622.html


Youth delegates dragged from convention centre


Three youth delegates to the World Urban Forum complain they were dragged out of the Vancouver Trade and Convention Centre on Wednesday night by security officers.





http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-endtimes22jun22,0,7902314.story?coll=la-home-headlines

'End Times' Religious Groups Want Apocalypse Soon
'End times' religious groups want apocalypse sooner than later, and they're relying on high tech -- and red heifers -- to hasten its arrival.
By Louis Sahagun, Times Staff Writer
June 22, 2006


For thousands of years, prophets have predicted the end of the world. Today, various religious groups, using the latest technology, are trying to hasten it.

Their endgame is to speed the promised arrival of a messiah.



http://www.madcowprod.com/index.html

Homeland Security Inc Scandal Off And Running

Less than two weeks before the company declared bankruptcy which owned the DC9 recently busted in Mexico with 5.5 tons of cocaine onboard, Florida Governor Jeb Bush’s Department of Transportation issued a press release touting the firm’s bright future in Homeland Security and announcing it had been selected to be the state’s primary provider of airport security applications.

This is not the first time Jeb Bush has been involved endorsing a drug trafficking aviation company. Nor is it the first time SkyWay Aircraft has been the recipient of unexplained government favoritism.



http://www.rnews.com/story_2004.cfm?story_type=2&rnews_story_type=18&id=39119

Cops: Woman Sold Crack At Day Care


Police liken the house on Woodruff Road in Wolcott to a drive-through for crack cocaine. But their investigation into Carrie Ingram’s alleged dealings turned up something even more disturbing.

Ingram, a 72 year old grandmother, is accused of selling crack cocaine. Police allege she sold the drugs at her home, and at a Head Start Daycare where she volunteers.



http://www.crisscross.com/us/news/28815/all


Group to erect Flight 93 monument in Pa

SOMERSET, Pa. — A flight attendants group said it plans to erect a 16-ton granite monument honoring crew members of United Airlines Flight 93 who died on Sept. 11, 2001.

The 11 1/2-foot tall monument will be erected next month in the "Heroes Garden" at the Flight 93 Memorial Chapel, The Cause Foundation announced Tuesday.





http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,200671,00.html

Victims' Families Say Gov't Secrecy Keeping 9/11 Truth Hidden

WASHINGTON — Families of those killed in the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 said Thursday that excessive secrecy by the government is keeping from them what went wrong before the hijackings.

"All we want is the truth," said Michael Low of Batesville, Ark., whose daughter Sara was a flight attendant on one of the airplanes that flew into the World Trade Center. "We believe in freedom and open government, but at times it seems like we're getting the old Soviet Union."




http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002726989


Newspapers Reject Government Request to Kill Story

NEW YORK The New York Times and Los Angeles Times on Friday published a major story on government surveillance of private banking records over the objections of the Bush administration.

The same team that produced the Pulitzer-winning National Security Agency (NSA) "domestic spying" program, James Risen and Eric Lichtblau, put together the New York Times' piece. In the middle of the article, they reveal that the White House had asked the paper not to run it. This had happened with the NSA story as well, and the Times put off running the pair's key findings for a year.



http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1155AP_Electric_Car_Booted.html


Smithsonian removes electric-car exhibit

WASHINGTON -- Just weeks before the release of a movie about the death of the electric car from the 1990s, the Smithsonian Institution has removed its EV1 electric sedan from display.

The National Museum of American History removed the rare exhibit yesterday, just as interest in electric and hybrid vehicles is on the rise.



http://www.crichton-official.com/fear/index.html

Why Politicized Science is Dangerous
(Excerpted from State of Fear)

Imagine that there is a new scientific theory that warns of an impending crisis, and points to a way out.

This theory quickly draws support from leading scientists, politicians and celebrities around the world. Research is funded by distinguished philanthropies, and carried out at prestigious universities. The crisis is reported frequently in the media. The science is taught in college and high school classrooms.

I don't mean global warming. I'm talking about another theory, which rose to prominence a century ago.



http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/09/30/60minutes/main892398.shtml


Ike Was Right About War Machine

The following is a weekly 60 Minutes commentary by CBS News correspondent Andy Rooney.


No other Country spends the kind of money we spend on our military. Last year Japan spent $42 billion. Italy spent $28 billion, Russia spent only $19 billion. The United States spent $455 billion.

[alkemical]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060626/hl_nm/parkinsons_dc

Study links pesticides with Parkinson's

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - People with long-term, low-level exposure to pesticides have a 70 percent higher incidence of Parkinson's disease than people who have not been exposed much to bug sprays, U.S. researchers reported on Monday.

Such workers include mostly farmers, ranchers and fishermen, the researchers report in the July issue of Annals of Neurology. Their study supports previous research that suggests pesticides can be linked with Parkinson's, which is caused by the destruction of key brain cells, the team at the Harvard School of Public Health said.




http://msnbc.msn.com/id/13541353/

GM to shed quarter of workforce this year

General Motors will on Monday disclose details of one of most dramatic corporate downsizings in US history, exceeding a key target of its turnround plan and accelerating the demise of the privileged American car worker.
Rick Wagoner, chief executive, is expected to announce that about 30,000 workers – more than a quarter of GM's blue-collar US workforce – have taken up its offer of early retirement and severance packages.



http://www.canada.com/topics/news/world/story.html?id=afb29cd3-5504-4144-bd81-43248167b9d1&k=91469

Congressman: charge newspapers over reports on terrorist-tracing program

WASHINGTON (AP) - The chairman of the House homeland security committee urged the Bush administration on Sunday to seek criminal charges against newspapers that reported on a secret financial-monitoring program used to trace suspected terrorists.

Representative Peter King cited the New York Times in particular for publishing a story last week that said the Treasury Department was working with the CIA to examine messages within a massive international database of money-transfer records.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/5112484.stm


Money-tracking leak angers Cheney

US Vice-President Dick Cheney has condemned as "offensive" US media disclosures of a secret programme that probes global financial transactions.
The government has covertly tracked thousands of international money transactions for nearly five years as part of its so-called war on terror.
Mr Cheney said leaking the programme played into the enemy's hands.


http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2006/06/senate-panel-calls-abramoff.php

Senate panel calls Abramoff connections with Delay aide 'astonishing'

[JURIST] The US Senate Indian Affairs Committee [official website] led by Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) [official website] released its final report [PDF text; additional materials] Thursday, saying that the connections between former lobbyist Jack Abramoff [JURIST news archive] and former Tom Delay aide Michael Scanlon [Wikipedia backgrounder] in a scandal collecting millions of
dollars from Indian tribes were "astonishing." The report added that tribes should beef up their own election laws and contracting rules to prevent further exploitation, but concluded that existing laws will be sufficient to deal with the fraud allegations against the two.

The Senate report brings to a close a two-year investigation into Abramoff's lobbying practices, and evidence gathered by the panel contributed to Abramoff and Scanlon [JURIST reports] both pleading guilty in a massive fraud probe. Abramoff and Scanlon took over $60 million from tribes over three years while they claimed to help the tribes protect their casino
interests. AP has more.




http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/06/23/evangelical_spyware/



Evangelical apocalyptic schlockfest 'snoops' on gamers

Watchers of right-wing Christian groups in the States say a new apocalyptic videogame released by cultish Revelations-based fiction series Left Behind is riddled with spyware. Developers have incorporated software from an Israeli firm called Double Fusion. It incorporates video advertising and product placement into the game, and reportedly records players' behaviour, location, and other data to be uploaded to Left Behind's Bible-powered marketing machine. Aimed at 13 to 34-year-old males, Left Behind: Eternal Forces casts the player as a director of God's Earthly militia, left behind in the Rapture to roam the streets of New York, battling Satan's minions and shooting unbelievers.

[alkemical]

http://www.cio.com.au/index.php/id;140963314;fp;4;fpid;21


Americans Target of Massive Domestic Spying Network
Sue Bushell, CIO

27/06/2006 10:41:56

As American angst over their government's massive domestic spying program soars, the Victorian Privacy Commissioner has warned responsible handling of personal information will increasingly require deft application of the "best custodian principle".

Commissioner Paul Chadwick told the Institute of Public Administration Australia last month the best custodian of a large set of personal data is usually its original collector.

While under the principal various parts of government or the private sector may be authorized to refer to one or more of the large datasets for legitimate purposes, the custodian should always maintain a central role, he warned.

"In the case of the electoral roll, the best custodian is the Electoral Commissioner. For registers of births, deaths and marriages, it is the Registrar. For police databases, it is the police forces that compile them," Chadwick said.



http://fromthewilderness.com/


Urgent Message From Mike Ruppert

Between the hours of 7:30 P.M. Sunday, June 25 and 7:30 A.M., Monday, June 26, the FTW offices were burglarized. Four interior doors were smashed with a sledgehammer. All seven FTW computers were transported to a central location in the building. Their covers were removed and they were also smashed with a sledgehammer. No other significant property was taken and there was no other damage to any other fixtures or furnishings.

An active police investigation is underway with a named suspect. I do not believe that this incident was the work of the U.S. government. I do believe that this is the work of an organized meth ring that I prevented from infiltrating my business. As Dmitri Orlov has noted in Post-Soviet Lessons for a Post-American Century, when societies collapse, organized crime becomes much more assertive. As beautiful as Southern Oregon is and as happy as I am to be here, the challenges that will be facing all of us as Peak Oil hits are making themselves known.





http://washingtontimes.com/national/20060626-110219-3275r.htm

Dallas council mystified by FBI

DALLAS -- A year ago, the FBI raided the offices of two Dallas City Council members, subpoenaed records and documents from several others, and confiscated thousands of pages of contracts, e-mails and telephone records of companies dealing with the city.
No public accusations surfaced from the raid conducted June 20, 2005, but the subpoenas indicated that the investigation centered on bribery and money laundering.
A year later, there have been no indictments, and the FBI refuses to comment on the case that generated a citywide uproar, especially within the black community because the 10 city leaders being investigated are black.
Those affected -- including Mayor Pro Tem Don Hill, whose City Hall office, home office and car were ransacked -- remain angry, if somewhat subdued.
Mr. Hill, council member James Fantroy and others called the probe "a witch hunt" when it began.
Today, they complain that the public humiliation has cost them dearly and, in Mr. Hill's case, possibly the chance to run for mayor.




http://pubwvj.redstate.com/story/2006/6/26/17522/8724


Frying Your Own RFID Tags

RFID tags in our livestock, in our pets, in our licenses, in passports, in food, in clothing and maybe someday in you. It is getting rather excessive. Fortunately there are a number of ways to kill RFID chips. See the Technical Documents section of the right hand sidebar for how to build your very own RFID bomb with which you can clear you home of unauthorized RFID chips. For the less technically inclined there is a simple device that most people already own which does a admirable job of frying RFID chips.


The way that passive RFID chips work is they pickup a radio signal from the wand using a large in-chip antenna. This energy is stored up over a short period to accumulate enough power to activate the chip and then send back its code number to the receiver.




http://networks.silicon.com/mobile/0,39024665,39159925,00.htm

Police 'frustrated by deleted text messages'
Mobile data recovery not an elementary business, says academic

By Tom Espiner

Published: Tuesday 27 June 2006

Law enforcement is at the mercy of mobile phone manufacturers, according to University of Cambridge researchers.

Unlike PCs, where 'deleted' data can still easily be accessed, information wiped from a mobile phone's internal memory can be almost impossible for the police to recover, according to Tyler Moore, a researcher at the University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory. This can hinder police investigations due to a lack of evidence.

Speaking at the Workshop on the Economics of Information Security in Cambridge on Monday, Moore warned: "Standard forensics tools don't address the less popular types of phone. Sixteen per cent of phones are not accessible beyond the memory on the SIM card. This is a consequence of using proprietary as opposed to open standards."

When a user tries to delete data on a PC, the information is not actually removed. Instead, the pointers to the data are deleted but investigators can still recover it. While mobile phone data is typically treated in the same way, the proprietary nature of the mobile phone market means that information is stored and handled in non-standard ways. This makes investigations more expensive and uses up valuable resources, according to Moore.

[alkemical]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/5127536.stm

BP is facing legal action in the US over charges that it tried to manipulate propane prices in 2004.
Regulators allege its BP Products North America subsidy artificially forced up prices by buying up huge propane stocks only to withhold them from the market.

BP has denied the civil charges and said it intended to defend itself, and added that staff had been dismissed.

On Wednesday, a former BP trader, Dennis Abbott, pleaded guilty to manipulating the propane market.




http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/6/28/01629/4547

A corporate scandal that dwarfs Enron
by gjohnsit
Tue Jun 27, 2006 at 09:16:29 PM PDT
Accounting fraud. Congressional investigations. CEO's being forced out. Investors losing tens of billions of dollars. We've seen all this before, but never have the stakes been so high...and never has the financial media been so quiet on such a serious topic.
Fannie Mae is the second largest financial institution in America (after Citigroup), the second-biggest borrower after the federal government, finances one of every five home loans in the country, and they are tottering.



http://www.picassodreams.com/picasso_dreams/2006/06/cia_sabotage_ma.html


CIA Sabotage Manual


In the early 1980s, the right-wing Reagan U.S. Government was determined to undermine or overthrow the leftist government of Nicaragua.

As part of this campaign, the Central Intelligence Agency produced a small illustrated booklet in both Spanish and English designed to destabilise the Nicaraguan Government and economic system.

It instructed dissaffected individuals on acts of sabotage they could carry out to this end.



http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/28/AR2006062802069_pf.html

Official Charged in Abramoff Scandal
Interior Employee Received Gifts

By Susan Schmidt and James V. Grimaldi
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, June 29, 2006; A03



An Interior Department official who has acknowledged receiving meals and tickets to sporting events from former lobbyist Jack Abramoff has been charged with filing a false financial disclosure report.

Roger G. Stillwell, an employee of the department's Insular Affairs Office, was charged with a single misdemeanor count of making a false filing, according to papers filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court. Federal officials said he is expected to enter a guilty plea at a court appearance set for July 21 before Magistrate Deborah A. Robinson.

Stillwell is an officer on the desk that handles the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. territory whose government hired Abramoff as a lobbyist. The Washington Post reported in December that Stillwell was among the Interior officials whom Abramoff's team tried to cultivate.

Stillwell could not be reached to comment yesterday, and his lawyer, Justin Murphy, did not return a telephone call seeking comment. Stillwell is accused of falsely certifying that he did not receive gifts from a prohibited source in a financial disclosure report filed in October 2004 covering the previous fiscal year.

[alkemical]

http://www.antiwar.com/ips/fisher.php?articleid=9222


Is Bush Signing Away the Constitution?

Last March, the U.S. Congress passed legislation requiring Justice Department officials to give them reports by certain dates on how the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is using the USA PATRIOT Act to search homes and secretly seize papers.

But when President George W. Bush signed the measure into law, he added a "signing statement." The statement said the president can order Justice Department officials to withhold any information from Congress if he decides it could impair national security or executive branch operations.

Late last year, Congress approved legislation declaring that U.S. interrogators cannot torture prisoners or otherwise subject them to cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment.

But President Bush's signing statement said the president, as commander in chief, can waive the torture ban if he decides that harsh interrogation techniques will assist in preventing terrorist attacks.


http://www.nunatsiaq.com/news/climate/60630_04.html

Arctic sea levels dropping steadily
“It’s the opposite of what we see in the rest of the world”


Sea levels in the Arctic have been falling by a little more than two millimetres a year — exactly the opposite of what is happening elsewhere.

“It’s enough to be significant. It’s remarkable that it’s the opposite sign of what we see in the rest of the world,” said researcher Remko Scharroo.

[alkemical]

http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/07/12/security.grants.ap/index.html

Security funding list: Bean fest, but not Times Square?

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A Homeland Security database of vulnerable terror targets in the United States, which includes an insect zoo but not the Statue of Liberty, is too flawed to determine allocation of federal security funds, the department's internal watchdog found.


http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/07/12/bandar.home.ap/index.html

Saudi prince's Aspen getaway has $135 million price tag

ASPEN, Colorado (AP) -- The getaway of Saudi Prince Bandar is up for sale for an asking price of $135 million, which could set a U.S. sales record, according to published reports.



http://www.libertypost.org/cgi-bin/readart.cgi?ArtNum=149469

Gorbachev: 'Americans Have a Severe Disease'15 Years After Being Deposed From Power, Former Leader Discusses Russia, U.S. Mikhail Gorbachev says the United States is arrogant and suffers from a "winner's complex." (AP Photo )



By CLAIRE SHIPMAN

July 12, 2006 — Mikhail Gorbachev is generally regarded as the man who broke down the "iron curtain" that separated the communist world from the West and thawed the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union.

Now, 15 years after a coup removed him from power and the Soviet Union dissolved, he has some stern words for the United States, whose relationship with Russia has soured lately.

"We have made some mistakes," he said, referring to recent attacks on Russia's democracy. "So what? Please don't put even more obstacles in our way. Do you really think you are smarter than we are?"




http://www.libertypost.org/cgi-bin/readart.cgi?ArtNum=143324

Title: U.S. Court Rules wrongfully-held German Detainee Can't Sue CIA For Kidnapping Him
Source: Democracy Now!
URL Source: http://www.democracynow.org
Published: May 25, 2006
Author: Amy Goodman, BEN WIZNER
Post Date: 2006-05-27 12:17:29 by palo verde
6 Comments


German citizen Khaled El-Masri tried to sue the CIA for wrongfully kidnapping and abusing him. But last week, a U.S. District Court dismissed the case on the grounds it would jeapordize state secrets. We're speak El-Masri's attorney, Ben Wizner of the ACLU. [includes rush transcript]

We turn now to the case of Khaled El-Masri. He is the German citizen who sued the CIA for illegally kidnapping him in Macedonia two and a half years ago. After accusing him of being a member of al Qaeda, the CIA flew him to a secret prison in Afghanistan and held him for five months.





http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/Almost_five_years_after_911_Homeland_0711.html

Almost five years after 9/11, Homeland Security list of nat'l critical assets includes 'ice cream parlor,' Sears Auto Center

Close to five years after 9/11, a Homeland Security list of national critical assets is still unreliable, and includes entries such as an 'ice cream parlor' and a Sears Auto Center, according to an article set for Wednesday's New York Times.


Other potential terror targets on the list include an "Old MacDonald’s Petting Zoo, the Amish Country Popcorn factory, the Mule Day Parade, the Sweetwater Flea Market and an unspecified 'Beach at End of a Street.'"

"Nearly five years after the 2001 attacks, the Department of Homeland Security still has been unable to produce a reliable list of critical national assets, considered a fundamental first step in developing a risk-based domestic security system, a new report by the inspector general has concluded," writes Eric Lipton.



http://www.israelnn.com/news.php3?id=107009

Flier Offers NIS 20,000 for Killing Gays

(IsraelNN.com) A leaflet distributed in several neighborhoods in Jerusalem offered NIS 20,000 to anyone who kills participants in the International Gay Pride Parade scheduled to take place in Jerusalem next month.

The flier also suggested that fire bombs be used to kill the participants and gave instructions on how to construct them.




http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m24547&hd=0&size=1&l=e

Militarism and the Corporate Welfare State

July 11, 2006 at 06:41:58


http://www.opednews.com

Right wing politicos and their conservative constituents are always bemoaning big government. Yet wealthy people of all political stripes constantly use big government to their own benefit. The rich widely assume, falsely, I think, that what is good for them is good for the country. By extension they also assume that what is good for the corporations is good for the people. But that has never been the case. No one should be allowed to make a living on the misery of others.

The latter seems odd, given that business people are always harping about getting the government out of our (their) lives; all the while they are using government to obtain no bid contracts, to write legislation in the corporate interest, stocking the judiciary with pro-corporate judges, redrawing political districts and using the military to invade and occupy sovereign nations in order to privatize them. Iraq provides a compelling case study.

[alkemical]

Some of you may have noticed that amesj523 is no longer existant.

Amesj523 Died on a camping trip, and i have been coming to terms with it. the bondage that amesj523 realized that helped him get to where he was, yet was heavy enough to hold him down had to be broken. It is akin to having Pegasus chained, only able to fly so far.


Upon realizing that he had moved beyond the fear that society and gov't presents to him, he could not progress on his further goals to try to make the world better now - he had to break those anchors.

Learning that although it is important to feel and learn each day, amesj523 decided that he had to break all precepts of who he was, and how he defined himself. The paranioa that was included in his posts moved from geninune to one of a joking status. For once amesj523 realized he could not take himself seriously - there was no point to be serious.

Upon his cremation, he felt the old strip away and he felt new and reborn. Filled with fire and visions of why everything living is connected (not just mumbo jumbo you read in a book) - and why alice in wonderland is as important as the bible to dealing with the human condition, and what we are all missing.

Amesj523 also would like to thank all of you who are tiny mirrors and stars reflecting back to him all the light you have, and all the flaws (although magnificant) and have helped him realize that this world, time - is of uptmost importance to him to accomplish his goals to make the world shift to his vision of how things can be - if we are willing to understand basic pricipia's that are as old as humans can comprehend.

In all - some of you may understand what i'm saying - some may not - but to kill yourself, hang yourself on the cross for the birds and gollum to come and pick your bones - to take what's left of the old, peel it off - become more than you are - maybe he was - the most dangerous man i ever knew.

Maybe one day you to will find how to draw down the moon.


Saloon!

[bronco militia]

Rip

[alkemical]

2.6.07

Bush budget to sharpen tax collectors' teeth (http://today.reuters.com/news/articleinvesting.aspx?type=bondsNews&storyID=2007-02-05T215839Z_01_N05172644_RTRIDST_0_USA-BUDGET-TREASURY.XML)


Bush budget to sharpen tax collectors' teeth
Mon Feb 5, 2007 4:58 PM ET
By Glenn Somerville

WASHINGTON, Feb 5 (Reuters) - The Bush administration's budget proposals would give Treasury's watchdogs sharper claws with which to pursue truant U.S. taxpayers, including the ability to charge those who are found to willfully avoid filing returns.

Treasury officials who briefed reporters on the fiscal 2008 budget proposals on Monday said the department would get an estimated $400 million in additional funding to help it shrink the "tax gap" between what is owed and what is collected.

One provision holds that anyone who deliberately avoids filing tax returns for three years in any consecutive five-year period could face a new "aggravated failure to file" criminal penalty.

Conviction on the charge would be considered a felony, leaving a taxpayer with a criminal record and potentially subject to a fine up to $250,000 and five years' imprisonment.



Marshals: Innocent People Placed On 'Watch List' To Meet Quota (http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/9559707/detail.html)


Marshals: Innocent People Placed On 'Watch List' To Meet Quota
Marshals Say They Must File One Surveillance Detection Report, Or SDR, Per Month

POSTED: 9:49 pm MDT July 21, 2006
UPDATED: 10:56 pm MDT July 21, 2006

DENVER -- You could be on a secret government database or watch list for simply taking a picture on an airplane. Some federal air marshals say they're reporting your actions to meet a quota, even though some top officials deny it.

The air marshals, whose identities are being concealed, told 7NEWS that they're required to submit at least one report a month. If they don't, there's no raise, no bonus, no awards and no special assignments.

"Innocent passengers are being entered into an international intelligence database as suspicious persons, acting in a suspicious manner on an aircraft ... and they did nothing wrong," said one federal air marshal.

These unknowing passengers who are doing nothing wrong are landing in a secret government document called a Surveillance Detection Report, or SDR. Air marshals told 7NEWS that managers in Las Vegas created and continue to maintain this potentially dangerous quota system.

"Do these reports have real life impacts on the people who are identified as potential terrorists?" 7NEWS Investigator Tony Kovaleski asked.

"Absolutely," a federal air marshal replied.

[Hotrod]

I really dont have anything to add except WOOHOO the news thread is alive ;D

[alkemical]

Iran claims found herbal cure for AIDS; Ahmadinejad vows Islamic Republic's nuclear rights 'will be established' on Feb. 11 (http://www.rawstory.com/news/2007/Iran_claims_found_herbal_cure_for_0204.html)


On the same day that Iranian scientists claimed that they have discovered a herbal cure for AIDS, President Ahmadinejad vowed that on February 11 the Islamic Republic's nuclear rights "will be established."

"The drug named 'IMOD' is completely effective and safe with no proved side effects," Iran's Minister of Health, Treatment and Medical Training Kamran Bagheri Lankarani said, according to Fars News Agency, which bills itself as independent, but the BBC describes as "affiliated" to Iran's judiciary.

[Hotrod]

I saw something about this somewhere else. Someone pointed out the idea that they are going to use the "Cure for Aids" as a possible shield.

We have the cure so if you bomb us you wont get it. Sounds pretty transparent to me.

[alkemical]

Yeah i'm not sure what to make of it myself.

[alkemical]

Who Watches The Watchers In Surveillance Society? (http://news.yahoo.com/s/cmp/20070205/tc_cmp/197003126)


CHICAGO - In some cities in Europe and the United States, a person can be videotaped by surveillance cameras hundreds of times a day, and it's safe to say that most of the time no one is actually watching.

But the advent of "intelligent video" -- software that raises the alarm if something on camera appears amiss -- means Big Brother will soon be able to keep a more constant watch, a prospect that is sure to heighten privacy concerns.

Combining motion detection technology with the learning capabilities of video game software, these new systems can detect people loitering, walking in circles or leaving a package.

New microphone technology can isolate the sound of a gunshot and direct the attached camera to swivel and zoom in on the source. Sensitivity may reach the point where microphones could pick out the word "explosives" spoken in a crowd.

"There's just not enough personnel to watch every single camera," said Chicago emergency operations chief Andrew Velasquez. "We are piloting analytic software right now ... where you can set that particular camera to watch for erratic behavior, or someone leaving a suitcase on the sidewalk."

Since the attacks on the United States of Sept. 11, 2001, sections of New York, Washington, Los Angeles, Chicago and even a few smaller U.S. towns have been blanketed with closed-circuit cameras. Privately owned cameras are also proliferating.

FALSE POSITIVES

The encroachment on privacy in what civil libertarians call a "surveillance society" may be a price willingly paid by citizens who fear terrorism and crime.

But ever-alert software capable of maintaining a continuous "watch" on security cameras multiplies the risks of harassing innocent people, privacy experts say.

"I don't buy it. The number of false positives are going to be astronomical," said David Holtzman, author of "Privacy Lost." "It's extremely dangerous to abrogate legitimate law enforcement authority ... to a camera."

In Chicago's darkened, windowless surveillance center, Velasquez looks forward to using new technology, which has had some success elsewhere.

The port of Jacksonville, Florida, has dispensed with human monitoring of cameras altogether by sending alerts and live video to the personal digital assistant of the nearest officer on patrol, according to a spokesman for ObjectView Inc.

ObjectView is one of two dozen companies seeking to perfect so-called intelligent video -- an industry whose sales will grow from $60 million to $400 million within five years, according to global consulting group Frost & Sullivan.

Meanwhile, Texas is evaluating a pilot program in which it allowed Internet access to video of unmanned sections of its border with Mexico and urged viewers to send an e-mail if they spotted something.

"The cameras don't replace police officers. They are in essence a force multiplier. They serve as an extra set of eyes," Velasquez said.

OGLING

The Chicago center is manned 24 hours a day by veteran police officers. A dozen screens depict a few street corners and a stadium, while others are tuned to cable news or Web sites.

They can retrieve video from thousands of cameras and their universe is expanded by private cameras owned by cooperating buildings and stores, but they can monitor only a few at a time.

Velasquez said his officers receive training on privacy and constitutional rights -- for example it is illegal to look into private homes and offices -- and digital recordings hold his officers accountable and prevent abuses that have occurred elsewhere.

In Britain, which has 4.2 million government security cameras, 2 million in London alone, a study showed that male surveillance workers sometimes ogled women on their screens, while others focused on minorities excessively.

But privacy experts also note another British study, from 2002, which said surveillance cameras did not lower overall crime rates, and mereley pushes crime elsewhere.

"Cameras are great tools for solving crime. They're not really that helpful in preventing crime," said Ed Yohnka of the
American Civil Liberties Union.

Velasquez disputed the conclusion that cameras don't prevent crime, saying he constantly fields requests from residents asking for a camera to make their neighborhood safer.

He said cameras contributed to a drop in violent crime in the city of Chicago in recent years, a drop that is widely attributed to improved police work in countering gangs and street-corner drug dealing. At the same time, gang activity has surged in some Chicago suburbs.

The city's prosecutors said they rarely use video evidence in court from the cameras, which are encased in bulletproof boxes topped by blue flashing lights and are a common sight in crime-ridden neighborhoods.

Downtown, the cameras are less obtrusive, though a pair mounted on a park fountain was removed after an outcry that they defiled the art.

Holtzman, the privacy expert, wondered where the line will be drawn if authorities opt to use the cameras to spy on suspects or to sniff out low-level crimes.

There are no legal barriers to video being subpoenaed by, for instance, a divorce lawyer seeking evidence of infidelity, he said.

"I think there's a certain amount of freedom you want to give people that live in the city to kind of screw up a little bit," he said.

By: Andrew Stern

Copyright 2006 Reuters. Click for Restrictions

[alkemical]

Mysterious Lights Spotted Over Phoenix, Again (http://cbs4.com/topstories/local_story_038103140.html)

(CBS4) PHOENIX, AZ Nearly a decade after the highly publicized ‘Phoenix Light Phenomenon’, more strange lights have appeared in the night sky over downtown Phoenix.

Tuesday night, mysterious lights lit up the western skies over Phoenix and soon after, phones began ringing off the hook at radio, television and police stations from witnesses wondering what the lights were.

The Yuma Marine Base claims it has the answer. Base officials said the amber-colored flares came from training flights on the Goldwater Gunnery Range. They went on to explain that the amber flares are used as targets.

Witnesses said it appeared the flares were flying in a formation and base officials explained that the flares float down to Earth attached to parachutes.

Back in March of 1997, a huge object was spotted over parts of Arizona that many witnesses believed to be an extraterrestrial spacecraft that was drifting slowly and silently over the region. The ‘Phoenix Light Phenomenon” became one of the most publicized and well-documented UFO sightings in recent history.

The Air Force said they were flares from an A-10 but many critics said flares couldn’t fly on their own over such a large distance.

The Discovery Channel has done a special on the lights. A movie has even been made about them which recently came out on DVD.

lc

(© 2007 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report. )

[alkemical]

Chris Matthews: U.S. Wants A Little Bit of Fascism (http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/february2007/090207Matthews.htm)

"Matthews again touted the progress Giuliani made in improving olfactory conditions in New York City, asserting that "subways didn't smell like pee anymore" and that "[e]ven the phone booths in New York have always smelled like pee." Matthews made similar claims on the February 5 editions of MSNBC Live and Hardball, both noted by Media Matters for America. Matthews also claimed that Giuliani "made you feel like you had a right to walk the street safely" and added, "I think the country wants a boss like that, you know? A little bit of fascism there. Just a little bit. Just a pinch of it." "



'Doomsday' vault design unveiled (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/6335899.stm)


The final design for a "doomsday" vault that will house seeds from all known varieties of food crops has been unveiled by the Norwegian government.
The Svalbard International Seed Vault will be built into a mountainside on a remote island near the North Pole. The vault aims to safeguard the world's agriculture from future catastrophes, such as nuclear war, asteroid strikes and climate change. Construction begins in March, and the seed bank is scheduled to open in 2008.



GOP revives ISP-tracking legislation (http://news.com.com/GOP+revives+ISP-tracking+legislation/2100-1028_3-6156948.html)

All Internet service providers would need to track their customers' online activities to aid police in future investigations under legislation introduced Tuesday as part of a Republican "law and order agenda."

Employees of any Internet provider who fail to store that information face fines and prison terms of up to one year, the bill says. The U.S. Justice Department could order the companies to store those records forever.

[Bronco Bob]

Chris Matthews: U.S. Wants A Little Bit of Fascism (http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/february2007/090207Matthews.htm)

"Matthews again touted the progress Giuliani made in improving olfactory conditions in New York City, asserting that "subways didn't smell like pee anymore" and that "[e]ven the phone booths in New York have always smelled like pee." Matthews made similar claims on the February 5 editions of MSNBC Live and Hardball, both noted by Media Matters for America. Matthews also claimed that Giuliani "made you feel like you had a right to walk the street safely" and added, "I think the country wants a boss like that, you know? A little bit of fascism there. Just a little bit. Just a pinch of it." "



Mussolini made the trains run on time. ;D

[Bronco Bob]

'Doomsday' vault design unveiled (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/6335899.stm)


The final design for a "doomsday" vault that will house seeds from all known varieties of food crops has been unveiled by the Norwegian government.
The Svalbard International Seed Vault will be built into a mountainside on a remote island near the North Pole. The vault aims to safeguard the world's agriculture from future catastrophes, such as nuclear war, asteroid strikes and climate change. Construction begins in March, and the seed bank is scheduled to open in 2008.




Cheney has probably already sent out a secret memo to the Pentagon
directing them to re-aim a nuclear tipped ICBM to that storage site.

[alkemical]

lol bronco bob

[alkemical]

Canada, U.S. officials to meet about border security (http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Canada%2C_U.S._officials_to_meet_about_border_secu rity)


Two top US Officials will be meeting with their counterparts in Ottawa on February 23.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Homeland Security Director Michael Chertoff will meet with Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay, Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day, Trade Minister David Emerson, and their Mexican counterparts.

The top agenda item is expected to be border security, as American officials are concerned with Canada's slow progress in implimenting new secure forms of identification.

Currently, with the approval of the U.S. government, British Columbia and nearby Washington State have a pilot project that involves upgraded drivers' licences.

Besides border security issues, the meeting is expected to address other issues like trade.

[alkemical]

No sleep means no new brain cells (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6347043.stm)


Missing out on sleep may cause the brain to stop producing new cells, a study has suggested.
The work on rats, by a team from Princeton University found a lack of sleep affected the hippocampus, a brain region involved in forming memories.

The research in Proceedings of the National Academy of Science showed a stress hormone causes the effect.

A UK expert said it would be interesting to see if too little rather than no sleep had the same consequence.


(cont'd on site)

[alkemical]

Bush compares Revolutionary, terror wars (http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-02-19-revolutionary-war_x.htm?csp=34)


MOUNT VERNON, Va. (AP) — President Bush honored the 275th birthday of the nation's first president on Monday, likening George Washington's long struggle that gave birth to a nation to the war on global terrorism.
"Today, we're fighting a new war to defend our liberty and our people and our way of life," said Bush, standing in front of Washington's home and above a mostly frozen Potomac River.

"And as we work to advance the cause of freedom around the world, we remember that the father of our country believed that the freedoms we secured in our revolution were not meant for Americans alone."

Bush chose the national Presidents Day holiday to make his first visit as president to Mount Vernon. He and first lady Laura Bush helped lay a wreath at Washington's tomb, then the president gave a speech from a platform on the bowling green lawn of the estate.

"I feel right at home here. After all, this is the home of the first George W. I thank President Washington for welcoming us today. He doesn't look a day over 275 years old," Bush said to laughter.

Washington was born on Feb. 22, 1732.

"On the field of battle, Washington's forces were facing a mighty empire, and the odds against them were overwhelming. The ragged Continental Army lost more battles than it won, suffered waves of desertions, and stood on the brink of disaster many times. Yet George Washington's calm hand and determination kept the cause of independence and the principles of our Declaration alive," Bush said on a clear but frigid day, speaking to several hundred people.

Mount Vernon is about 16 miles south of the White House. Bush traveled by helicopter.

"In the end, General Washington understood that the Revolutionary War was a test of wills, and his will was unbreakable," said Bush. "After winning the war, Washington did what victorious leaders rarely did at the time. He voluntarily gave up power."

Washington's retirement didn't last long, Bush noted.

"As president, George Washington understood that his decisions would shape the future of our young nation and set precedent. He formed the first Cabinet, appointed the first judges, and issued the first veto."

"Over the centuries, America has succeeded because we have always tried to maintain the decency and the honor of our first president," Bush said.

Before and after Bush's speech, recorded music by the 3rd U.S. Infantry Old Guard Fife and Drum Corps blared through loudspeakers. Organizers of the event said the fife and drum corps had planned to perform live, but decided against it Sunday night because of expected temperatures in the 20s that could have damaged their historic instruments.

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

[alkemical]

How the CIA created Osama bin Laden (http://www.conspiracyarchive.com/NWO/CIA_Created_Osama.htm)

Bin Laden

Osama bin Laden, one of 20 sons of a billionaire construction magnate, arrived in Afghanistan to join the jihad in 1980. An austere religious fanatic and business tycoon, bin Laden specialized in recruiting, financing and training the estimated 35,000 non-Afghan mercenaries who joined the mujaheddin.

The bin Laden family is a prominent pillar of the Saudi Arabian ruling class, with close personal, financial and political ties to that country's pro-US royal family.

Bin Laden senior was appointed Saudi Arabia's minister of public works as a favour by King Faisal. The new minister awarded his own construction companies lucrative contracts to rebuild Islam's holiest mosques in Mecca and Medina. In the process, the bin Laden family company in 1966 became the world's largest private construction company.

Osama bin Laden's father died in 1968. Until 1994, he had access to the dividends from this ill-gotten business empire.

(Bin Laden junior's oft-quoted personal fortune of US$200-300 million has been arrived at by the US State Department by dividing today's value of the bin Laden family net worth — estimated to be US$5 billion — by the number of bin Laden senior's sons. A fact rarely mentioned is that in 1994 the bin Laden family disowned Osama and took control of his share.)

Osama's military and business adventures in Afghanistan had the blessing of the bin Laden dynasty and the reactionary Saudi Arabian regime. His close working relationship with MAK also meant that the CIA was fully aware of his activities.

Milt Bearden, the CIA's station chief in Pakistan from 1986 to 1989, admitted to the January 24, 2000, New Yorker that while he never personally met bin Laden, “Did I know that he was out there? Yes, I did ... [Guys like] bin Laden were bringing $20-$25 million a month from other Saudis and Gulf Arabs to underwrite the war. And that is a lot of money. It's an extra $200-$300 million a year. And this is what bin Laden did.”

In 1986, bin Laden brought heavy construction equipment from Saudi Arabia to Afghanistan. Using his extensive knowledge of construction techniques (he has a degree in civil engineering), he built “training camps”, some dug deep into the sides of mountains, and built roads to reach them.

These camps, now dubbed “terrorist universities” by Washington, were built in collaboration with the ISI and the CIA. The Afghan contra fighters, including the tens of thousands of mercenaries recruited and paid for by bin Laden, were armed by the CIA. Pakistan, the US and Britain provided military trainers.

Tom Carew, a former British SAS soldier who secretly fought for the mujaheddin told the August 13, 2000, British Observer, “The Americans were keen to teach the Afghans the techniques of urban terrorism — car bombing and so on — so that they could strike at the Russians in major towns ... Many of them are now using their knowledge and expertise to wage war on everything they hate.”

Al Qaeda (the Base), bin Laden's organization, was established in 1987-88 to run the camps and other business enterprises. It is a tightly-run capitalist holding company — albeit one that integrates the operations of a mercenary force and related logistical services with “legitimate” business operations.

Bin Laden has simply continued to do the job he was asked to do in Afghanistan during the 1980's — fund, feed and train mercenaries. All that has changed is his primary customer. Then it was the ISI and, behind the scenes, the CIA. Today, his services are utilized primarily by the reactionary Taliban regime.

Bin Laden only became a “terrorist” in US eyes when he fell out with the Saudi royal family over its decision to allow more than 540,000 US troops to be stationed on Saudi soil following Iraq's invasion of Kuwait.

When thousands of US troops remained in Saudi Arabia after the end of the Gulf War, bin Laden's anger turned to outright opposition. He declared that Saudi Arabia and other regimes — such as Egypt — in the Middle East were puppets of the US, just as the PDPA government of Afghanistan had been a puppet of the Soviet Union.

He called for the overthrow of these client regimes and declared it the duty of all Muslims to drive the US out of the Gulf states. In 1994, he was stripped of his Saudi citizenship and forced to leave the country. His assets there were frozen.

After a period in Sudan, he returned to Afghanistan in May 1996. He refurbished the camps he had helped build during the Afghan war and offered the facilities and services — and thousands of his mercenaries — to the Taliban, which took power that September.

Today, bin Laden's private army of non-Afghan religious fanatics is a key prop of the Taliban regime.

Prior to the devastating September 11 attack on the twin towers of World Trade Center, US ruling-class figures remained unrepentant about the consequences of their dirty deals with the likes of bin Laden, Hekmatyar and the Taliban. Since the awful attack, they have been downright hypocritical.

In an August 28, 1998, report posted on MSNBC, Michael Moran quotes Senator Orrin Hatch, who was a senior member of the Senate Intelligence Committee which approved US dealings with the mujaheddin, as saying he would make “the same call again”, even knowing what bin Laden would become.

“It was worth it. Those were very important, pivotal matters that played an important role in the downfall of the Soviet Union.”

Hatch today is one of the most gung-ho voices demanding military retaliation.

Another face that has appeared repeatedly on television screens since the attack has been Vincent Cannistrano, described as a former CIA chief of “counter-terrorism operations”.

Cannistrano is certainly an expert on terrorists like bin Laden, because he directed their “work”. He was in charge of the CIA-backed Nicaraguan contras during the early 1980's. In 1984, he became the supervisor of covert aid to the Afghan mujaheddin for the US National Security Council.

The last word goes to Zbigniew Brzezinski: “What was more important in the world view of history? The Taliban or the fall of the Soviet Empire? A few stirred up Muslims or the liberation of Central Europe and the end of the Cold War?”

[alkemical]

http://www.thesimon.com/magazine/articles/canon_fodder/0961_fake_terrorism_coalition_best_friend.html

Fake Terrorism Is a Coalition's Best Friend

The story sounds amazing, almost fantastical.

A car driving through the outskirts of a besieged city opens fire on a police checkpoint, killing one. In pursuit, the police surround and detain the drivers and find the vehicle packed with explosives — perhaps part of an insurgent's plan to destroy lives and cripple property. If that isn't enough, when the suspects are thrown in prison their allies drive right up to the walls of the jail, break through them and brave petroleum bombs and burning clothes to rescue their comrades. 150 other prisoners break free in the ensuing melee.

Incredible, no? Yet this story took place in the southern Iraqi city of Basra recently. Violence continues to escalate in the breakout's aftermath... just not for the reasons you think.

You see, the drivers of the explosive-laden car were not members of an insurgency group — they were British Special Forces. Their rescuers? British soldiers driving British tanks.

That's right — two members of the British Armed forces disguised as Arab civilians killed a member of the Iraqi police while evading capture. When the people of Basra rightfully refused to turn the murderers over to the British government, per Coalition "mandate," they sent their own men in and released over 100 prisoners in the process.




http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/duncan/17535/

216 Million Americans Are Scientifically Illiterate (Part I)
The good news: America's science literacy rate is up from a pathetic 10 percent in 1988. The bad news: it's still only 28 percent.


"..This level of science illiteracy may explain why over 40 percent of Americans do not believe in evolution and about 20 percent, when asked if the earth orbits the sun or vice versa, say it’s the sun that does the orbiting--placing these people in the same camp as the Inquisition that punished Galileo almost 400 years ago. It also explains the extraordinary disconnect between scientists and much of the public over issues the scientists think were settled long ago--never mind newer discoveries and research on topics such as the use of chimeras to study cancer, or pills that may extend life span by 30 or 40 percent..."




http://www.rawstory.com/showarticle.php?src=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.startribune.c om%2Fblogs%2Fbigquestion%2F

Bachmann: “I am sorry if my words have been misconstrued”

U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann is declining to be interviewed about her statement that an agreement was in place to divide Iraq and create an Iranian-controlled terrorist safe haven there.




http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/24/washington/24trucks.html?_r=2&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&adxnnlx=1172420882-QJb/NhrbrIe8tE7bHIB5aA&oref=slogin

Bush Plan to Allow Mexican Truckers Throughout U.S. Draws Criticism

WASHINGTON, Feb. 23 (AP) — A Bush administration plan to allow 100 Mexican trucking companies to haul freight deeper into the United States than previously allowed drew an angry reaction Friday from labor leaders, safety advocates and members of Congress.

The administration plan, announced Thursday, would have United States inspectors oversee Mexican trucking companies that carry cargo across the border. The pilot project will let Mexican truck companies travel throughout the United States. No hazardous material shipments will be permitted.



http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/2/25/02617/6898

The Body Of Jesus Christ Has Been Found?



http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6390981.stm

Kelly death not suicide, says MP

An MP investigating the death of Dr David Kelly says he is convinced the weapons scientist did not kill himself.
Norman Baker tells BBC Two's The Conspiracy Files he has reached the conclusion Dr Kelly's life was "deliberately taken by others".

Mr Baker has also obtained letters suggesting the coroner had doubts about the 2003 Hutton inquiry's ability to establish the cause of death.

Hutton reached a verdict of suicide but a public inquest was never completed.

Dr Kelly, whose body was found in July 2003, had been under intense pressure after being named as the suspected source of a BBC report claiming the government "sexed up" a dossier on the threat posed by Iraq.


"...Assassinated

Mr Baker, who has spent a year investigating the case, believes there is enough evidence to suggest that the scientist did not kill himself.

The Liberal Democrat MP said toxicology reports suggested there was not enough painkiller in Dr Kelly's system to kill him, and the method he had apparently chosen to commit suicide was not a recognised or effective one.

"I'm satisfied it was not suicide. And after that you're left with the conclusion that his life was deliberately taken by others," he tells The Conspiracy Files.

He tells the programme it has been suggested to him that the weapons scientist was assassinated.

Speaking last week on BBC Radio 5 Live, Mr Baker said he was not ready to reveal all the evidence he has unearthed, but would consider passing a file to the police in due course...."

[alkemical]

http://www.livescience.com/environment/070228_beijing_anomoly.html

Huge 'Ocean' Discovered Inside Earth

Scientists scanning the deep interior of Earth have found evidence of a vast water reservoir beneath eastern Asia that is at least the volume of the Arctic Ocean.

The discovery marks the first time such a large body of water has found in the planet’s deep mantle.

The finding, made by Michael Wysession, a seismologist at Washington State University in St. Louis, and his former graduate student Jesse Lawrence, now at the University of California, San Diego, will be detailed in a forthcoming monograph to be published by the American Geophysical Union.



http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/6405667.stm

Scientists probe 'hole in Earth'

Scientists are to sail to the mid-Atlantic to examine a massive "open wound" on the Earth's surface.
Dr Chris MacLeod, from Cardiff University, said the Earth's crust appeared to be completely missing in an area thousands of kilometres across.

The hole in the crust is midway between the Cape Verde Islands and the Caribbean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge.

The team will survey the area, up to 5km (3 miles) under the surface, from ocean research vessel RRS James Cook.




http://www.cryptomundo.com/bigfoot-report/invisible-bf/

Invisible Bigfoot?Posted by: Craig Woolheater on March 1st, 2007

Cryptomundo reader silvereagle has alluded to Lawrence Livermore National Labs having had several bigfoot in captivity in the 60’s. Several other Cryptomundo readers had asked for more information regarding this. He posted the following as a comment and I decided to post it as a separate blog.




http://www.elpasotimes.com/breakingnews/ci_5333735

Mysterious circles found in Rio Grande

"Mysterious" sand circles found in Sunland Park
Unexplained sand circles -- kind of like crop circles without the crops -- have been found in the middle of a dry Rio Grande in the Upper Valley.

"It's pretty weird," Antonio Padilla of Sunland Park said while looking over the series of circles on a sand bed.

At least one man claimed to have seen a mysterious light in the sky land in the area and take off on Tuesday night, Padilla said.

The largest circle is about 35-feet wide contains three other circles made by an 8-inch deep trenches in sand bed in the middle of the river bed between Artcraft and Borderland roads.

[alkemical]

Top Secret: We're Wiretapping You (http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,72811-0.html?tw=wn_index_1)


By Ryan Singel| Also by this reporter
02:00 AM Mar, 05, 2007

It could be a scene from Kafka or Brazil. Imagine a government agency, in a bureaucratic foul-up, accidentally gives you a copy of a document marked "top secret." And it contains a log of some of your private phone calls.

You read it and ponder it and wonder what it all means. Then, two months later, the FBI shows up at your door, demands the document back and orders you to forget you ever saw it.

By all accounts, that's what happened to Washington D.C. attorney Wendell Belew in August 2004. And it happened at a time when no one outside a small group of high-ranking officials and workaday spooks knew the National Security Agency was listening in on Americans' phone calls without warrants. Belew didn't know what to make of the episode. But now, thanks to that government gaffe, he and a colleague have the distinction of being the only Americans who can prove they were specifically eavesdropped upon by the NSA's surveillance program.

The pair are seeking $1 million each in a closely watched lawsuit against the government, which experts say represents the greatest chance, among over 50 different lawsuits, of convincing a key judge to declare the program illegal.

Belew's bout with the Terrorist Surveillance Program began in 2004, when he was representing the U.S. branch office of the prominent Saudi Arabian charity Al-Haramain. Formerly one of the largest charities in Saudi Arabia, Al-Haramain worked to spread a strict view of Islam through philanthropy, missionary work and support for mosques around the world.

Federal officials were investigating the Ashland, Oregon, branch of the group for alleged links to terrorism, and had already frozen the charity's U.S. assets. Belew was one of several lawyers trying to keep Al-Haramain off a U.S. Treasury Department watch list -- an effort that sent much paperwork flying back and forth between the attorneys and the Treasury Department's Washington D.C. headquarters across the street from the White House.

On Aug. 20, 2004, fellow Al-Haramain attorney Lynne Bernabei noticed one of the documents from Treasury was marked "top secret." Bernabei gave the document to attorneys and directors at Al-Haramain's Saudi Arabia headquarters, and gave a copy to Belew. The document was a log of phone conversations Belew and co-counsel Asim Ghafoor had held with a Saudi-based director for the charity named Soliman al-Buthi.

Al-Buthi was a Saudi government employee who volunteered as coordinator for Al-Haramain's North American branches, including the Oregon branch. In a telephone interview with Wired News, al-Buthi says he's now general manager for the environmental department of the city of Riyadh, working on an anti-bird flu project. He denied having any links to terrorism, now or in 2004. "I feel that Islam is best spread by wisdom not by arms or violence," al-Buthi says.

Despite al-Buthi's claims of innocence, al-Buthi and Al-Haramain's American branch were added to the government's public list of terrorists on Sept. 9, 2004, just weeks after the government turned over the call log to the charity's attorneys. It's not clear when officials realized they'd given a highly classified document to an organization they considered terrorist, but the FBI showed up at Belew's office in October and demanded the call log back, advising the lawyer not to attempt to remember the document's contents.

By then, Belew had given a copy of the document to Washington Post reporter David Ottaway, who had been writing about how the government investigated and listed individuals and groups suspected of funding terrorism. Ottaway did not report on the classified call log, and when the FBI called, the Post dutifully handed over its copy.

That might have been the end of it. But in December 2005 The New York Times revealed that the government had been spying on Americans' overseas communications without warrants, and Al-Haramain's lawyers realized why the FBI had been so adamant about getting the document back.

"I got up in the morning and read the story, and I thought, 'My god, we had a log of a wiretap and it may or may not have been the NSA and on further reflection it was NSA," says Thomas Nelson, who represents Al-Haramain and Belew. "So we decided to file a lawsuit."

The lawyers retrieved one of the remaining copies of the document -- presumably from Saudi Arabia -- and used it to file a complaint in U.S. District Court in Oregon in February of last year. They sought damages from the government of $1 million each for Belew and Ghafoor, and the unfreezing of Al-Haramain's assets, because that action relied on the allegedly illegal spying.

The lawsuit is poised to blow a hole through a bizarre catch-22 that has dogged other legal efforts to challenge the Bush administration's warrantless surveillance.

Since the 2005 Times story, and subsequent acknowledgment of the surveillance by the Bush administration, some 50-odd lawsuits have sprung up around the NSA program, taking on the government and various telecom companies who are allegedly cooperating in spying on their customers, including BellSouth, Verizon and Sprint.

Justice Department and phone company lawyers have asserted that the plaintiffs in those cases don't have legal standing to sue, because they have no proof that they were direct victims of the eavesdropping. At the same time, the government claims it doesn't have to reveal if any individual was or was not wiretapped because the "state secrets privilege" permits it to withhold information that would endanger national security.

The tangible document makes Belew's case uniquely positioned to cut through that thicket, says Shayana Kadidal, an attorney with the Center for Constitutional Rights, which represents individuals being held in Guantanamo Bay. The center is also suing to stop the surveillance, but lacks Belew's concrete evidence of monitoring -- arguing instead that the possibility of being monitored hampers its legal work.

"The government's line is that if you don't have evidence of actual surveillance, you lose on standing," says Kadidal. "Out of all the cases, this is the only one with evidence of actual surveillance."

That evidence also gives the courts enough to rule immediately on whether the president had the authority to spy on Belew and Ghafoor without a court order, said Jon Eisenberg, one of Belew's lawyers. "We know how many times he's been surveilled," Eisenberg told a judge last month. "There is nothing left for this court to do except hear oral arguments on the legality of the program."

The Justice Department isn't ready to concede that the two attorneys were swept into the NSA's extrajudicial surveillance. "The government has never confirmed or denied whether plaintiffs were surveilled, much less surveilled under the Terrorist Surveillance Program," spokesman Dean Boyd wrote in an e-mail to Wired News.

But if the document is a harmless memo unrelated to NSA surveillance, it's unexpectedly agitating government spooks.

Soon after the lawsuit was filed, the document was whisked out of the courthouse and into a Justice Department-controlled secure room known as a Secure Compartmented Information Facility in Portland, Oregon. According to government filings, it remains classified top secret and contains "sensitive compartmented information" -- meaning information that concerns or is derived from intelligence sources, methods or analytical processes, according to the defense and intelligence communities' own definition.

Even the lawyers who filed the document with the court are no longer allowed to see it; instead, they've been permitted to file declarations, under seal, based on their memory of its contents.

Other aspects of the case also support the plaintiffs' interpretation of the document. Last year, U.S. District Judge Garr King in Portland examined the document and read classified briefs filed by the Justice Department. Then he ordered the government to meet with the plaintiffs to discuss turning over more documents in discovery. It's not likely the court would have permitted the case to continue if the evidence didn't, in fact, indicate that the pair had been under surveillance.

And if the surveillance had been court ordered and lawful, King would have been obliged to dismiss the lawsuit. Under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, targets of counter-intelligence or counter-terrorism surveillance can only sue the government when no warrant has been issued. Lawyers for Belew and Ghafoor seize on this point. "If there was a FISA warrant, the whole case would have crumbled on the first day," Nelson says. "Its pretty obvious from the government's conduct in the case, there was no warrant."

Justice department lawyers have argued that, even if the pair of lawyers were monitored, judging the president's authority to do so requires looking at the specific reasons why the duo were surveilled. And those facts would be national secrets that would tip off terrorists, so no court can ever rule on the program.

"This is not to say there is no forum to air the weighty matters at issue, which remains a matter of considerable public interest and debate, but that the resolution of these issues must be left to the political branches of government," Justice Department lawyers wrote in a brief on the case.

But the government has a new, and not necessarily friendly, judicial audience for its no-judges-allowed argument. In August, a special court ordered Belew's lawsuit to be consolidated into a single proceeding comprised of 54 other NSA-related lawsuits, before U.S. District Court Chief Judge Vaughn Walker in San Francisco.

Walker has presided over the year-old class-action lawsuit brought by the Electronic Frontier Foundation against AT&T for the phone company's alleged cooperation with the NSA program. The judge made waves in July when he issued a landmark ruling that allowed the AT&T case to proceed, despite the government's claim that the suit must be thrown out because it involved national secrets. Walker ruled that the state-secrets privilege did not apply to the entirety of the case, because the government had admitted the program existed. (Walker recently rejected a motion filed by Wired News seeking the unsealing of evidence in the case.)

The government has appealed that state secrets decision to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, and asked the judge to put a stop to all 55 cases pending that appeal. But Walker, a libertarian-leaning Republican, has kept the cases moving, noting that any decision from the appeals court is likely to wind through the court system up to the Supreme Court -- a process that could take years.

Belew's lawsuit, his lawyers submit, is a chance to short circuit that process entirely.

In a hearing in early February, Eisenberg told Walker that the classified document sets the Belew case apart from the other cases, because the judge has enough evidence to decide whether the warrantless surveillance was illegal, without waiting for the 9th Circuit to decide the state secrets issue.

"You need only read the statutes to decide, 'Does the president have the right to do this without a warrant?'" Eisenberg said.

Walker is expected to rule in March on whether to stay the case or set a hearing date, and the document will likely be moved, under guard, from the Portland secure facility to San Francisco, where Walker can review it.

In the meantime, the NSA program is undergoing changes.

In a separate lawsuit last August, Michigan U.S. District Court Judge Anna Diggs Taylor found the NSA surveillance program unconstitutional and illegal -- a decision that's now under appeal in the 6th Circuit. Facing that ruling and growing political pressure, in early January, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales essentially announced the end of the warrantless spying, saying the NSA program will continue, but would begin getting "innovative" court orders from the foreign intelligence court.

With the program now reformed, the Justice Department has asked for several of the lawsuits against the government to be dismissed as moot.

Al-Buthi is now a "specially designated global terrorist," according to the Treasury Department, and he's under indictment in the United States for failing to declare $150,000 in travelers checks raised to help Chechnyan refugees when he last flew out of the country. He told Wired News that he had always declared money when entering the United States, but wasn't aware he needed to do the same when leaving. He says he's been interrogated twice by Saudi officials and cleared of any wrongdoing.

[alkemical]

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/03/05/google_earth_cruise_missile/

Cruise missile streaks across Google Earth

Once in a while, something really interesting pops up on Google Earth, and we're obliged today to reader Christopher Wagner for pointing us the direction of this spendid find in the skies above Utah:




http://www.nswbc.org/Press%20Releases/PressRelease-March5-07.htm


Two FBI Whistleblowers Confirm Illegal Wiretapping of Government Officials and Misuse of FISA



State Secrets Privilege Was Used to Cover Up Corruption and Silence Whistleblowers



The National Security Whistleblowers Coalition (NSWBC) has obtained a copy of an official complaint filed by a veteran FBI Special Agent, Gilbert Graham, with the Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General (DOJ-OIG). SA Graham’s protected disclosures report the violation of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) in conducting electronic surveillance of high-profile U.S. public officials.

Before his retirement in 2002, SA Gilbert Graham worked for the FBI Washington Field Office (WFO) Squad NS-24. One of the main areas of Mr. Graham’s counterintelligence investigations involved espionage activities by Turkish officials and agents in the United States. On April 2, 2002, Graham filed with the DOJ-OIG a classified protected disclosure, which provided a detailed account of FISA violations involving misuse of FISA warrants to engage in domestic surveillance. In his unclassified report SA Graham states: “It is the complainant’s reasonable belief that the request for ELSUR [electronic surveillance] coverage was a subterfuge to collect evidentiary information concerning public corruption matters.” Graham blew the whistle on this illegal behavior, but the actions were covered up by the Department of Justice and the Attorney General’s office.



Click here to read the unclassified version of SA Graham’s Official Report.



The report filed by SA Graham bolsters another FBI whistleblower’s case that became public several months after Graham’s official filing with the Justice Department in 2002. Sibel Edmonds, former FBI Language Specialist, also worked for the FBI Washington Field Office (WFO), and her assignments included the translations of Turkish Counterintelligence documents and audiotapes, some of which were part of espionage investigations led by SA Graham. After she filed her complaint with the DOJ-OIG and Congress, she was retaliated against by the FBI and ultimately fired in March 2002. Court proceedings in Edmonds’ case were blocked by the assertion of the State Secrets Privilege by then Attorney General John Ashcroft, and the Congress gagged and prevented from investigating her case through retroactive re-classification of documents by DOJ. To read the timeline on Edmonds’ case Click here.



Edmonds’ complaint included allegations of illegal activities by Turkish organizations and their agents in the United States, and the involvement of certain elected and appointed U.S. officials in the Department of State, Pentagon, and the U.S. Congress in these activities. In its September 2005 issue, Vanity Fair ran a comprehensive piece on Edmonds’ case by reporter David Rose, in which several former and current congressional and Justice Department officials identified former House Speaker Dennis Hastert as being involved in illegal activities with the Turkish organizations and personnel targeted in FBI investigations. In addition, Rose reported: “…much of what Edmonds reportedly heard seemed to concern not state espionage but criminal activity. There was talk, she told investigators, of laundering the profits of large-scale drug deals and of selling classified military technologies to the highest bidder.” In January 2005, DOJ-OIG released an unclassified summary of its investigation into Edmonds' termination. The report concluded that Edmonds was fired for reporting serious security breaches and misconduct in the agency's translation program, and that many of her allegations were supported by convincing evidence.




http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/03/technology/03money.html?ex=1330578000&en=c1a3062fdc357c86&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

Using the Web to Get the Boss to Pay More

If information is power, then most employees who enter salary negotiations are holding pea shooters while the boss is encased in a Kevlar vest.

Unless someone left a spreadsheet of the company’s salaries on the copier (funny how often that does happen), most employees have precious little ammunition going into a meeting to talk about their pay.

A few Web sites try to level the playing field by providing more detailed information about salaries. Salary.com began revealing the results of salary surveys on its site in 1999. PayScale.com is now challenging it by gathering information directly from the people who search for data. (A third site, Payscroll.com, is testing a method of trolling job listings for salary information. It will be opened to the public this month or next.)

New Internet technologies are providing information that has never been available to the average person and transforming the way they sell homes or buy airline tickets. It could have the same effect on the 47 million people who look for new jobs each month and the countless others who think they are underpaid at the ones they have.

[alkemical]

"There is always a well-known solution to every human problem--neat, plausible, and wrong." ~ H.L. Mencken


Homeland Security revives supersnoop (http://washingtontimes.com/national/20070308-124323-4382r.htm)


Homeland Security officials are testing a supersnoop computer system that sifts through personal information on U.S. citizens to detect possible terrorist attacks, prompting concerns from lawmakers who have called for investigations. The system uses the same data-mining process that was developed by the Pentagon's Total Information Awareness (TIA) project that was banned by Congress in 2003 because of vast privacy violations.
A Government Accountability Office (GAO) investigation of the project called ADVISE -- Analysis, Dissemination, Visualization, Insight and Semantic Enhancement -- was requested by Rep. David R. Obey, Wisconsin Democrat and chairman of the House Appropriations Committee.
The investigation focuses on whether the program violates privacy laws, and the findings will be released after completion of the Iraq war supplemental spending bill, possibly as early as this week, a panel aide said.
The ADVISE and TIA data-mining projects rely on personal data to track individual behavior and consumer transactions to develop computer algorithms that create a pattern that some behavioral scientists say can predict terrorist behavior. Data can include credit-card purchases, telephone or Internet details, medical records, travel and banking information.



The Pentagon’s Power to Arrest, Torture, and Execute Americans (http://www.fff.org/comment/com0702k.asp)

The president and the Pentagon now wield the omnipotent power to arrest, torture, and execute any American they label an “enemy combatant.” It is impossible to overstate the significance of this power. It has totally upended the relationship of the military and civilian in the United States. The assumption of this particular power easily constitutes one of the most monumental revolutions of liberty and power in history. It is a revolution that every American must confront now, not later. If people wait until later to confront the expanded use of this power, it will be too late, because by that time it will be too dangerous to do so.

As long as this particular power is permitted to stand, there is no possibility for Americans to be considered a free people. A necessary prerequisite for restoring freedom to our land is the removal of this power from the arsenal of government officials.


Shell, Repsol, Total, Defy U.S. to Seek Iran Deals (http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=aETaTKxrfM5c)


Feb. 23 (Bloomberg) -- President George W. Bush's campaign to turn Iran into an economic pariah is being rebuffed from Spain to Malaysia as countries and companies pursue long-term agreements to tap into the world's second-largest reserves of oil and gas.

Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Europe's largest oil company, and Spain's Repsol YPF SA -- which last month signed a new agreement on a three-year-old gas production project, estimated at more than $10 billion -- are among those who can ill afford to give up oil and natural-gas projects in Iran, said James Bell, president of Gas Strategies, a London-based consulting firm.

``Companies who want a piece of the action in Iran have no choice but to stay in the long, patient waiting game,'' Bell said in a telephone interview.

U.S. officials have issued explicit warnings against such deals and even threatened to use a 1996 law to levy penalties against foreign companies that do business both in the U.S. and in Iran, now subject to United Nations sanctions for refusing to halt its nuclear program.

[alkemical]

http://www.faulkingtruth.com/Articles/Investing101/1072.html

Bloomberg to tell the story that Dateline didn't
by Mark Faulk
It’s been almost two years since NBC’s Dateline caved in to corporate and/or political pressure and delayed their own expose’ on naked short selling, or stock counterfeiting, then aired a segment which this reporter

http://www.faulkingtruth.com/Articles/Investing101/1037.html>described as: “the most irrelevant piece of fluff ever aired in

the history of television. It would be the equivalent of spending a year putting together a documentary on the Watergate scandal, and then editing it down to a ten minute piece about Nixon's dog Checkers.”

Now, Bloomberg Television, is airing a half-hour special report that will hopefully cover the issues that Dateline didn’t have the balls to tackle. Entitled “Phantom Shares,” it airs tomorrow, Tuesday, March 13, at 7:00pm, 9:00pm, and 10:00pm EST.

This is how the network describes the groundbreaking event on their website:

Millions of shares of stock are being sold that may not exist. How? Through an obscure trading strategy known as naked short selling. Bloomberg Television's Special Report hosted by Mike Schneider explains what the strategy is, how it's executed, which companies are targets, and what the SEC is trying to do to control it.




http://rawstory.com/news/afp/US_mortgage_lender_loses_credit_spa_03122007.html

US mortgage lender loses credit, sparking fallout fears

A major player in the high-risk segment of the US mortgage market said Monday its credit was being cut off, prompting renewed concerns about fallout into the overall financial system.

New Century Financial, the second largest lender of so-called "subprime" mortgages, said all its lenders had cut off or announced their intention to cut off credit.

Shares in New Century, down 90 percent since the start of the year, were suspended on the New York Stock Exchange and other lenders in the sector saw their stocks tumble. This means the company "will have to declare bankruptcy during the next few days as they have no means of financing," said Fred *****on, analyst at DA Davidson.



http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4808342.stm

Pentagon plans cyber-insect army

The Pentagon's defence scientists want to create an army of cyber-insects that can be remotely controlled to check out explosives and send transmissions.

The idea is to insert micro-systems at the pupa stage, when the insects can integrate them into their body, so they can be remotely controlled later.
Experts told the BBC some ideas were feasible but others seemed "ludicrous".

A similar scheme aimed at manipulating wasps failed when they flew off to feed and mate. The new scheme is a brainwave of the Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa), which is tasked with maintaining the technological superiority of the US military. It has asked for "innovative" bids on the insect project from interested parties.



http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6436267.stm


US grapples with homeless problem


Martin Walker was working for a law firm when he was injured in a car accident. He had to take time off work for therapy, during which time, he says, he was fired. After I lost my job, I got behind on my bills and my rent. And that's how I became homeless," he says. That was more than two years ago. Since then, he has held some regular jobs, and works between jobs as a vendor for Street Sense, a Washington DC newspaper designed to help the homeless. But he has never managed to save enough to get himself a home. He spends most nights in shelters. "Fortunately, I have had to sleep outside only a small number of times. Some people prefer it, but it's pretty dangerous sleeping outside," he says.



http://en.epochtimes.com/news/7-3-12/52733.html

Thousands Riot in China

BEIJING—Thousands of Chinese farmers and laid-off workers rioted in central China, attacking police and smashing squad cars, a local official said on Monday, the latest in a string of violent demonstrations.

Nine police cars were burnt during the riot on Friday in the central province of Hunan in which 20,000 people clashed with about 1,000 police armed with guns and electric cattle prods, a local official told Reuters.

"They did it because they were not satisfied with some government behaviour," the official, surnamed Tan, said by telephone from the district of Lingling, which belongs to the Hunan city of Yongzhou. "They were also unhappy about official corruption," Tan said without elaborating.
The overseas human rights Web site Boxun (www.boxun.com) said the riot was sparked by dissatisfaction with rising public transport costs. The site, which is critical of China, is blocked on the mainland.



http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/03/09/60minutes/main2552906.shtml

Tables Turned In Anthrax Probe - "Person Of Interest" Files Lawsuit Against FBI

(CBS) Remember the anthrax scare? It was about four weeks after 9/11.
Letters laced with powdery spores of the deadly bacteria were mailed through the U.S. postal system. In all, five people died, 17 fell ill. At first, everyone thought this was another al Qaeda terrorist attack. But soon the FBI began keying on a so-called "person of interest" – Steven Hatfill – and launched one of the largest criminal investigations in its history.

As correspondent Lesley Stahl reports, the FBI has been going after this guy for five years, and yet he has got them in court: Hatfill has sued the FBI and Department of Justice for what he claims has been a campaign of leaking lies and distortions about him to the press.

Through the lawsuit, Hatfill’s lawyer has not only obtained boxfuls of internal government documents, but he has also deposed nearly every major law enforcement official involved in the case. It is the latest twist in the FBI's yet unsolved investigation of the anthrax murders.



http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article1490128.ece

Top Gun aircraft are seized from US museums in ‘paranoia’ raids

Federal US agents have seized disabled F14 fighter jets from museums in California because of fears that parts would be sold to Iran.

The raids reflect the nervousness that is driving policy towards the Islamic republic at a time when the US has stationed two aircraft carriers in the Gulf and is alleging that Iranian Revolutionary Guards are aiding attacks on its soldiers in Iraq. One European diplomat described the raids as evidence of American paranoia.

The F14 Tomcat fighters, made famous by the film Top Gun,had been sawn in half and welded together before being sold by the Ventura naval base as scrap metal in 2005 for as little as $2,000 (£1,000) apiece. Three ended up in museums at Chino Airport, while a fourth was acquired as a prop by producers of the TV show JAG.

Although there is no evidence that the aircraft had been plundered for parts, US customs conducted a 17-month operation to stop any components from entering the black market. Iran’s ageing squadron of F14s dates to before the 1979 Revolution and Tehran has become increasingly desperate to find spare parts despite a US arms embargo against it. The Pentagon has said repeatedly that Iran’s military could seek to wreck the world’s economy by closing the Strait of Hormuz through which much of the West’s oil supplies are shipped.



http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Rove_Next_President_will_embrace_Bush_0309.html

Rove: Next President will embrace 'Bush Doctrine'

Karl Rove predicted in a Washington Post article today that future Presidents of the United States will embrace President George W. Bush's doctrine of preemptive war. The statement came when the top White House adviser was asked what the 43rd president's legacy would be.

Michael Abramowitz reported today on the various activities Karl Rove has engaged in to promote the president's legacy. Although he has said there is an attitude of "Why worry about it?" in the White House, Abramowitz points to Rove's efforts "to put his own distinctive spin on current events and the longer historical view."




http://www.local6.com/news/11212536/detail.html

Container Holding Uranium Found At Pawn Shop - Store Owner Says He Purchased Radioactive Item 20 Years Ago

OCALA, Fla. -- A container believed to be holding 1 ounce of uranium yellow cake was recovered at a Central Florida pawn shop on Thursday, according to authorities.

[alkemical]

http://forteantimes.com/articles/217_tesla_1.shtml

The Electric Wizard

On the 150th anniversary of the birth of brilliant inventor Nikola Tesla, Mark Pilkington explores the enigma of the man who lit up the world.

The Bird Man of Bryant Park

18 May 1917. As he had almost every day and night for the past several years, a middle-aged man strode into Bryant Park, a small green square behind New York City’s magnificent public library. Immaculately turned out as was his custom, his 6ft 2in [1.88m] frame, strikingly gaunt but always noble, was draped in a black tailcoat and trousers, topped by a black bowler hat. Beneath the coat, he sported a waistcoat, a crisp white shirt and a white bow tie. A brand new pair of grey suede gloves enclosed his unusually large hands and prominent thumbs, which clasped a cane and a brown paper bag full of breadcrumbs.



http://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=2964509&page=1

Erasing the Pain of the Past
Scientists Are Developing Drugs That Could Eliminate Traumatic Events From Our Memories

March 20, 2007 — "I'd take it in a second," said Sgt. Michael Walcott, an Iraq War veteran, referring to an experimental drug with the potential to target and erase traumatic memories.


Walcott, who served in a Balad-based transportation unit that regularly took mortar fire, now suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder. Since returning to the United States two years ago, he has been on antidepressants and in group therapy as he tries to put his life back together and heal from the psychological scars of war. "There are moments," he said, "when you just want be alone and don't want to deal with everyone telling you that you've changed."

There are many others like Walcott. The Army estimates that one in eight soldiers returning home from Iraq suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder. Symptoms of the disorder, once known as shell shock, include flashbacks, nightmares, feelings of detachment, irritability, trouble concentrating and sleeplessness.




http://blog.wired.com/defense/2007/03/imagine_if_the_.html

Darpa Wants Talking "Replicator"
Imagine if the Enterprise's on-board replicator made walkie-talkies, instead of cups of tea. That's the latest way-out idea from Darpa, the Pentagon's blue-sky research arm. Sending and receiving messages covertly and quietly in a battle zone can be tough. Darpa's answer: outfit troops with a cell phone-sized "replicator[s]" to "generate disposable… transmitters" when they want to communicate.

In Darpa's eyes, "the disposable transmitter" would be about the size and weight of "a sheet of paper… possibly with an adhesive backing for deployment on all surfaces." Messages -- up to 60 alphanumeric characters is length -- could be printed on to the page by translating 'em into a series of relatively-stable chemical compounds, and then arranged those compounds into a Morse Code-like string.



http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/20/science/20moral.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Scientist Finds the Beginnings of Morality in Primate Behavior
By NICHOLAS WADE
Some animals are surprisingly sensitive to the plight of others. Chimpanzees, who cannot swim, have drowned in zoo moats trying to save others. Given the chance to get food by pulling a chain that would also deliver an electric shock to a companion, rhesus monkeys will starve themselves for several days.

Biologists argue that these and other social behaviors are the precursors of human morality. They further believe that if morality grew out of behavioral rules shaped by evolution, it is for biologists, not philosophers or theologians, to say what these rules are.

Moral philosophers do not take very seriously the biologists’ bid to annex their subject, but they find much of interest in what the biologists say and have started an academic conversation with them.

The original call to battle was sounded by the biologist Edward O. Wilson more than 30 years ago, when he suggested in his 1975 book “Sociobiology” that “the time has come for ethics to be removed temporarily from the hands of the philosophers and biologicized.” He may have jumped the gun about the time having come, but in the intervening decades biologists have made considerable progress.

Last year Marc Hauser, an evolutionary biologist at Harvard, proposed in his book “Moral Minds” that the brain has a genetically shaped mechanism for acquiring moral rules, a universal moral grammar similar to the neural machinery for learning language. In another recent book, “Primates and Philosophers,” the primatologist Frans de Waal defends against philosopher critics his view that the roots of morality can be seen in the social behavior of monkeys and apes.



http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=77824

Mystery of Ancient Bulgarian City Uncovered
Bulgarian archaeologists uncovered another of the mysteries in the Perperikon area, an ancient living region of Thracians.

The have found a bronze spear from the time of the Trojan War. The finding shows Thracians' sacred city has been a metallurgical centre before more than 3000 years ago. Perperikon was the place where armoury was produced for the belligerent Thracian tribes.

The finding was made accidentally on Sunday in the foothills of Perperikon. The bronze peak, which was some 30 centuries ago was part of Thracians's weapons, of the ancient spire was found intact.

Homer in his Iliad wrote that every warrior had two pikes, nearly two metres long each. According to Professor Nikolay Ovcharov, it is highly probable that the discovered bronze pike peak belonged to a Perperikon warrior, who had participated in the 12-year-long battle for conquering Troy.




http://www.thothweb.com/article4799.html

Rewriting History: America and the Vikings

The Vinland Mappa Mundi and the Kensington Runestone are just two pieces of a puzzle that point to Viking explorers having prospered in North America long before Christopher Columbus supposedly discovered the New World.

Add to that the possibility that the enigmatic Knights Templar had dealings with the Vikings, and history begins to take on a radical new light. Of course even when it is quite literally written in stone and supported by a myriad of archaeological evidence, the voice of true history struggles to be heard.

Alternative theories continue to gather support and the past is slowly but surely revealing new mysteries, which as they unfold change our perception of the ancient world even further.

The possibility that the Vikings really did discover America opens up a huge can of worms for historians because it calls into question much of what we’ve been brought up to think as being true, If historians don’t know who discovered America, what else have they gotten wrong? In the past, hostile rebuttal and cries of ‘hoax’ have suppressed these inconvenient artefacts as soon as they came to light, but often these seemingly unrelated artefacts often tell the same story.



http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/devon/6464531.stm

Beetle re-emerges after 60 years
A beetle thought to be extinct in the UK since the 1940s has been rediscovered in south Devon.


The short-necked oil beetle was found by an amateur entomologist during a wildlife survey on National Trust (NT) land between Bolt Head and Bolt Tail.

The beetles were last recorded at Chailey Common, Sussex in 1948.

Up to 40 of the insects, which survive by hitching rides on miner bees as larvae and then eating the bees' eggs, were found at the Devon site.
The beetle, which gets its name from the highly toxic oil secretions it produces when threatened, is also known as Meloe brevicollis.

The adult beetles, which live for about three months, lay up to 1,000 eggs in a burrow in soft or sandy soil and eggs hatch in the following spring.

Once they have hatched the young larvae crawl up on to vegetation, often lying in wait in flowers, for an unsuspecting mining bee to give them a lift to the bee's nest.




http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,73007-0.html

Google's Next-Gen of Sneakernet


By Cyrus Farivar| Also by this reporter
12:00 PM Mar, 20, 2007

How do you get 120 terabytes of data -- the equivalent of 123,000 iPod shuffles (roughly 30 million songs) -- from A to B? For the most part, the old-fashioned way: via a sneakernet. It's not glamorous, but Google engineers hope to at least end the arduous process of transferring massive quantities of data -- which can literally take weeks to upload onto the internet -- with something affectionately called "FedExNet" by the scientists who use it.

Chris DiBona, the open-source program manager at Google, just returned late last week from Washington, D.C., where he met with Hubble researchers at the Space Telescope Science Institute to set the stage for what will be the largest data transfer for the project ever: The near totality of all the astronomical data and images that Hubble has ever collected -- about 120 terabytes.



http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6466129.stm

248-dimension maths puzzle solved

An international team of mathematicians has detailed a vast complex numerical "structure" which was invented more than a century ago.
Mapping the 248-dimensional structure, called E8, took four years of work and produced more data than the Human Genome Project, researchers said.

E8 is a "Lie group", a means of describing symmetrical objects.

The team said their findings may assist fields of physics which use more than four dimensions, such as string theory.

Lie groups were invented by the 19th Century Norwegian mathematician Sophus Lie (pronounced "Lee").



http://many.corante.com/archives/2007/03/17/fame_narcissism_and_myspace.php

fame, narcissism and MySpace

When adults aren’t dismissing MySpace as the land-o-predators, they’re often accusing it of producing narcissistic children. I find it hard to bite my tongue in these situations, but i know that few adults are willing to take the blame for producing narcissistic children. The issue of narcissism and fame is back in public circulation with a vengeance (thanks in part to Britney Spears for having a public meltdown). While the mainstream press is having a field day with blaming celebrities and teens for being narcissistic, more solid research on narcissism is emerging.

For those who are into pop science coverage of academic work, i’d encourage you to start with Jake Halpern’s “Fame Junkies” (tx Anastasia). For simplicity sake, let’s list a few of the key findings that have emerged over the years concerning narcissism.

While many personality traits stay stable across time, it appears as though levels of narcissism (as tested by the NPI) decrease as people grow older. In other words, while adolescents are more narcissistic than adults, you were also more narcissistic when you were younger than you are now.

The scores of adolescents on the NPI continue to rise. In other words, it appears as though young people today are more narcissistic than older people were when they were younger.
There appears to be a correlation between narcissism and self-esteem based education. In other words, all of that school crap about how everyone is good and likable has produced a generation of narcissists.

Celebrity does not make people narcissists but narcissistic people seek fame.
Reality TV stars score higher on the NPI than other celebrities.
OK… given these different findings (some of which are still up for debate in academic circles), what should we make of teens’ participation on social network sites in relation to narcissism?




http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,72901-0.html?tw=wn_culture_5

Smoking 2.0

MILAN, Italy -- The NicStic is a cigarette-size plastic tube with a rechargeable heating coil that vaporizes tobacco instead of burning it.

Pop a filter on the end of the tube, and in seconds it is warmed up enough for a nicotine fix without the smoke. Because it has no smoke, it also has none of the tar, arsenic, cadmium and formaldehyde of regular cigarettes; it also passes muster with local anti-smoking laws here.

"I actually don't mind doing a bit of vogueing with this," said Victor Chambers, a former model and steady smoker, who tried the device at a reporter's request inside a crowded local bar. "Shivering in the rain for a smoke is just so last season."

Vaporizers have been an underground hit with pot smokers; and with tobacco-smoking restrictions or bans in effect in 33 countries -- from Cuba to Norway, and counting -- cigarettes are primed for their own killer app.

The NicStic kit, which retails online for 80 euros (about $100), comes with a small plastic heating case, three voltage adapters and a carton of filters in boxes that resemble standard cigarette packs. The heating case is powered by a 3.7-volt lithium battery like those found in cell phones or digital cameras; once charged, it can fire up about 20 fume-free smokes.

Billed as "enjoyment without discrimination," it may seem to give smokers another crutch to maintain their nic addiction in the face of a vehement social backlash. But the device is winning support from some health officials as a way to help smokers who want to kick the habit.

"It could be a useful bridge to help quit," said anti-smoking campaigner Dr. Giacomo Mangiaracina, of the Italian Society for the Study of the Effects of Tobacco.

[Bronco Bob]

http://forteantimes.com/articles/217_tesla_1.shtml

The Electric Wizard

On the 150th anniversary of the birth of brilliant inventor Nikola Tesla, Mark Pilkington explores the enigma of the man who lit up the world.

The Bird Man of Bryant Park

18 May 1917. As he had almost every day and night for the past several years, a middle-aged man strode into Bryant Park, a small green square behind New York City’s magnificent public library. Immaculately turned out as was his custom, his 6ft 2in [1.88m] frame, strikingly gaunt but always noble, was draped in a black tailcoat and trousers, topped by a black bowler hat. Beneath the coat, he sported a waistcoat, a crisp white shirt and a white bow tie. A brand new pair of grey suede gloves enclosed his unusually large hands and prominent thumbs, which clasped a cane and a brown paper bag full of breadcrumbs.



Tesla was just so damn cool. It's a shame he didn't have more money and
didn't seem to know how to market his inventions like Edison did.
Tesla gets far less credit than he deserves for things we take for
granted in our modern life like radio and AC electrical power.

[alkemical]

Tesla was just so damn cool. It's a shame he didn't have more money and
didn't seem to know how to market his inventions like Edison did.
Tesla gets far less credit than he deserves for things we take for
granted in our modern life like radio and AC electrical power.

Oh i know. I'm fascinated by his work. In some ways he helped invent TV by "broadcasting" a still image via radio....

[Bronco Bob]

Oh i know. I'm fascinated by his work. In some ways he helped invent TV by "broadcasting" a still image via radio....

Definitely. I'm amazed at some of the things he came up with, and
wonder why to this day no one is using some of them.

[alkemical]

Definitely. I'm amazed at some of the things he came up with, and
wonder why to this day no one is using some of them.

That's where alot of conspiracy type stories filter in. To his "patrons" owning the copyrights, and just sitting on them until it can be profitable.

However, i don't really have a good guess.

[alkemical]

Son of TIA Will Mine Asian Data (http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,73046-0.html)

Nearly four years after Congress pulled the plug on what critics assailed as an Orwellian scheme to spy on private citizens, Singapore is set to launch an even more ambitious incarnation of the Pentagon's controversial Total Information Awareness program -- an effort to collect and mine data across all government agencies in the hopes of pinpointing threats to national security.

The Singapore prototype of the system -- dubbed Risk Assessment and Horizon Scanning, or RAHS -- was rolled out early this week at a conference in the Southeast Asia city-state. Retired U.S. Adm. John Poindexter, the architect of the original Pentagon program, traveled to Singapore to deliver a speech at the unveiling, while backers have already begun quietly touting the system to U.S. intelligence officials.

In 2003, plans for Total Information Awareness, or TIA, sparked outrage among privacy advocates. TIA was one of several programs run out of the Information Awareness Office at Darpa, the Pentagon's advanced research projects agency. Fueling public indignation was news that Poindexter, President Reagan's national security adviser and a key figure in the '80s Iran-Contra scandal, was in charge of the office.

[alkemical]

http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0706/p09s01-coop.html

How Eisenhower solved illegal border crossings from Mexico

WASHINGTON – George W. Bush isn't the first Republican president to face a full-blown immigration crisis on the US-Mexican border.
Fifty-three years ago, when newly elected Dwight Eisenhower moved into the White House, America's southern frontier was as porous as a spaghetti sieve. As many as 3 million illegal migrants had walked and waded northward over a period of several years for jobs in California, Arizona, Texas, and points beyond.

President Eisenhower cut off this illegal traffic. He did it quickly and decisively with only 1,075 United States Border Patrol agents - less than one-tenth of today's force. The operation is still highly praised among veterans of the Border Patrol.

Although there is little to no record of this operation in Ike's official papers, one piece of historic evidence indicates how he felt. In 1951, Ike wrote a letter to Sen. William Fulbright (D) of Arkansas. The senator had just proposed that a special commission be created by Congress to examine unethical conduct by government officials who accepted gifts and favors in exchange for special treatment of private individuals.




http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=54861

Embattled AG now accused in teen sex scandal 'cover-up'
Attorney General Gonzales among officials who allegedly ignored abuse of minor boys

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton, both already under siege for other matters, are now being accused of failing to prosecute officers of the Texas Youth Commission after a Texas Ranger investigation documented that guards and administrators were sexually abusing the institution's teenage boy inmates.

Among the charges in the Texas Ranger report were that administrators would rouse boys from their sleep for the purpose of conducting all-night sex parties.



http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/16/1664.asp

Florida: City to Seize Homes Over a $5 Parking Ticket
Brooksville, Florida proposes to foreclose homes and seize cars over less than $20 in parking tickets.
The city council in Brooksville, Florida voted this week to advance a proposal granting city officials the authority to place liens and foreclose on the homes of motorists accused of failing to pay a single $5 parking ticket. Non-homeowners face having their vehicles seized if accused of not paying three parking offenses.

According to the proposed ordinance, a vehicle owner must pay a parking fine within 72 hours if a meter maid claims his automobile was improperly parked, incurring tickets worth between $5 and $250. Failure to pay this amount results in the assessment of a fifty-percent "late fee." After seven days, the city will place a lien on the car owner's home for the amount of the ticket plus late fees, attorney fees and an extra $15 fine. The fees quickly turn a $5 ticket into a debt worth several hundred dollars, growing at a one-percent per month interest rate. The ordinance does not require the city to provide notice to the homeowner at any point so that after ninety days elapse, the city will foreclose. If the motorist does not own a home, it will seize his vehicle after the failure to pay three parking tickets.

Any motorist who believes a parking ticket may have been improperly issued must first pay a $250 "appeal fee" within seven days to have the case heard by a contract employee of the city. This employee will determine whether the city should keep the appeal fee, plus the cost of the ticket and late fees, or find the motorist not guilty. Council members postponed a decision on whether to reduce this appeal fee until final adoption of the measure which is expected in the first week of April.

The full text of the ordinance is available in a 605k PDF file at the source link below.

Source: Ordinance No. 743 (Brooksville, Florida City Council, 3/19/2007)

[alkemical]

Every child to be screened for risk of turning criminal under Blair justice plan (http://www.guardian.co.uk/crime/article/0,,2044296,00.html)


Every child to be screened for risk of turning criminal under Blair justice plan


· Police would demand DNA samples from all suspects
· Tories condemn strategy as 'nanny state gone mad'

Alan Travis, home affairs editor
Wednesday March 28, 2007


A new-style "11-plus" to assess the risk every child in Britain runs of turning to crime was among a battery of proposals unveiled in Tony Blair's crime plan yesterday.
The children of prisoners, problem drug users and others at high risk of offending will also face being "actively managed" by social services and youth justice workers. New technologies are to be used to boost police detection rates while DNA samples are to be taken from any crime suspect who comes into contact with the police.


Article continues

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The "early intervention" approach is part of a package of proposals on security, crime and justice produced by Downing Street which underline the scale of criminal justice reform Mr Blair believes is still needed despite passing 53 law and order bills since he came to power in 1997.
The shadow home secretary, David Davis, focused his criticism on the extension of the DNA database to any crime suspect and the early intervention plans for children. He described the proposal to assess every child for risk of offending as the "nanny state gone mad" while he said the Conservatives would have "great and grave concerns" about any extension of the DNA database.

A Home Office spokeswoman said the universal checks on children would look at factors including attainment at school, truancy rates, and substance abuse.

A high-level review of the police that will not address the vexed question of force mergers is also planned, as are an extension of "summary justice" measures and tougher community punishments with the creation of specialist new courts. The plan is sprinkled with eye-catching initiatives such as MP3 music players that can be accessed only with the owner's fingerprints, crowd scanners that detect bombs and efficiency league tables for courts.

The crime package, agreed by the cabinet 12 days ago, came without any time-table or costings and some proposals - such as "hybrid prisons" to treat mentally ill offenders - are clearly labelled as "for the long term". In some parts of Whitehall yesterday the plan was described at best as "blue skies thinking" and at worst as "undeliverable". Opposition MPs wasted no time in criticising it as the PM's swansong after "10 years of failure".

But Mr Blair made clear yesterday that the pace of public service reform in criminal justice needed to match that in health and education. Despite some headlines suggesting the crime plan had been designed to cut the record prison population of 80,000, the 105-page strategy paper talks only of "stabilising sentencing" rather than cutting prisoner numbers.

(cont'd on site)

[alkemical]

Ordinary Customers Flagged as Terrorists (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/26/AR2007032602088.html)

Ordinary Customers Flagged as Terrorists

By Ellen Nakashima
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, March 27, 2007; Page D01

Private businesses such as rental and mortgage companies and car dealers are checking the names of customers against a list of suspected terrorists and drug traffickers made publicly available by the Treasury Department, sometimes denying services to ordinary people whose names are similar to those on the list.

The Office of Foreign Asset Control's list of "specially designated nationals" has long been used by banks and other financial institutions to block financial transactions of drug dealers and other criminals. But an executive order issued by President Bush after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks has expanded the list and its consequences in unforeseen ways. Businesses have used it to screen applicants for home and car loans, apartments and even exercise equipment, according to interviews and a report by the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area to be issued today.

[alkemical]

Revolution, flashmobs, and brain chips. A grim vision of the future (http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/story/0,,2053020,00.html)

Richard Norton-Taylor
Monday April 9, 2007
The Guardian

Information chips implanted in the brain. Electromagnetic pulse weapons. The middle classes becoming revolutionary, taking on the role of Marx's proletariat. The population of countries in the Middle East increasing by 132%, while Europe's drops as fertility falls. "Flashmobs" - groups rapidly mobilised by criminal gangs or terrorists groups.
This is the world in 30 years' time envisaged by a Ministry of Defence team responsible for painting a picture of the "future strategic context" likely to face Britain's armed forces. It includes an "analysis of the key risks and shocks". Rear Admiral Chris Parry, head of the MoD's Development, Concepts & Doctrine Centre which drew up the report, describes the assessments as "probability-based, rather than predictive".

The 90-page report comments on widely discussed issues such as the growing economic importance of India and China, the militarisation of space, and even what it calls "declining news quality" with the rise of "internet-enabled, citizen-journalists" and pressure to release stories "at the expense of facts". It includes other, some frightening, some reassuring, potential developments that are not so often discussed.

New weapons

An electromagnetic pulse will probably become operational by 2035 able to destroy all communications systems in a selected area or be used against a "world city" such as an international business service hub. The development of neutron weapons which destroy living organs but not buildings "might make a weapon of choice for extreme ethnic cleansing in an increasingly populated world". The use of unmanned weapons platforms would enable the "application of lethal force without human intervention, raising consequential legal and ethical issues". The "explicit use" of chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear weapons and devices delivered by unmanned vehicles or missiles.

Technology

By 2035, an implantable "information chip" could be wired directly to the brain. A growing pervasiveness of information communications technology will enable states, terrorists or criminals, to mobilise "flashmobs", challenging security forces to match this potential agility coupled with an ability to concentrate forces quickly in a small area.

Marxism

"The middle classes could become a revolutionary class, taking the role envisaged for the proletariat by Marx," says the report. The thesis is based on a growing gap between the middle classes and the super-rich on one hand and an urban under-class threatening social order: "The world's middle classes might unite, using access to knowledge, resources and skills to shape transnational processes in their own class interest". Marxism could also be revived, it says, because of global inequality. An increased trend towards moral relativism and pragmatic values will encourage people to seek the "sanctuary provided by more rigid belief systems, including religious orthodoxy and doctrinaire political ideologies, such as popularism and Marxism".

Pressures leading to social unrest

By 2010 more than 50% of the world's population will be living in urban rather than rural environments, leading to social deprivation and "new instability risks", and the growth of shanty towns. By 2035, that figure will rise to 60%. Migration will increase. Globalisation may lead to levels of international integration that effectively bring inter-state warfare to an end. But it may lead to "inter-communal conflict" - communities with shared interests transcending national boundaries and resorting to the use of violence.

Population and Resources

The global population is likely to grow to 8.5bn in 2035, with less developed countries accounting for 98% of that. Some 87% of people under the age of 25 live in the developing world. Demographic trends, which will exacerbate economic and social tensions, have serious implications for the environment - including the provision of clean water and other resources - and for international relations. The population of sub-Saharan Africa will increase over the period by 81%, and that of Middle Eastern countries by 132%.

The Middle East

The massive population growth will mean the Middle East, and to a lesser extent north Africa, will remain highly unstable, says the report. It singles out Saudi Arabia, the most lucrative market for British arms, with unemployment levels of 20% and a "youth bulge" in a state whose population has risen from 7 million to 27 million since 1980. "The expectations of growing numbers of young people [in the whole region] many of whom will be confronted by the prospect of endemic unemployment ... are unlikely to be met," says the report.

Islamic militancy

Resentment among young people in the face of unrepresentative regimes "will find outlets in political militancy, including radical political Islam whose concept of Umma, the global Islamic community, and resistance to capitalism may lie uneasily in an international system based on nation-states and global market forces", the report warns. The effects of such resentment will be expressed through the migration of youth populations and global communications, encouraging contacts between diaspora communities and their countries of origin.

Tension between the Islamic world and the west will remain, and may increasingly be targeted at China "whose new-found materialism, economic vibrancy, and institutionalised atheism, will be an anathema to orthodox Islam".

Iran

Iran will steadily grow in economic and demographic strength and its energy reserves and geographic location will give it substantial strategic leverage. However, its government could be transformed. "From the middle of the period," says the report, "the country, especially its high proportion of younger people, will want to benefit from increased access to globalisation and diversity, and it may be that Iran progressively, but unevenly, transforms...into a vibrant democracy."

Terrorism

Casualties and the amount of damage inflicted by terrorism will stay low compared to other forms of coercion and conflict. But acts of extreme violence, supported by elements within Islamist states, with media exploitation to maximise the impact of the "theatre of violence" will persist. A "terrorist coalition", the report says, including a wide range of reactionary and revolutionary rejectionists such as ultra-nationalists, religious groupings and even extreme environmentalists, might conduct a global campaign of greater intensity".

Climate change

There is "compelling evidence" to indicate that climate change is occurring and that the atmosphere will continue to warm at an unprecedented rate throughout the 21st century. It could lead to a reduction in north Atlantic salinity by increasing the freshwater runoff from the Arctic. This could affect the natural circulation of the north Atlantic by diminishing the warming effect of ocean currents on western Europe. "The drop in temperature might exceed that of the miniature ice age of the 17th and 18th centuries."

[alkemical]

Fingerprint foreboding (http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2007/04/09/fingerprint_foreboding/)


JAMES CARROLL
Fingerprint foreboding
By James Carroll | April 9, 2007

I WAS JOLTED to read last week that public schools in Taunton are planning to use a fingerprint scan as a way to enable students to pay for lunch. At the cash register, the student will simply tap a finger on an electronic reader, and a pre-stored mathematical formula derived from a fingerprint will bring up the student's account.

Some parents, as well as lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union, raised objections; in some other states, fingerprints-for-lunch have already been banned. The explicit concern is articulated in terms of worries about identity theft, but a more visceral reaction to fingerprints may account for the skepticism.

In my case, that reaction is personal. As a college student nearly half a century ago, I spent summers working for the FBI in Washington. I went each day to what was called the " Ident Building," the mammoth headquarters of the Identification Division, which occupied most of a block in an anonymous corner of Southwest D.C. near the rail yards. In the building's vast open rooms were thousands of file cabinets holding millions of cards, each with ink smudges and classification codes. A swarm of file clerks (of whom, for a time, I was one) buzzed around the drawers like bees around a network of hives.

Biometrics is the science of identification by means of bodily characteristics. In the 19th century, calipers were applied to skulls and other body parts, but such measurements were imprecise and cumbersome. With the 20th century came the science of analyzing the barely perceptible ridges, loops, and spirals of the skin on fingers. Because those patterns in the flesh are unique to each individual, and permanent, they proved to be the perfect aid to the law enforcement project of identifying persons who do not want to be identified.

That was the point of fingerprints, of course. The entire system of collection and classification aimed at criminal prosecution.

Soldiers and sailors were fingerprinted, and so were certain categories of government employees. When I was hired as an FBI summer clerk, I was fingerprinted. Such records could be used to identify accident victims or war dead.

The FBI distinguished between "civil files" and criminal files, but those of us working at "Ident" knew that the enterprise was centrally about the government's campaign to catch bad people and put them away. That is why I remember the day that my own fingers were pressed onto the inkpad and card as one of foreboding.

With my fingerprints in the bureau file, the absolute presumption of innocence to which I was entitled as an American was mitigated. J. Edgar Hoover had a tag on me, and even though I admired him then, I felt the chill of his cold breath on my neck. The ink stain was hard to get off my fingers.

In later years, it became clear, even to those of us who began by admiring him, that J. Edgar Hoover was in pursuit not just of criminals, but of a whole range of people whom he disliked -- "security risks," "subversives," "agitators," "deviants," "black nationalists," "peaceniks." When, a decade after my employment at the FBI, I was arrested at a peace demonstration in Washington, the ritual of being fingerprinted intimidated me more than others.

I knew all about the bureau by then, but the fright was that the bureau knew all about me. My fingerprints were a window into who I was, and my accusers could see into me whether I wanted them to or not.

Imagine if, in addition to fingerprints, J. Edgar Hoover had access to the high-tech biometrics of the iris scan; in addition to wiretaps, the eavesdropping technologies that snatch conversation out of the air; in addition to agent surveillance, the electronic trails of credit cards, cameras on subways, satellite imaging, and EZPasses that register auto traffic through every toll booth.

Privacy, the dictionary says, is the state of being free from unsanctioned intrusion. But that definition seems anachronistic, with ubiquitous intrusion a new fact of life. For security, or mere efficiency, we Americans are sanctioning the end of our right to deny sanction to such invasion. Now, of course, it is not just law enforcers in the mode of J. Edgar Hoover who have the capacity to intrude, but also MasterCard, the credit bureaus, the Google user, the phone company, the e-mail provider, the airport screener -- and the lunch room cashier in the local school. And why shouldn't parents be uneasy?

James Carroll's column appears regularly in the Globe.

[alkemical]

Tim O'Reilly: Web 2.0 Is About Controlling Data (http://www.wired.com/techbiz/people/news/2007/04/timoreilly_0413)

It's not too late to get on the "web 2.0" bandwagon, says publishing magnate Tim O'Reilly, who coined the term. And if you're wondering what it takes to build a web 2.0 startup, O'Reilly has just the conference for you -- the Web 2.0 Expo.

O'Reilly Media and CMP are co-hosting the conference, which runs April 15 to 18 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco.

Organizers expect between 7,000 and 10,000 people to check out the conference's 120 exhibitors and seven educational tracks, covering topics from the elementary (web 2.0 fundamentals) to the complex and critical (web operations). O'Reilly describes it as a "how-to conference for web 2.0 developers."

O'Reilly has been on many bloggers' lips during the past two weeks. The buzz at his recently-concluded ETech conference was about Kathy Sierra's abrupt cancellation of her speaking appearance there. Sierra cited anonymous death threats and harassment on her own blog's Comments section, as well as on two blogs created by Cluetrain author Chris Locke. In the ensuing debate, O'Reilly brokered a meeting between Sierra and Locke, and made a call for a "bloggers' code of conduct." He even proposed badges that bloggers could put on their sites to indicate whether they moderated comments heavily or not at all.

We spoke with O'Reilly this week to find out what's in store at the show, the current state of the much-hyped "web 2.0" terminology and his current thoughts on civility in the blogosphere.

Wired News: Can you tell us what's exciting about web 2.0 and what we can expect from the conference?

Tim O'Reilly: One of the big changes at the heart of web 2.0 is the shift from the creation of software artifacts, which is what the PC revolution was about, to the creation of software services. These are services that ultimately, if they are successful, will require competencies of operation, of scale, and the like.

I remember talking to people about this three or four years ago, and they (wanted to know) how many people need to scale services to the size of Google? Well, there are now hundreds of services as big as Google was back then.

Increasingly, with services like Amazon S3 (Simple Storage Service) and EC2 (Elastic Compute Cloud), we're starting to see the emergence of operations as a platform, as well as an internal competency. Amazon's been a real pioneer there.

WN: Are there any trends among the companies exhibiting at Web 2.0 Expo, the kinds of services and technologies being shown?

O'Reilly: Well, obviously this is a market with a lot of froth in it already. I have to say there are a lot of me-too products and companies. Yet another social network, of the 15th flavor -- that's common in every new technology revolution. There are imitators who have marginal improvements.

One of the companies that's going live on Monday is Spock, which is a people-search engine. It's really, really impressive. It's thinking about whether there are other classes of data to which search hasn't really been applied.

That goes back to a major theme of web 2.0 that people haven't yet tweaked to. It's really about data and who owns and controls, or gives the best access to, a class of data. Amazon is now the definitive source for data about whole sets of products -- fungible consumer products. EBay is the authoritative source for the secondary market of those products. Google is the authority for information about facts, but they're relatively undifferentiated.

Why did Google, for example, recently decide to offer free 411 service? I haven't talked to people at Google, but it's pretty clear to me why. It's because of speech recognition. It has nothing to do with 411 service, it has to do with getting a database of voices, so they don't have to license speech technology from Nuance or someone else. They want their own data stream.

WN: So you think that (control of data) is actually more characteristic of web 2.0 than social networking or Ajax (asynchronous JavaScript and XML) interfaces?

O'Reilly: Absolutely. Anybody who thinks that this is about Ajax is completely missing the boat.

I do think building rich internet applications is an important part of web 2.0. I don't want to dismiss it, because we are able to build richer application platforms today. But it's ultimately about network effects, and where do you build services that get better the more people use them? And it's also about the databases that get created as a result of those network effects.

As far as I'm concerned, web 2.0 is still in it's really early stages, and the reason is because the data isn't all owned yet.

The network-effects play is about how you get increasing returns by everybody using your stuff, which is really what Microsoft did on the PC. Here we see it again, where these are winner-takes-all games. The internet looks like an open platform in the beginning, but once somebody gets a lead, their service gets better fast enough, if they've harnessed all the right levers, until it becomes a real barrier to entry.

Why, despite many attempts, have we seen nobody able to dethrone eBay? Well, it's because there are network effects at work in auctions. You have a critical mass of buyers and sellers. We're seeing that with Google AdWords -- it's just a bigger and better marketplace. There are these tipping points where these services really become monopolistic.

We're still trying to move people toward really understanding what that new world looks like. I don't think a lot of people are there. A lot of people still think, "Oh, it's about social networking. It's about blogging. It's about wikis." I think it's about the data that's created by those mechanisms, and the businesses that that data will make possible.

WN: You've been blogging about civility and your bloggers' code of conduct. Do you expect that will be a topic of discussion at the conference? Or do you think it will change the tone of discussions there?

O'Reilly: Well, you know, people at a conference would not tolerate the kind of conversations that happen in the comment threads on many blogs. If somebody started standing up and shouting obscenities, you'd throw them out. My point is, most bloggers are way too tolerant of abusive behavior on their blogs.

I've come to think the call for a code of conduct was a bit misguided. A lot of sites have their own terms of service that are a lot like what I proposed for the code of conduct. And I was just saying, let's get the best of the breed, let's figure it out, so somebody who wants to have one of these doesn't have to think it all up for themselves.

People have interpreted that as a call for some kind of MPAA ratings system or something. That's not at all what I was proposing. I was proposing a modular set of terms of service, so somebody could say, "I don't want this kind of behavior." Now, a lot of people already do that, so it's really much ado about nothing.

The problem, as I've really wrestled with it, is that right now your options in terms of enforcing civility are pretty binary. You have the ability to delete someone's comments (on your own blog), or to let them stand.

There are some fairly sophisticated moderation systems out there. Of course, Slashdot is full of people who make terribly uncivil comments. But it's possible because they have a good moderation system, where good comments are voted up. You can set your moderation threshold, you can say, "I only want to see the good comments." So you're exposed to a hundred useful comments, and the 900 comments that have generally been considered drivel or that haven't been voted up, you don't even see them. If you want to read them all, though, more power to you.

Most blogging platforms don't have that kind of control. I want to get an attempt together to get some good moderation plugins on all the major blogging platforms, so people have other options than simply deleting.

The whole (code of conduct) was a reaction to Chris Locke's original statement, you know, "I didn't say that so I have no responsibility." And I'm going, "Wait a minute, yeah, you do. You're the manager of a site that was getting progressively nastier, and you let it happen." It really started with a reaction to this idea that a site owner can and should disclaim comments on their blog.

WN: He did take the blog down.

O'Reilly: Yeah, he did, but that's actually a terrible outcome, because now nobody knows what really was said. There's a lot of he said, she said, with a lot of people who were involved saying "Well, it wasn't really so bad, it wasn't really a misogynistic, nasty site, it was just funny." Well, how do we know? We can't see. It's gone.

WN: So would you put an "anything goes" button or badge on your own website?

O'Reilly: No, what I'd really like, and what I'm going to work for, is to get some better moderation mechanisms. One of the things Slashdot says is to focus on moderating up, not moderating down. Promote the good (comments), because they're often really useful, thought-provoking comments and you want those. If we can give people good mechanisms, that's probably actually better than promulgating any one policy.

Comment on this article.

[alkemical]

Homeland Security Developing ‘Hostile Intent’ Technology (http://www.ergoweb.com/news/detail.cfm?id=1717)


Homeland Security Developing ‘Hostile Intent’ Technology

April 13, 2007



The United States Department of Homeland Security announced in April that it is developing human factors technology able to screen people at borders for hostile intent. The tool will help screeners identify people who should not be allowed to enter the country,

The novel program, named “Hostile Intent,” is geared towards detecting and gauging physiological and behavioral indications of deception and bad intentions. These include signs of nervousness, such as body head, perspiration and certain facial movements.

Some 400 million people cross the US border every year, according to the Department, and most of them have no hostile intent whatsoever. Because it is non-invasive, the technology is expected to be able to screen travelers without slowing down traffic or inconveniencing them

“It’s a game-changer,” says Sharla Rausch, division director for human factors at the at the department’s Science and Technology Directorate, which is developing the program. It “would help us get at the unknown threat without inconveniencing the good guy.”

Source: Department of Homeland Security

[alkemical]

Bush asks Congress to loosen surveillance rules (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18100710/)

Bush asks Congress for more intel powers
Administration wants broader power to monitor terror suspects on U.S. soil
The Associated Press
Updated: 11:35 p.m. ET April 13, 2007
WASHINGTON - The Bush administration asked Congress on Friday to allow monitoring of more foreigners in the United States during intelligence investigations.

The plan is among several proposed changes, which have been in the works for more than a year, that go to the heart of a major U.S. surveillance law.

The administration says the changes are intended to help the government deal with national security threats better by updating the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to bring it into line with rapid changes in communications technology.

Civil liberties groups see the government’s effort as a needless power grab.

The proposal would revise the way the government gets warrants from the secret FISA court to investigate suspected terrorists, spies and other apparent national security threats.

Seeking lower burden of proof
The administration wants to be able to monitor foreign nationals on American soil if they are thought to have significant intelligence information, even without known links to a foreign power. Under current law, the government must convince a FISA judge that an individual is an agent of a government, terror group or some other foreign adversary.

The administration also wants new provisions to ease surveillance of people suspected of spreading weapons of mass destruction internationally.

And the administration wants to allow government lawyers to decide whether a FISA court order is needed for electronic eavesdropping based on the target of the monitoring, not the mode of communication or the location where the surveillance is being conducted.

One effect of such a change would be that the National Security Agency would have the authority to monitor foreigners without seeking court approval, even if the surveillance is conducted by tapping phones and e-mail accounts in the United States.

Sneak and peek powers
Most often used by the FBI and the NSA, the 1978 FISA law has been updated several times since it was passed, including in 2001 to allow government access to certain business records.

Among other tools available now, the government can break into homes, hotel rooms and cars to install hidden cameras and listening devices, as well as search drawers, luggage or computer hard drives.

President Bush has been under fire for his program that allows the NSA to monitor international calls and e-mails coming into the United States, when one party in the communication had suspected links to international terror. Bush asked a federal court this year to oversee the operation, known as the terrorist surveillance program.

“This legislation is important to ensure that FISA continues to serve the nation as a means to protect our country from foreign security threats, while also continuing to protect the valued privacy interests and civil liberties of persons located in the United States,” the Justice Department said in a fact sheet released Friday.


Critics say changes ill-conceived
But civil liberties advocates at the American Civil Liberties Union and elsewhere see the changes as a sweeping overhaul that would undermine long-standing protections. Lisa Graves of the Center for National Security Studies said the changes are “poorly conceived” and “not justified,” given a lack of oversight on the government’s current powers.

The Associated Press reported many of the bill’s details this week. Among other changes, the legislation would:

Clarify the standards the FBI and NSA must use to get court orders for basic information about calls and e-mails — such as the number dialed, e-mail address or time and date of the communications. Civil liberties advocates contend the change will make it too easy for the government to access this information.

Triple the life span of a FISA warrant for a non-U.S. citizen from 120 days to one year, allowing the government to monitor much longer without checking in again with a judge. The Justice Department says this would allow the government to focus its resources on cases involving U.S. citizens because it would not have to get as many time-consuming renewals on warrants for cases involving foreigners.

Give telecommunications companies immunity from civil liability for cooperating with any intelligence communications program, such as Bush’s terrorist surveillance program. Pending lawsuits against companies including Verizon and AT&T allege they violated privacy laws by giving phone records to the NSA for the program.

Extend from 72 hours to one week the amount of time the government can conduct surveillance without a court order in emergencies.
© 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

[alkemical]

Bush asks Congress to alter 1978 eavesdropping law (http://www.reuters.com/articlePrint?articleId=USN1321090420070413)

Bush asks Congress to alter 1978 eavesdropping law
Fri Apr 13, 2007 3:53PM EDT
By David Morgan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Bush administration asked Congress on Friday to expand the number of people it can subject to electronic surveillance in the United States.

The request was contained in a proposed bill authored by intelligence and Justice Department officials that also protects companies that cooperate with spy operations.

Legislation submitted a week ahead of a Senate hearing on government surveillance practices calls for the 1978 law that governs eavesdropping operations to be updated to combat the threat from Islamist militants who use computer and wireless technology that did not exist in the 1970s.

It was not clear what kind of reception the proposal would receive in Congress, where Democrats took over in January for the first time since 1994.

But the move was likely to reinvigorate a congressional debate over the effectiveness of the generation-old Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Several efforts to update the law, designed to oversee electronic eavesdropping against foreign agents operating inside the United States, failed in Congress last year.

"The Justice Department is selling this new bill as a better way to protect our privacy and civil liberties. Lawmakers should reject such false advertising," said Caroline Fredrickson of the American Civil Liberties Union.

FISA, which requires the government to get court warrants for surveillance, was at the center of political controversy over President George W. Bush's domestic spying program, which allowed the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on the international telephone calls and e-mails of U.S. citizens without warrants.

The program was suspended for a review by a secret federal court that grants FISA warrants.

TWO NEW CATEGORIES

Senior administration officials, who spoke to reporters only on condition of anonymity, said they proposed to add two new categories of non-U.S. persons to FISA's definition for foreign agents who can be targeted for surveillance.

Under current law, a U.S. person is either a U.S. citizen or a foreign national with permanent residence status.

"It adds a new category of individuals to the non-U.S. person-agent-of-a-foreign-power definition to include people who we believe have significant foreign intelligence information but where the relationship between that person and the foreign power is unclear," said one official.

Foreign powers can include the governments of other countries as well as militant groups including al Qaeda.

A second new category of foreign agents would be non-U.S. persons involved in a deliberate attempt to proliferate weapons of mass destruction.

The bill extends the life of court warrants that authorize eavesdropping on non-U.S. persons from 120 days to one year.

It also shields companies against legal liabilities if they participate in "lawful" eavesdropping activities.

Major telecommunications companies accused of participating in the NSA spying program have faced federal lawsuits charging involvement in illegal espionage.

Another main thrust of the bill is to drop FISA provisions by dropping references to older technology and refocusing the instead law on categories of persons who can be targeted.

[alkemical]

FBI says, “No hard evidence connecting Bin Laden to 9/11” (http://www.teamliberty.net/id267.html)


June 6, 2006 – This past weekend, a thought provoking e-mail circulated through Internet news groups, and was sent to the Muckraker Report by Mr. Paul V. Sheridan (Winner of the 2005 Civil Justice Foundation Award), bringing attention to the FBI’s Most Wanted Terrorist web page for Usama Bin Laden.[1] (See bottom of this web page for Most Wanted page) In the e-mail, the question is asked, “Why doesn’t Usama Bin Laden’s Most Wanted poster make any direct connection with the events of September 11, 2001?” The FBI says on its Bin Laden web page that Usama Bin Laden is wanted in connection with the August 7, 1998 bombings of the United States Embassies in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and Nairobi, Kenya. According to the FBI, these attacks killed over 200 people. The FBI concludes its reason for “wanting” Bin Laden by saying, “In addition, Bin Laden is a suspect in other terrorists attacks throughout the world.”



On June 5, 2006, the Muckraker Report contacted the FBI Headquarters, (202) 324-3000, to learn why Bin Laden’s Most Wanted poster did not indicate that Usama was also wanted in connection with 9/11. The Muckraker Report spoke with Rex Tomb, Chief of Investigative Publicity for the FBI. When asked why there is no mention of 9/11 on Bin Laden’s Most Wanted web page, Tomb said, “The reason why 9/11 is not mentioned on Usama Bin Laden’s Most Wanted page is because the FBI has no hard evidence connecting Bin Laden to 9/11.”



Surprised by the ease in which this FBI spokesman made such an astonishing statement, I asked, “How this was possible?” Tomb continued, “Bin Laden has not been formally charged in connection to 9/11.” I asked, “How does that work?” Tomb continued, “The FBI gathers evidence. Once evidence is gathered, it is turned over to the Department of Justice. The Department of Justice than decides whether it has enough evidence to present to a federal grand jury. In the case of the 1998 United States Embassies being bombed, Bin Laden has been formally indicted and charged by a grand jury. He has not been formally indicted and charged in connection with 9/11 because the FBI has no hard evidence connected Bin Laden to 9/11.”



It shouldn’t take long before the full meaning of these FBI statements start to prick your brain and raise your blood pressure. If you think the way I think, in quick order you will be wrestling with a barrage of very powerful questions that must be answered. First and foremost, if the U.S. government does not have enough hard evidence connecting Bin Laden to 9/11, how is it possible that it had enough evidence to invade Afghanistan to “smoke him out of his cave?” The federal government claims to have invaded Afghanistan to “root out” Bin Laden and the Taliban. Through the talking heads in the mainstream media, the Bush Administration told the American people that Usama Bin Laden was Public Enemy Number One and responsible for the deaths of nearly 3000 people on September 11, 2001. Yet nearly five years later, the FBI says that it has no hard evidence connecting Bin Laden to 9/11.



Next is the Bin Laden “confession” video that was released by the U.S. government on December 13, 2001. Most Americans remember this video. It was the video showing Bin Laden with a few of his comrades recounting with delight the September 11 terrorist attacks against the United States. The Department of Defense issued a press release to accompany this video in which Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld said, “There was no doubt of bin Laden’s responsibility for the September 11 attacks before the tape was discovered.”[2] What Rumsfeld implied by his statement was that Bin Laden was the known mastermind behind 9/11 even before the “confession video” and that the video simply served to confirm what the U.S. government already knew; that Bin Laden was responsible for the 9/11 attacks.



In a BBC News article[3] reporting on the “9/11 confession video” release, President Bush is said to have been hesitant to release the tape because he knew it would be a vivid reminder to many people of their loss. But, he also knew it would be “a devastating declaration” of Bin Laden’s guilt. “Were going to get him,” said President Bush. “Dead or alive, it doesn’t matter to me.”



In a CNN article[4] regarding the Bin Laden tape, then New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani said that “the tape removes any doubt that the U.S. military campaign targeting bin Laden and his associates is more than justified.” Senator Richard Shelby, R-Alabama, the vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee said, “The tape’s release is central to informing people in the outside world who don’t believe bin Laden was involved in the September 11 attacks.” Shelby went on to say “I don’t know how they can be in denial after they see this tape.” Well Senator Shelby, apparently the Federal Bureau of Investigation isn’t convinced by the taped confession, so why are you?



The Muckraker Report attempted to secure a reference to the U.S. government authenticating the Bin Laden “confession video”, to no avail. However, it is conclusive that the Bush Administration and U.S. Congress, along with the dead stream media, played the video as if it was authentic. So why doesn’t the FBI view the “confession video” as hard evidence? After all, if the FBI is investigating a crime such as drug trafficking, and it discovers a video of members of a drug cartel openly talking about a successful distribution operation in the United States, that video would be presented to a federal grand jury. The identified participants of the video would be indicted, and if captured, the video alone would serve as sufficient evidence to net a conviction in a federal court. So why is the Bin Laden “confession video” not carrying the same weight with the FBI?



Remember, on June 5, 2006, FBI spokesman, Chief of Investigative Publicity Rex Tomb said, “The FBI has no hard evidence connecting Usama Bin Laden to 9/11.” This should be headline news worldwide. The challenge to the reader is to find out why it is not. Why has the U.S. media blindly read the government-provided 9/11 scripts, rather than investigate without passion, prejudice, or bias, the events of September 11, 2001? Why has the U.S. media blacklisted any guest that might speak of a government sponsored 9/11 cover-up, rather than seeking out those people who have something to say about 9/11 that is contrary to the government’s account? And on those few rare occasions when a 9/11 dissenter has made it upon the airways, why has the mainstream media ridiculed the guest as a conspiracy nut, rather than listen to the evidence that clearly raises valid questions about the government’s 9/11 account? Why is the Big Media Conglomeration blindly content with the government’s 9/11 story when so much verifiable information to the contrary is available with a few clicks of a computer mouse?



Who is it that is controlling the media message, and how is it that the U.S. media has indicted Usama Bin Laden for the events of September 11, 2001, but the U.S. government has not? How is it that the FBI has no “hard evidence” connecting Usama Bin Laden to the events of September 11, 2001, while the U.S. media has played the Bin Laden - 9/11 connection story for five years now as if it has conclusive evidence that Bin Laden is responsible for the collapse of the twin towers, the Pentagon attack, and the demise of United Flight 93?



…No hard evidence connecting Usama Bin Laden to 9/11… Think about it.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[1] Federal Bureau of Investigation, Most Wanted Terrorists, Usama Bin Laden, http://www.fbi.gov/wanted/terrorists/terbinladen.htm, [Accessed May 31, 2006]

[2] United States Department of Defense, News Release, U.S. Releases Videotape of Osama bin Laden, December 13, 2001, http://www.defenselink.mil/releases/2001/b12132001_bt630-01.html, [Accessed June 5, 2006]

[3] BBC News, Bin Laden video angers New Yorkers, December 14, 2001, Peter Gould, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/1711874.stm, [Accessed June 5, 2006]

[4] CNN, Bin Laden on tape: Attacks ‘benefited Islam greatly”, December 14, 2001, http://archives.cnn.com/2001/US/12/13/ret.bin.laden.videotape, [Accessed June 5, 2006]

[alkemical]

Kansas: Big Rigs Equipped with Ticket Cameras (http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/17/1702.asp)

Federal gas tax money used to hide Kansas state troopers in big rig trucks so they can issue tickets to motorists.


The Kansas Highway Patrol last week began spying on motorists from privately owned big rig trucks. As part of a new, federally funded effort, a state trooper sits in the passenger seat of each truck and operates a set of five video cameras and a radar gun to identify motorists to ticket. The trooper will then contact a patrol car hidden nearby to issue the citation. The program is expected to generate hundreds of thousands of dollars in ticket revenue over the next six weeks.

"I want to thank industry and governmental partners that have agreed to work with the Patrol on this important program," Kansas Highway Patrol Superintendent William R. Seck said in a statement.

Yellow Transportation, a Wichita company, provided trucks for the most recent operation at no cost to the state. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, which is funding the Kansas ticketing program, this month rewarded the cooperative company with its "highest safety rating" -- a valuable endorsement of Yellow's practices. In 2005, the federal agency similarly spent $600,000 in federal gas tax money to fund a ticketing program in Washington state.

[alkemical]

I had to shorten this - but the article has much more detail/examples.

Fascist America, in 10 easy steps (http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,2064157,00.html)

Fascist America, in 10 easy steps


From Hitler to Pinochet and beyond, history shows there are certain steps that any would-be dictator must take to destroy constitutional freedoms. And, argues Naomi Wolf, George Bush and his administration seem to be taking them all

Tuesday April 24, 2007
The Guardian


Last autumn, there was a military coup in Thailand. The leaders of the coup took a number of steps, rather systematically, as if they had a shopping list. In a sense, they did. Within a matter of days, democracy had been closed down: the coup leaders declared martial law, sent armed soldiers into residential areas, took over radio and TV stations, issued restrictions on the press, tightened some limits on travel, and took certain activists into custody.



1 Invoke a terrifying internal and external enemy

2 Create a gulag

3 Develop a thug caste

4 Set up an internal surveillance system

5 Harass citizens' groups

6 Engage in arbitrary detention and release

7 Target key individuals

8 Control the press

9 Dissent equals treason

10 Suspend the rule of law

[alkemical]

http://amconmag.com/2007/2007_04_23/article4.html

April 23, 2007 Issue
Copyright © 2007 The American Conservative

Working for the Clampdown

What might the president do with his new power to declare martial law?

by James Bovard

How many pipe bombs might it take to end American democracy? Far fewer than it would have taken a year ago.

The Defense Authorization Act of 2006, passed on Sept. 30, empowers President George W. Bush to impose martial law in the event of a terrorist “incident,” if he or other federal officials perceive a shortfall of “public order,” or even in response to antiwar protests that get unruly as a result of government provocations.

The media and most of Capitol Hill ignored or cheered on this grant of nearly boundless power. But now that the president’s arsenal of authority is swollen and consecrated, a few voices of complaint are being heard. Even the New York Times recently condemned the new law for “making martial law easier.”

It only took a few paragraphs in a $500 billion, 591-page bill to raze one of the most important limits on federal power. Congress passed the Insurrection Act in 1807 to severely restrict the president’s ability to deploy the military within the United States. The Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 tightened these restrictions, imposing a two-year prison sentence on anyone who used the military within the U.S. without the express permission of Congress. But there is a loophole: Posse Comitatus is waived if the president invokes the Insurrection Act.

Section 1076 of the John Warner National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2007 changed the name of the key provision in the statute book from “Insurrection Act” to “Enforcement of the Laws to Restore Public Order Act.” The Insurrection Act of 1807 stated that the president could deploy troops within the United States only “to suppress, in a State, any insurrection, domestic violence, unlawful combination, or conspiracy.” The new law expands the list to include “natural disaster, epidemic, or other serious public health emergency, terrorist attack or incident, or other condition”—and such “condition” is not defined or limited.

These new pretexts are even more expansive than they appear. FEMA proclaims the equivalent of a natural disaster when bad snowstorms occur, and Congress routinely proclaims a natural disaster (and awards more farm subsidies) when there is a shortfall of rain in states with upcoming elections. A terrorist “incident” could be something as stupid as the flashing toys scattered around Boston last fall.

The new law also empowers the president to commandeer the National Guard of one state to send to another state for up to 365 days. Bush could send the Alabama National Guard to suppress antiwar protests in Boston. Or the next president could send the New York National Guard to disarm the residents of Mississippi if they resisted a federal law that prohibited private ownership of semiautomatic weapons. Governors’ control of the National Guard can be trumped with a simple presidential declaration.

The story of how Section 1076 became law vivifies how expanding government power is almost always the correct answer in Washington. Some people have claimed the provision was slipped into the bill in the middle of the night. In reality, the administration clearly signaled its intent and almost no one in the media or Congress tried to stop it.

The Katrina debacle seems to have drowned Washington’s resistance to military rule. Bush declared, “I want there to be a robust discussion about the best way for the federal government, in certain extreme circumstances, to be able to rally assets for the good of the people.” His initial proposal generated a smattering of criticism and no groundswell of support. There was no “robust discussion.” On Aug. 29, 2006, the administration upped the ante, labeling the breached levees “the equivalent of a weapon of mass effect being used on the city of New Orleans.” Nobody ever defined a “weapon of mass effect,” but the term wasn’t challenged.

Section 1076 was supported by both conservatives and liberals. Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), the ranking Democratic member on the Senate Armed Services Committee, co-wrote the provision along with committee chairman Sen. John Warner (R-Va.). Sen. Ted Kennedy openly endorsed it, and Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.), then-chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, was an avid proponent.

Every governor in the country opposed the changes, and the National Governors Association repeatedly and loudly objected. Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), the ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, warned on Sept. 19 that “we certainly do not need to make it easier for Presidents to declare martial law,” but his alarm got no response. Ten days later, he commented in the Congressional Record: “Using the military for law enforcement goes against one of the founding tenets of our democracy.” Leahy further condemned the process, declaring that it “was just slipped in the defense bill as a rider with little study. Other congressional committees with jurisdiction over these matters had no chance to comment, let alone hold hearings on, these proposals.”

Congressional Quarterly’s Jeff Stein wrote an excellent article in December on how the provision became law with minimal examination or controversy. A Republican Senate aide blamed the governors for failing to raise more fuss: “My understanding is that they sent form letters to offices. If they really want a piece of legislation considered they should have called offices and pushed the matter. No office can handle the amount of form letters that come in each day.”

Thus, the Senate was not guilty by reason of form letters. Plus, the issue was not on the front page of the Washington Post within the 48 hours before the Senate voted on it. Surely no reasonable person can expect senators to know what they were doing when they voted 100 to 0 in favor of the bill? In reality, they were too busy to notice the latest coffin nails they hammered into the Constitution.

This expansion of presidential prerogative illustrates how every federal failure redounds to the benefit of leviathan. FEMA was greatly expanded during the Clinton years for crises like the New Orleans flood. It, along with local and state agencies, floundered. Yet the federal belly flop on the Gulf Coast somehow anointed the president to send in troops where he sees fit.

“Martial law” is a euphemism for military dictatorship. When foreign democracies are overthrown and a junta establishes martial law, Americans usually recognize that a fundamental change has occurred. Perhaps some conservatives believe that the only change when martial law is declared is that people are no longer read their Miranda rights when they are locked away. “Martial law” means obey soldiers’ commands or be shot. The abuses of military rule in southern states during Reconstruction were legendary, but they have been swept under the historical rug.

Section 1076 is Enabling Act-type legislation—something that purports to preserve law-and-order while formally empowering the president to rule by decree. The Bush team is rarely remiss in stretching power beyond reasonable bounds. Bush talks as if any constraint on his war-making prerogative or budget is “aiding and abetting the enemy.” Can such a man be trusted to reasonably define insurrection or disorder? Can Hillary Clinton?

Bush can commandeer a state’s National Guard any time he declares a “state has refused to enforce applicable laws.” Does this refer to the laws as they are commonly understood—or the laws after Bush fixes them with a signing statement?

Some will consider concern about Bush or future presidents exploiting martial law to be alarmist. This is the same reflex many people have had to each administration proposal or power grab from the Patriot Act in October 2001 to the president’s enemy-combatant decree in November 2001 to the setting up the Guantanamo prison in early 2002 to the doctrine of preemptive war. The administration has perennially denied that its new powers pose any threat even after the evidence of abuses—illegal wiretapping, torture, a global network of secret prisons, Iraq in ruins—becomes overwhelming. If the administration does not hesitate to trample the First Amendment with “free speech zones,” why expect it to be diffident about powers that could stifle protests en masse?

On Feb. 24, the White House conducted a highly publicized drill to test responses to IEDs going off simultaneously in ten American cities. The White House has not disclosed the details of how the feds will respond, but it would be out of character for this president to let new powers he sought to gather dust. There is nothing more to prevent a president from declaring martial law on a pretext than there is to prevent him from launching a war on the basis of manufactured intelligence. And when the lies become exposed years later, it could be far too late to resurrect lost liberties.

Senators Leahy and Kit Bond (R-Mo.) are sponsoring a bill to repeal the changes, but it is not setting the woods on fire on Capitol Hill. Leahy urged his colleagues to consider the Section 1076 fix, declaring, “It is difficult to see how any Senator could disagree with the advisability of having a more transparent and thoughtful approach to this sensitive issue.”

He deserves credit for fighting hard on this issue, but there is little reason to expect most members of Congress to give it a second look. The Section 1076 debacle exemplifies how the Washington establishment pretends that new power will not be abused, regardless of how much existing power has been mishandled. Why worry about martial law when there is pork to be harvested and photo ops to attend? It is still unfashionable in Washington to worry about the danger of the open barn door until after the horse is two miles down the road.

_____________________________________

James Bovard is the author of Attention Deficit Democracy and eight other books.

April 23, 2007 Issue

[alkemical]

NSA Announces Plans for Data Center in San Antonio (http://cryptome.org/nsa-sa-eyeball.htm)

27 April 2007. Add April 18, 2007, news report and birdseye of site of NSA training facility.

http://www.nsa.gov/releases/data_center.cfm

NSA PRESS RELEASE
19 April 2007
For further information, contact:
NSA Public and Media Affairs, 301-688-6524

NSA Announces Plans for Data Center in San Antonio

The National Security Agency/Central Security Service (NSA/CSS) has identified a facility in San Antonio, Tex., as the site of a data center. Determination for the site was made after a comprehensive evaluation of potential locations nationwide, using input from government organizations, such as the Army Corps of Engineers, and commercial data center plans.

NSA has also engaged other government agencies to pursue the suggestion that Intelligence Community organizations collaborate to determine the potential for shared data center sites.

For more information about the NSA/CSS and its national security mission, visit the website, www.nsa.gov.

19 April 2005

http://www.nsa.gov/careers/students_6.cfm

[One of thirty listings.]
Career Fair
NSA Career Expo
San Antonio, TX
May, 4 2005

Please bring a resume and unofficial transcript.

Mariott San Antonio NW, Sam Houston Ballroom 11 am - 6 pm

16 April 2005. One of the Eyeball series.

See nearby NSA Medina Regional SIGINT Operations Center:

http://eyeball-series.org/mrsoc-eyeball.htm


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/howard/bal-md.ho.ar.nsa16apr16,1,2696420.story?coll=bal-local-howard&ctrack=1&cset=true

National Security Agency leases Texas plant for expansion project
Plan calls for adding 6,000 employees by 2008

By William Wan and Melissa Harris

Sun Staff

Originally published April 16, 2005

Making room for a wave of new hires, the National Security Agency has leased a former Sony computer chip plant in San Antonio from a Maryland real estate company, the agency said yesterday. Some Maryland employees will be affected by the expansion in Texas, the NSA said, because a core group of experienced analysts at the agency's Fort Meade headquarters will be transferred to train the new ones in San Antonio. Employees will not be moved over their objections or laid off as a result, officials says.

Like the CIA, FBI and the nation's other intelligence agencies, the NSA -- one of Maryland's largest employers -- has been developing plans to grow and transform since the Sept. 11 attacks and the subsequent national focus on global terrorism. Helped in part by recent funding increases from Congress, the expansion in San Antonio is part of the agency's four-year plan to add 6,000 new employees, many of them language and intelligence analysts, the NSA said. The agency's expansion plans calls for adding 1,500 employees every year starting from last year until 2008. The agency, which employs more than 30,000 people worldwide, said it is planning a career fair in San Antonio on May 4.

For Corporate Office Properties Trust -- the Maryland real estate investment company that bought the former Sony building and is adapting it to the agency -- the deal with NSA in San Antonio marks the beginning of its own plans for expansion. "It's quite an accomplishment," said the company's president and CEO, Randall Griffin. "It's the beginning of our multi-city, multilocational expansion strategy." The Columbia-based company has long provided office space for the U.S. government. Its holdings include a site next to Fort Meade called the National Business Park, which is packed with NSA contractors. "We have become increasingly reliant on intelligence and defense tenants, particularly due to the increased activity in those sectors following the events of September 11, 2001," the company noted in its annual disclosure to securities regulators.

Officially, the real estate investment company leased the San Antonio site to the Army Corps of Engineers, which handles such real estate deals for the U.S. government's intelligence community. Corporate Office Properties Trust has 30 other leases with the corps. The company bought the San Antonio site for $30.5 million two weeks ago. The former Sony plant consists of two connected buildings with office and research and development space totaling 470,000 square feet.

http://www.mysanantonio.com/business/stories/MYSA041505.1A.nsa_jobs.1db5ca48c.html

Spy agency jobs to flow into S.A.
Web Posted: 04/15/2005 12:00 AM CDT

L.A. Lorek

Express-News Business Writer

[Excerpts]

The National Security Agency, the nation's cryptology branch, has leased the former Sony chip plant in Northwestern Bexar County and plans to hire at least 1,500 employees, NSA officials said Thursday. Even more jobs could be added as the site develops in several phases, according to the NSA. Nationwide, the NSA is hiring up to 4,500 employees through 2008 and some of those employees will be located here, according to an e-mail message from Ellen Cioccio, an NSA spokeswoman. The NSA already has about 2,000 people at Lackland AFB's Medina Annex. In addition, a group of experienced analysts will transfer from NSA's Fort Meade, Md., headquarters to San Antonio. They will be here to train the military and new civilian employees, Cioccio said.

The San Antonio NSA office includes personnel from the Army, Marine Corps., Navy, Air Force and the civilian Defense Department. "NSA is expanding its presence in San Antonio as part of our transformation efforts and as a result of the lessons learned from our global war on terrorism experiences," according to Cioccio. San Antonio beat out sites in Georgia and Hawaii for the NSA expansion project. San Antonio was chosen because the NSA already has a large, growing presence here.

The new NSA site, at Loop 410 and Military Drive, consists of two connected buildings that contain office and research and development space totaling about 475,000 square feet. Those buildings could be expanded by several thousand more square feet. In addition, Office Properties Trust plans to buy 43 more acres around the 50-acre Sony Campus. The campus has the ability to accommodate three more buildings and its developers eventually expect the site to exceed 1 million square feet, making it the city's second largest office park after USAA's headquarters on the North Side. The developers need to do some remodeling to the site to accommodate the NSA operations, which are expected to begin moving in this fall.

Already, San Antonio has a strong presence of cyber security operations and research with existing NSA operations and the U.S. Air Force Intelligence Agency at Lackland, nicknamed Security Hill. The University of Texas at San Antonio also is one of 59 universities in the nation recognized by the NSA, which designated it a center for academic excellence in information assurance education. With its growing expertise, San Antonio has developed a reputation nationwide as a top-notch information security city, said U.S. Rep. Charlie Gonzalez. And since 9-11 and Gulf War II, the U.S. government has been beefing up its intelligence agencies and particularly its operations here, he said.

The Texas Congressional delegation received a briefing on the NSA expansion in San Antonio on Thursday. The project has been kept top secret because of its mission. "It's a sophisticated operation in every way," Gonzalez said. "This is a great opportunity for individuals in San Antonio." The site will be a major intelligence campus of the NSA and one of the largest campuses outside of Fort Meade, where the NSA has between 20,000 and 30,000 employees and operates like a small city. The NSA must expand outside of Washington because they've run out of room at their current site, Bamford said. The San Antonio site will also help diversify the agency and not make them as vulnerable in the event of an attack, he said. On May 4, the NSA will have a career fair at the Omni Hotel in San Antonio. The agency is looking to hire intelligence analysts, language experts, computer scientists, mathematicians, signals analysts, accountants, financial analysts, investigators and police officers.

http://www.bizjournals.com/sanantonio/stories/2005/03/28/daily30.html

Sony Electronics campus sold for $30.5 million
Corporate Office Properties Trust has purchased Sony Electronics Inc.'s 470,000-square-foot office complex in Northwest San Antonio.

Columbia, Md.-based Corporate Office Properties Trust (NYSE: OFC) bought the complex for $30.5 million. The real estate firm also placed 27 acres of adjoining land under contract. The firm plans to develop additional office buildings for tenants as demand dictates. The Sony complex -- which includes two buildings previously used as office and research and development space -- is located at Loop 410 and Military Drive. Sony Electronics formerly occupied the space to produce silicon wafers, a basic component for manufacturing microchips. However, Sony ceased operations at the plant in 2003 and put the complex up for sale. Sony Electronics, located in San Diego, is a unit of Sony Corp. of America, the U.S. subsidiary of the Japanese electronics giant.

Rand Griffin, president and chief operating officer of Corporate Office Properties Trust, says the office complex will be leased to one of company's top 20 tenants. Griffin declined to reveal the identity of the company that is leasing the property. The real estate trust leases space in its facilities primarily to government and corporate clients in the intelligence and defense sectors, Griffin adds. It is one of the leading owners of office properties in the Washington, D.C., area.

Some of the trust's largest real estate tenants include the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; the National Security Agency; McLean, Va.-based Booz Allen Hamilton; Los Angeles-based Northrop Grumman Corp. (NYSE: NOC); and El Segundo, Calif.-based Computer Sciences Corp. (NYSE: CSC). Corporate Office Properties Trust is a real estate investment trust that owns, manages, leases, acquires and develops suburban office properties. The company owns 147 office properties totaling 12.5 million square feet of leasable space.

© 2005 American City Business Journals Inc.

[alkemical]

Italy rocked by satanic, drug-induced sexual abuse in kindergarten (http://www.maltastar.com/pages/msfullart.asp?an=11655)

Six persons were arrested in Rome on Wednesday accused of sexually abusing 15 children from the age of three to the age of six at the nursery school “Olga Rovere” of Rignano Flaminio, in the vicinities of Rome.

They are expected to be subjected to intense interrogations on Friday. The accused persons were arrested and passed their first night in isolation in a jail in Rebibbia, close to Rome.

All six were arrested and accused of a number of offences which included the abduction of minors, sexual violence within a group, sexual violence on minors under the age of 10 and obscene actions in public places.

Two teachers, both grandmothers, were reported to have been in service at the school for decades and one was close to retirement.

Italian Police also arrested a female caretaker at the school, a young Sri Lankan male and the husband of one of the teachers, who formerly worked as a cameraman at Italy's state broadcaster RAI.


Police said the children were taken to an apartment near the school owned by one of the teachers where they were alledgedly made to perform sexual acts with the Sri Lankan suspect, while the cameraman filmed the ordeal.

Children who protested or resisted were given sleeping pills, tranquilisers or other types of drugs.

“They told us that they were only playing, they made punctures on our cheeks,” said one of the children involved.

Some victims spoke of esoteric and satanic rituals, where adults forced them to drink human blood, exited from wounds that the same persons caused.

The pupils described the intimate parts of the body of the arrested persons and mentioned also piercing and tattoos, which a child at such a tender age wouldn’t know, if he or she has not seen them before.

The little victims described the dreadful scenes saying: “In the villa where they took us, a man cut his arm and coerced us to drink his own blood which he poured in a glass, with other substances. Then they made us do a series of strange games, sort of performances with masked adults and massages to female teachers with oil”.

The parents were reportedly alarmed by signs of bruising and red swelling around their children's genital areas, as well as by the dazed and confused state in which some of them returned home from school.

The city, Rignano Flaminio, is dismayed. People cannot believe that teachers and other esteemed persons could have done such repulsive crimes.

“It’s a nightmare” Interior Minister Giuliano Amato said, remarking the umpteenth paedophilia case in Rignano Flaminio.

“These are very serious episodes” he added, emphasising that actually these things are not so much diffused in Italian schools.

Amato admitted that the challenge against paedophilia is “a difficult fight” and revealed that the Interior Ministry “was informed” of the preliminary enquires carried out. “We were anxiously following the case at the Ministry” he added, “because we know what it means for Italian families who have children at school”.

[alkemical]

Grandmothers arrested over satanic sex abuse at school (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article1706340.ece)

Three women teachers were among six people arrested yesterday accused of sedating and sexually abusing children as young as 3 at a school near Rome.

The teachers — two of whom are grandmothers who had taught at the school and at Sunday school for decades — are said to have part in the repeated abuse of 15 children aged 3 and 5 for a year, filming them in sexual acts with satanic overtones at the teachers’ homes and in a wood.

The others arrested were a female caretaker, a former producer of children’s programmes for the state television station RAI, and a local petrol pump attendant. The television producer is married to one of the arrested teachers.

The alleged abuse — in the town of Rignano Flaminio, 25 miles (40km) north of Rome — came to light when some of the children began describing their “games” to their parents. They drew pictures of a “man in black” who wore a hood and drank his own blood, and said they had played a game in which “a wolf chases a squirrel and eats it”.

They were warned that if they told their parents about the “games”, they would be “taken away from their mothers by devils”. If the truth were to come out and they were asked who had taught them to perform sexual acts, they were to say “my father”.

The parents also reported bruising and swelling around their children’s genital areas and that they had returned home from school in a confused state. Police say that the children were given tranquillisers and told they were sweets.

The six face charges including kidnapping, indecently assaulting minors, obscene acts and group sexual assault. Police had to protect the teachers from angry parents as they were taken away, with one shouting: “May you rot in jail for ever.”

Ottavio Coletta, the Mayor of Rignano Flaminio, said that the town of 8,000 people was enveloped in “a poisonous climate of hatred and vendetta”, and Father Erri Rocchi, the parish priest, said he still believed the teachers were the victims of “malicious tongues”. He said that the women were church-goers and taught at Sunday school.

Pasqualina Pellegrino, a former teacher at the school, also said she could swear on the innocence of the teachers and the caretaker. “I simply do not believe they could have done this,” she said.

Some parents, however, complained that the mayor and the school authorities had initially failed to take their suspicions seriously, and the school had not suspended the teachers even after the inquiry began ten months ago. “They accused us of trying to ruin the lives of respectable people,” one said.

[alkemical]

Jews and Freemasons controlled war on Iraq, says No 10 adviser (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/09/12/nthom12.xml)


By Toby Helm
Last Updated: 12:30am BST 12/09/2005

Tony Blair decided to wage war on Iraq after coming under the influence of a "sinister" group of Jews and Freemasons, a Muslim barrister who advises the Prime Minister has claimed.

Ahmad Thomson, from the Association of Muslim Lawyers, said Mr Blair was the latest in a long line of politicians to have been influenced by the group which saw the attack on Saddam Hussein as a way to control the Middle East.

A Government spokesman confirmed last night that ministers and officials consulted Mr Thomson on issues concerning Muslims but refused to be drawn on his views. "We talk to a lot of people, including many whose views we do not necessarily agree with," she said.
advertisement

Mr Thomson said: "Pressure was put on Tony Blair before the invasion. The way it works is that pressure is put on people to arrive at certain decisions. It is part of the Zionist plan and it is shaping events."

Mr Thomson wrote a book in 1994 in which he said Freemasons and Jews controlled the governments of Europe and America and described the claim that six million Jews died in the Holocaust as a "big lie". In The Next World Order, Mr Thomson, a Muslim convert who was born Martin Thomson in Rhodesia, wrote: "When the majority of people in a predominantly Christian society cease to worship God, the result is fascism.

"When the people in a predominantly Jewish society cease to worship God, the result is either communism or capitalism. A predominantly Christian society is concerned primarily with establishing a political ideology, whilst a predominantly Jewish society is concerned primarily with establishing an economic system."

This, he suggested, led to the rise of Adolf Hitler. Mr Thomson, who was called to the bar in 1979, wrote: "The fascism of Hitler was the Christian element in the increasingly "Jewish" environment in which he and his followers found themselves."

He also wrote that the Jews have no right to live in "the Holy Land" because they are not a pure race and therefore not the true biblical Israelites and that Saddam was used as an excuse for US troops - "including thousands of Jews" - to occupy Saudi Arabia.

A Government source said: "It is by talking to people with varying views that we find out what the range of opinions is. It doesn't mean we agree with what they are saying."

[alkemical]

Pigs in China are Dying from Hemmorhagic Disease (http://www.godlikeproductions.com/bbs/message.php?messageid=382697&mpage=1&showdate=5/8/07&forum=1)

May 7, 2007
Concerns raised on China's global health disclosures

HONG KONG: The international and Hong Kong authorities said Monday that they had received little information from mainland Chinese officials about a mysterious ailment killing pigs in southeastern China or about Chinese wheat gluten contaminated with plastic scrap, raising questions again about whether Beijing is willing to share data on global health issues.

The Chinese government, and particularly the government of Guangdong Province, next to Hong Kong, suffered heavy criticism in 2003 after concealing the SARS virus for the first four months after it first emerged in Foshan, 150 kilometers, or 95 miles, northwest of Hong Kong. After SARS spread to Hong Kong and around the world, top Chinese officials promised to improve disclosure.

But officials in Hong Kong as well as at the World Health Organization and the Food and Agriculture Organization said Monday that they had received practically no information about the latest pig deaths and limited details about wheat gluten contamination.

Because pigs can catch many of the same diseases as people, notably bird flu, the WHO and the Food and Agriculture Organization maintain global networks to track and investigate unexplained patterns of pig deaths. State-controlled media in China have carried a few reports on the wheat gluten problem but almost nothing on the pig deaths.

A man answering the phones at the city government of Gaoyao, located 230 kilometers to the northwest of Hong Kong, confirmed late Monday afternoon that pigs were dying there. The man declined to give his name.

Hong Kong media were full of lurid accounts Monday of pigs staggering around with blood pouring from their bodies in Gaoyao and neighboring Yunfu, both in Guangdong Province.

Apple, a daily newspaper here, said that up to 80 percent of the pigs had died in the area, that peasants were engaged in panic selling of ailing animals at deep discounts and that pig carcasses were floating down the river.

Dr. Kwok Ka-ki, the medical community's representative in Hong Kong's Legislative Council, said that the Chinese government needed to share information fully about the pig deaths, in particular with the Chinese public as well as with Hong Kong, which Britain returned to China in 1997.

"They definitely need to tell the public but also people in the city as to the extent of the outbreak, how is the disease being controlled and the impact on public health," he said. "It would help a lot to relieve the worry, and it would help the rest of China to fight the disease."

There have been no reports of people becoming ill from the disease. But the SARS experience has left Hong Kong with lasting jitters about mysterious diseases in mainland China, and the media reports fostered considerable concern here.

"It's very scary," said Allen Lee, a longtime senior politician who is now a television talk show host.

Medical experts said that the extent of the reported bleeding from the pigs, including bloody skin lesions, did not sound like common symptoms of bird flu, but added that the pig deaths needed to be investigated.

Because pigs can be infected with many avian and human influenza viruses, the most popular scientific model for how avian influenza viruses cause pandemics in humans is that human and avian influenza viruses exchange genetic material when they infect a pig at the same time.

Monday was the last day of the weeklong May Day holiday in China, so most government and business offices were closed. But Hong Kong media reported that pigs had begun dying in Yunfu after Chinese New Year celebrations in February, although it was only recently that the disease had begun spreading.

The Hong Kong Food and Environmental Hygiene Department officials said Monday that the Guangdong authorities had told them only that no live pigs were being shipped from the Yunfu and Gaoyao area to Hong Kong.

A spokesman for the Hong Kong Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department said that there were no signs of suspicious deaths among pigs in Hong Kong, and referred questions about pigs in Guangdong to the food department.

Both departments said last week in written responses to questions that they were not testing wheat gluten imported to Hong Kong for melamine scrap. The presence of melamine in pet food has been linked to the deaths of as many as 4,000 cats and dogs in the United States, and prompted the culling of chickens that ate contaminated feed.

Hong Kong officials expressed surprise Monday when told that the official Xinhua press agency had briefly reported a month ago that the mainland had begun nationwide testing of wheat gluten for melamine.

Animal feed dealers in northeastern China said late last month that the two main destinations for feed mixed with melamine had been the Yangtze delta region near Shanghai and the Pearl River delta region near Hong Kong.

[link to www.iht.com]

[alkemical]

GAO says Homeland Security is breaking privacy laws (http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0516traveler-screening0516-ON.html)

Associated Press
May. 16, 2007 05:28 PM

WASHINGTON - The Homeland Security Department is breaking the law by not telling the public exactly how personal information is used to screen international travelers, including Americans, congressional investigators said Wednesday.

One of the screening programs at issue is a computer-based system called the Automated Targeting System that is used by the Customs and Border Protection agency to rate the risk posed by travelers coming to and from the United States.

In its report, the Government Accountability Office said the department is not in full compliance with privacy laws that require agencies to tell the public how the government uses their personal information.

"CBP's current disclosures do not fully inform the public about all of its systems for prescreening aviation passenger information," the GAO report said. "Nor do they explain how CBP combines data in the prescreening process, as required by law."

The GAO, Congress' auditing agency, also said Customs has not publicly disclosed all the sources of data it reviews on passengers, including information obtained from commercial sources. It did not explain what those commercial sources may be and government officials declined to comment.

Homeland Security spokesman Russ Knocke defended the program.

"The GAO in this case is woefully uninformed and I think that Congress and the public are being poorly served by this report," Knocke said. This program, he added, "has been the subject of more than 20 speeches or testimonies at hearings."

Except for two footnotes to documents sent to Congress, however, the administration's public references primarily described the system as a cargo and passenger screening system without details of its operations. Many officials were only aware of the cargo aspect of the screening system until last fall.

David Sobel, senior counsel at the rights group Electronic Frontier Foundation, said the amount of detailed public information now available to the government presents more of a concern about privacy today than when the Privacy Act was first enacted after the Watergate scandal.

"There is a very good historical reason for the Privacy Act and DHS just seems to have a real blind spot when it comes to compliance," said Sobel.

House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., also sounded a note of concern.

"While we support rigorous security screening of airline passengers bound for the United States, Customs and Border Protection must conduct this screening in a manner that protects our citizens' privacy rights," Thompson said in a statement.

The other prescreening process about which the GAO expressed disclosure concerns was the Advance Passenger Information System, APIS, which uses information derived from passports or other government-issued documents such as visas.

The Associated Press disclosed late last year that the Automated Targeting System used by Customs had been developing risk assessments of millions of Americans over the last four years without their knowledge. The AP also reported that those assessments were to be kept for 40 years and could be shared with state, local and foreign governments.

The ATS program compares passenger data, such as a passenger's name, address, credit card information and data from government databases, such as a terrorist screening database, with a set of rules derived from the government's knowledge of terrorists and criminals.

Government officials have declined to detail those rules, for security reasons. But the comparison results in a risk assessment, which can prevent someone for boarding a plane or require additional screening measures at the airport.

While the GAO found that Customs has disclosed aspects of the program, it said the agency has failed to publish a "system of records notice or a privacy impact assessment that comprehensively describes the entire prescreening process."

[alkemical]

Messiah mystery follows death of mystical rabbi
Revered Israeli apocalyptic kabbalah leader shocks Jews, Christians with name 'Yeshua' (http://www.worldnetdaily.com/staticarticles/article55765.html)

A controversy is raging in Israel, in evangelical circles in the U.S. and on kabbalah web forums worldwide following the posthumous release of what a revered Sephardic rabbi claimed to be the name of the Messiah.

When Rabbi Yitzchak Kaduri died in February 2006, somewhere between the age of 106 to possibly 117, 300,000 attended his funeral in Jerusalem.

The Baghdad-born kabbalist had gained notoriety around the world for issuing apocalyptic warnings and for saying he personally met the long-awaited Jewish Messiah in November 2003.

Before Kaduri died, he reportedly wrote the name of the Messiah on a small note, requesting it remained sealed for one year after his death. The note revealed the name of the Messiah as "Yehoshua" or "Yeshua" – or the Hebrew name Jesus.




However, complicating the story further, the note is being challenged as a forgery by his 80-year-old son Rabbi David Kaduri.

"It's not his writing," he is quoted as telling Israel Today.

The note, written in Hebrew and signed in the rabbi's name, said: "Concerning the letter abbreviation of the Messiah's name, He will lift the people and prove that his word and law are valid. This I have signed in the month of mercy."

The Hebrew sentence consists of six words. The first letter of each of those words spells out the Hebrew name Yehoshua or Yeshua.

The finding has raised a combination of excitement and controversy in both Jewish and Christian circles – but scarcely any media attention. Jewish blogs and web forums are filled with skeptical analysis and puzzlement.

"So this means Rabbi Kaduri was a Christian?" asked one poster rhetorically.

Another wrote: "The Christians are dancing and celebrating."

Not exactly.

(Story continues below)

In fact, many Christian discussion boards say Kaduri's description of the Messiah – no matter what his name – doesn't fit the biblical account of a returned Jesus of Nazareth, who, they believe, will rule and reign on Earth from Jerusalem for 1,000 years.

About his encounter with the Messiah Kaduri claimed is alive in Israel today, he reportedly told close relatives: "He is not saying, 'I am the Messiah, give me the leadership.' Rather the nation is pushing him to lead them, after they find [in my words] signs showing that he has the status of Messiah."

Kaduri was also quoted as saying the imminent arrival of the Messiah will "save Jerusalem from Islam and Christianity that wish to take Jerusalem from the Jewish Nation – but they will not succeed, and they will fight each other."

Statements like that have some Christians wondering if Kaduri might be talking about another Yeshua – perhaps even a miracle-performing "false Christ" many evangelicals believe will precede the return of Jesus.

"It is hard for many good people in society to understand the person of the Messiah," Kaduri wrote before his death. "The leadership and order of a Messiah of flesh and blood is hard to accept for many in the nation. As leader, the Messiah will not hold any office, but will be among the people and use the media to communicate. His reign will be pure and without personal or political desire. During his dominion, only righteousness and truth will reign."

Kaduri wrote that not all will believe in the Messiah – and that it will often be easier for non-religious people to accept him. He also describes a Messiah who is, at first, not aware of his position.


Kaduri's funeral

A few months before his death, Kaduri gave a Yom Kippur address in which he gave clues as to how to recognize the Messiah. He told those gathered for the Day of Atonement in his synagogue the Messiah would not come until former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon dies.

Sharon was stricken while in office Jan. 4, 2006. He remained in a coma until replaced by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. While many expected the imminent passing of Sharon, he has remained alive but unconscious ever since his attack.

Shortly after what Kaduri characterized as his Nov. 4, 2003, encounter with the Messiah, in which he said he learned his name, the rabbi began warning of impending disasters worldwide.

In September 2005 in a class at his Jerusalem yeshiva seminary, Kaduri called for Jews all over the world to return to Israel because of the calamities about to befall the Earth and for the rebuilding of the Jewish Temple.

"In the future, the Holy One, Blessed be He, will bring about great disasters in the countries of the world to sweeten the judgments of the land of Israel," he said.

In 1990, the late Lubavitcher Rebbe Menachem Schneerson told Kaduri that he would live to see the coming of the Messiah.

Also in September 2005, Kaduri said: "The Messiah is already in Israel. Whatever people are sure will not happen is liable to happen, and whatever we are certain will happen may disappoint us. But in the end, there will be peace throughout the world."

As a lifelong student and teacher of kabbalah, Kaduri rejected a meeting requested by pop superstar Madonna, who dabbled in the ancient art of Jewish mysticism. He reportedly said at the time: "It is forbidden to teach a non-Jew kabbalah, not even Talmud, not even simple Torah."

Kaduri is said to have been one of the few known living practitioners who used his knowledge of kabbalah to affect change in the world. He would often distribute amulets intended to heal, enhance fertility and bring success. He was also believed to have been involved in the removal of 20 dybbuks, or lost souls that strayed into the hapless bodies of living people to torment them.

Aviel Schneider, the author of the Israel Today story, said the worldwide reaction to news of Kaduri's note has been "crazy." He said he has never received so many emails and calls from around the globe.

He said he was urged not to publish the story by the rabbi's yeshiva, where officials said it was "impossible" that the note was actually written by Kaduri.

But Schneider was given access to many of the rabbi's manuscripts, written in his own hand for the exclusive use of his students. He was struck by symbols painted by Kaduri all over the pages.

"They were crosses," said Schneider. "In the Jewish tradition, you don't use crosses. You don't even use plus signs because they might be mistaken for crosses. But there they were, painted in his own hand."

Asked what those symbols meant, Kaduri's family said they were "signs of the angel."

[Rohirrim]

Well, you got your hocus, and then you got your pocus. ;D

[alkemical]

Bust NYPD pair in drug, burglary plot (http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime_file/2007/05/20/2007-05-20_bust_nypd_pair_in_drug_burglary_plot-1.html)

Cops tell terror-ble tale after plan falls apart

BY JOTHAM SEDERSTROM and ALISON GENDAR
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS

Posted Sunday, May 20th 2007, 4:00 AM


Hector Alvarez

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Miguel Castillo
Two NYPD cops charged with attempting to rob a New Jersey drug den claimed they were investigating "terrorism" when they were caught, authorities said yesterday.

Officers Hector Alvarez and Miguel Castillo, both 28, were being held at the Bergen County, N.J., jail on a litany of serious charges.

Their arrests rocked their loved ones and friends - including a high school buddy of Alvarez's who blamed the cop's NYPD salary for his alleged crimes.

"He was having a hard time supporting his family on what he was getting," said the friend, who lives next to the Red Hook, Brooklyn, apartment that Alvarez shares with his pregnant wife and two young kids.

Alvarez and Castillo, who both joined the NYPD in 2005 and earn about $43,000 a year, drove to Rutherford, N.J., early Friday after getting a tip from an acquaintance that drugs and cash were stashed in a home there, law enforcement sources said.

Wearing business suits and armed with burglary tools, the bungling duo tried to talk their way into the home with the aim of stealing the contraband, the sources said.

A neighbor grew suspicious when Alvarez and Castillo began fighting with a resident, authorities said yesterday.

Aware of the shady goings-on at the home, the neighbor asked the well-dressed pair if they were federal drug agents, sources said.

"As the two officers attempted to flee the altercation, the resident asked who they were," Bergen County Prosecutor John Molinelli said in a statement yesterday. "The officers told the resident that they were police officers on 'official business' and were conducting an investigation relative to 'terrorism.'"

The neighbor asked the officers to remain at the scene until local police arrived. But Alvarez and Castillo refused and fled, prosecutors said.

The neighbor passed along their license plate number to local cops, who tracked the pair down minutes later, the sources said.

The NYPD officers initially tried to pass themselves off as civilians, the sources added.

But when they were pressed, they admitted they were cops and claimed they were conducting an undercover narcotics operation, the sources said.

After more questioning, the two allegedly confessed their plans. They were charged with attempted kidnapping, armed robbery, armed burglary, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, possession of burglar tools, unlawful use of a bullet-resistant vest and several conspiracy-related crimes.

Alvarez, a former Marine who was assigned to the 84th Precinct in Brooklyn, and Castillo, who worked out of the Manhattan Central Booking Unit, were suspended by the NYPD, officials said. The pair joined the NYPD before an arbitration panel slashed starting pay from about $35,000 to $25,100 a year.

Castillo is a former amateur boxer who lost in the Golden Gloves finals in 1999 and 2000, relatives said. He had served with the Marine Reserves.

"I'm surprised," said one of Castillo's cousins. "He doesn't seem like that type of person."

Alvarez's wife was distraught at the news of her husband's arrest, neighbors said.

"She was screaming and crying, coming out of my brother's house" on Friday, said neighbor Julio Villafane, 48. "I feel sorry for her. She's due any day now."

In Corona, Queens, Alvarez's relatives had no explanation for why he would have been in New Jersey.

"He's an excellent son," said a man who identified himself as Alvarez's father. "He made a big mistake."

agendar@nydailynews.com

With Warren Woodberry Jr., Tanyanika Samuels and Rich Schapiro

[alkemical]

Ala. terror Web site angers activists (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070527/ap_on_re_us/web_site_terror;_ylt=Amah4aApKr99AAqJ2VjXidXMWM0F)

MONTGOMERY, Ala. - The Alabama Department of Homeland Security has taken down a Web site it operated that included gay rights and anti-war organizations in a list of groups that could include terrorists.


No jobs for US citizens without Homeland Security approval (http://pressesc.com/01180202266_eevs)

US citizens who apply for a job will need prior approval from Department of Homeland Security under the terms immigration bill passed by the Senate this week.

American Civil Liberties Union pointed out that the DHS's Employment Eligibility Verification System (EEVS) is error plagued and if the department makes a mistake in determining work eligibility, there will be virtually no way to challenge the error or recover lost wages due to the bill’s prohibitions on judicial review.

Even current employees will need to obtain eligibility approval from the DHS Within 60 days of the Immigration Reform Act of 2006 becoming law.

"EEVS would be a financial and bureaucratic nightmare for both businesses and workers," said Timothy Sparapani, ACLU Legislative Counsel. "Under this already flawed program no one would be able to work in the U.S. without DHS approval - creating a ‘No Work List’ similar to the government’s ‘No Fly List.’ We need immigration reform, but not at this cost."

The act allocates US$400 million for the implementation of the EEVS, but the Congressional Budgeting Office estimates the system to cost in excess of a billion dollars.



Goldman Sachs Creates Private Stock Exchange for Unregistered Securities, Clients with $100 Million Minimum (http://cryptogon.com/?p=777)

Via: Wall Street Journal:

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. ranks as the most profitable securities firm on Wall Street — reflecting its mastery of trading on the world’s public markets.

Now Goldman is turning that franchise on its head, creating its own private system to trade the stocks of companies that don’t want the scrutiny and regulatory burdens of going public.

The new system, GS TRuE — short for Goldman Sachs Tradable Unregistered Equity — was announced two weeks ago and made its debut on Monday with an $880 million sale of a 15% stake in Oaktree Capital Management LLC, an alternative-investment manager.

It is the first of several new, private exchanges like these being considered by Wall Street firms and others. Nasdaq is also planning its own new market for smaller, unregistered securities.

These markets will generally be closed to individual investors. For instance, Goldman’s market is open only to large institutional investors with assets of more than $100 million. That is because the stocks traded on GS TRuE aren’t registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission and issuers aren’t subject to SEC regulations designed to protect individual investors.

It represents the latest step in the creeping exclusion of individual investors from a growing proportion of financial-market activity. For instance, giant private-equity firms are busy buying public companies and delisting them from stock exchanges. The growing importance of hedge funds — which are generally limited to wealthy investors, institutions and endowments — also excludes individuals.

The new system is “a manifestation of the growth of private-equity relative to public equity,” said Jay Ritter, a finance professor at the University of Florida in Gainesville, pointing to the record-setting pace of private-equity buyouts of public companies recently. (For more on Goldman’s product, see Breakingviews column.)

Traditional mutual funds — one of the main investment tools at the disposal of individual investors — are also limited in the amount of unregistered securities they can buy or sell. Hedge funds, by contrast, have more freedom to buy unregistered stocks and bonds.

Indeed, bankers and capital-markets executives at rival firms say that, at GS TRuE’s debut, hedge funds were prominent among buyers for the issue by Los Angeles-based Oaktree.

Some investor advocates criticized the trend of selling more securities faster with less disclosure. “It becomes much more of a buyer-beware marketplace with little regulatory oversight or protection,” said Steven B. Caruso, a New York lawyer who represents investors in disputes with Wall Street.

Goldman’s move partly reflects a business-community backlash against increased regulation of public-company accounting practices — a favorite theme, as it happens, of Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr., who is also a former Goldman chief executive.

Wall Street executives said the market offers an alternative to companies that don’t want to wait for regulators to approve their financial disclosures needed for an initial public offering, which can take 90 days or more.

They also said it offers a haven for firms that don’t want to be subject to what Oaktree described as “the full panoply of regulations applicable to publicly traded companies in the United States.”

[alkemical]

http://www.jonesreport.com/articles/180607_royal_tease.html

'Eyes Wide Shut' Party Full of European Royalty, Strippers



A multitude of European royalty attended a "Heaven and Hell" party hosted by Prince Pavlos (Greek)-- a costumed affair which included strippers and seemingly resembles the portrayal of decadent elites depicted in Stanley Kubrick's 'Eyes Wide Shut.'

The London Mail (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=462618&in_page_id=1770&ICO=NEWS&ICL=TOPART)story mentioned about a dozen spare princes and lords, including high profile Prince Andrew of the UK, as well as models and erotic dancers.

"Other guests included Prince Andrew, Viscount Linley, looking mean and moody in black leather as he arrived on his motorbike, Prince Felipe and Princess Christina of Spain, Prince Haakkon of Norway and Naomi Campbell."

"The swimming pool in the basement was covered over and decked out to resemble Hell, with stilt-walkers and erotic dancers."

Of course, this gossip scene is more in line with Paris Hilton-style scandal, but the stories from Bohemian Grove and Bilderberg don't get reported in tabloids.

Full storyhere (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=462618&in_page_id=1770&ICO=NEWS&ICL=TOPART).

[alkemical]

http://www.conspiracyarchive.com/Commentary/Illuminati_Eyes_Wide_Shut.htm

In light of this history, what do you think the chances are that the aristocrats of this "Heaven and Hell" get-together are privy to a hidden tradition? Giving the fact that they are direct descendants of real Illuminati, who were in possession of real secrets - I'd say pretty high. I also doubt that it's mere coincidence for Illuminati descendants to be cavorting about in masks and costumes nearly identical to those worn by fictional Illuminati in the famed movie by Stanley Kubrick. Rather than paying homage to Eyes Wide Shut, the "Heaven and Hell" participants might ultimately be the source of Kubrick's wild imagination.

[alkemical]

http://www.conspiracyarchive.com/Commentary/Illuminati_Eyes_Wide_Shut.htm

[alkemical]

I wonder if this:

Cops Kick Lit Mags Out Of Private Art Gallery (http://chicagopoetry.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=696&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0):

"..And then a swarm of police wearing bulletproof vests with badges on ropes around their necks like characters from The Shield illegally storm into this private art gallery. Without so much as a search warrant or even an explanation, five of them surround the DJ and demand he turn off Mark Morrison's "Return of the Mack." Issuing uncompromising threats, they force the DJ to announce over the microphone that without so much as a discussion EVERYONE MUST LEAVE THE PREMISES...."

Is related to this:

http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=431

Operation Falcon: Blueprint for removing dissidents and political rivals

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Operation_FALCON

Some Unanswered Questions The data provided by the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Marshals Service for all three roundups carried out under the auspices of the Operation FALCON program does not address the following questions:


How many of those arrested are illegal immigrants?

How many were mistakenly arrested and, if so, were they released?

Since they can do roundups of this maganitude, will they do it to deport illegal aliens?

How many of the captured fugitives have been prosecuted and how many are still being confined?

Although Attorney General Gonzales stated April 15, 2005, that Operation FALCON was "an excellent example of President Bush's direction and the Justice Department's dedication to deal both with the terrorist threat and traditional violent crime", where is the connection between the Operation FALCON roundups and catching terrorists?

Have any alleged terrorists been captured, apprehended, incarcerated or prosecuted in connection with the roundups?

Have any alleged terrorists been involved in extraordinary rendition and transported into the global detention system?

How many of the captured fugitives have been confined in American concentration camps contracted in January 2006 by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg Brown and Root (KBR)? before anyone really snickers, this is actually somewhat true

Since Congressional Committees on the Judiciary and Government Oversight are looking into Bush administration hiring and firing practices of U.S. attorneys and other questionable matters linked to the DoJ, will they be looking into Operation FALCON as well?

Why wait until a roundup before arresting these fugitives?

[alkemical]

NSA expert: Next relevation will be ISP, cell phone wiretaps (http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/NSA_expert_Next_relevation_will_be_0515.html)


Having studied the NSA and its history extensively, were you surprised and concerned to discover that, since 2001, the agency has been amassing a database of phone records, and possibly other information, on U.S. citizens?

The fact that the federal government has my phone records scares the living daylights out of me. They won't learn much from them other than I like ordering pizza on Friday night and I don't call my mother as often as I should. But it should scare the living daylights out of everybody, even if you're willing to permit the government certain leeways to conduct the war on terrorism.

We should be terrified that Congress has not been doing its job and because all of the checks and balances put in place to prevent this have been deliberately obviated. In order to get this done, the NSA and White House went around all of the checks and balances. I'm convinced that 20 years from now we, as historians, will be looking back at this as one of the darkest eras in American history. And we're just beginning to sort of peel back the first layers of the onion. We're hoping against hope that it's not as bad as I suspect it will be, but reality sets in every time a new article is published and the first thing the Bush administration tries to do is quash the story. It's like the lawsuit brought by EFF [Electronic Frontier Foundation] against AT&T -- the government's first reaction was to try to quash the lawsuit. That ought to be a warning sign that they're on to something.

I'll tell you where this story probably will go next. Notice the USA Today article doesn't mention whether the Internet service providers or cellphone providers or companies operating transatlantic cables like Global Crossing cooperated with the NSA. That's the next round of revelations. The real vulnerabilities for the NSA are the companies. Sooner or later one of these companies, fearing the inevitable lawsuit from the ACLU, is going to admit what it did, and the whole thing is going to come tumbling down. If you want some historical perspective look at Operation Shamrock, which collapsed in 1975 because [Rep.] Bella Abzug [D-NY] subpoenaed the heads of Western Union and the other telecommunications giants and put them in witness chairs, and they all admitted that they had cooperated with the NSA for the better part of 40 years by supplying cables and telegrams.

The newest system being added to the NSA infrastructure, by the way, is called Project Trailblazer, which was initiated in 2002 and which was supposed to go online about now but is fantastically over budget and way behind schedule. Trailblazer is designed to copy the new forms of telecommunications -- fiber optic cable traffic, cellphone communication, BlackBerry and Internet e-mail traffic.

[c_lazy_r]

Cheney Criticizer Arrested for “Assault” (http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/07/25/cheney-criticizer-arrested-for-assault/)
A man walked up to Dick Cheney, calmly told him he thought his Iraq policy was reprehensible, and walked away. A few minutes later he was arrested by the Secret Service, in front of his 8-year-old son, for “assault”.

When he asked what would happen to his child, the Secret Service said, “He can be sent to Child Services.” Luckily, the boy found his mother and was safe.

But the citizen who practiced his free speech spent a few hours in jail before he was released.



http://www.crooksandliars.com/

[alkemical]

$500 Million Dollar Bailout Extended to US Mortgage Borrowers
Jul 24, 2007 -- Several different US states have or are set to announce multi-million dollar bailout plans for mortgage borrowers who are in danger of losing their home. Will the money come from taxpayer pockets? (http://efinancedirectory.com/articles/$500_Million_Dollar_Bailout_Extended_to_US_Mortgag e_Borrowers.html)



China shying from shaky US mortgage market
By Olivia Chung

HONG KONG - While China is eager to invest a portion of its US$1.33 trillion foreign-exchange reserve overseas, it is unlikely to take a chance on buying additional US mortgage-backed securities (MBS) as they are now considered too risky, Chinese economists said.

During a recent trip to Beijing, US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Alphonso Jackson tried to sell China on the idea of buying more MBS. Investing in MBS (http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China_Business/IG26Cb02.html)



FDA ANNOUNCES PLAN TO ELIMINATE VITAMIN COMPANIES (http://www.newswithviews.com/Richards/byron36.htm)



WASHINGTON--Politicians charged on Tuesday that peer-to-peer networks can pose a "national security threat" because they enable federal employees to share sensitive or classified documents accidentally from their computers. (http://news.com.com/2100-1029_3-6198585.html)

[alkemical]

http://www.suntimes.com/news/nation/488638,CST-NWS-fisa29.article

Bush calls on Congress for new phone, e-mail tapping law

July 29, 2007
BY DEB RIECHMANN
WASHINGTON -- President Bush wants Congress to modernize a law governing how intelligence agencies monitor the communications of suspected terrorists.
The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act provides a legal foundation allowing information about terrorists' communications to be collected without violating civil liberties. Democrats want to ensure that changes do not give the executive branch unfettered surveillance powers.

Bush noted in his radio address Saturday that terrorists now use disposable cell phones and the Internet to communicate, recruit operatives and plan attacks; such tools were not available when FISA passed nearly 30 years ago. He also cited a recent intelligence estimate that concluded al-Qaida is using its strength in the Middle East to plot attacks on U.S. soil.

Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) said Bush was trying to exploit the threat from al-Qaida to push the bill.

The 1978 law set up a court that meets in secret to review applications from the FBI, the National Security Agency and others for warrants to wiretap or search the homes of people in the United States in terrorist or espionage cases.

After Sept. 11, Bush authorized the NSA to spy on calls between people in the United States and suspected terrorists abroad without FISA court warrants. The administration said it needed to act more quickly than the court could. After the program became public and was challenged, Bush put it under FISA court supervision.

Caroline Fredrickson of the American Civil Liberties Union said: "The reality is, their proposal would gut FISA." AP


Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

[gunns]

Cheney Criticizer Arrested for “Assault” (http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/07/25/cheney-criticizer-arrested-for-assault/)
A man walked up to Dick Cheney, calmly told him he thought his Iraq policy was reprehensible, and walked away. A few minutes later he was arrested by the Secret Service, in front of his 8-year-old son, for “assault”.

When he asked what would happen to his child, the Secret Service said, “He can be sent to Child Services.” Luckily, the boy found his mother and was safe.

But the citizen who practiced his free speech spent a few hours in jail before he was released.



http://www.crooksandliars.com/

Well hell, what did the guy expect? His constitutional rights are just on a simple piece of paper.

[alkemical]

Matt Cooper Says Rove DID Leak Valerie Plame’s Identity To Him: UPDATED! (http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/08/19/matt-cooper-says-rove-did-leak-valerie-plames-identity-to-him/)


Pentagon's New Drug Weapons (http://blog.wired.com/defense/2007/08/drugs-r-us.html)

[alkemical]

http://www.blacklistednews.com/view.asp?ID=5028

Death Ray Replaced By The Voice of God
Published on Monday, December 17, 2007.



Source: Strategy Page

While U.S. efforts to deploy it's microwave Active Denial System (which transmits a searchlight sized bean of energy when makes people downrange feel like their skin is on fire) continue to be delayed, another non-lethal system, LRAD (Long Range Acoustic Device) has been quietly deployed to Iraq. And there the story gets a little strange.

LRAD is basically a focused beam of sound. Originally, it was designed to emit a very loud sound. Anyone whose head was touched by this beam, heard a painfully loud sound. Anyone standing next to them heard nothing. But those hit by the beam promptly fled, or fell to the ground in pain. Permanent hearing loss is possible if the beam is kept on a person for several seconds, but given the effect the sound usually has on people (they move, quickly), it is unlikely to happen. LRAD works. It was recently used off Somalia, by a cruise ship, to repel pirates. Some U.S. Navy ships also carry it, but not just to repel attacking suicide bombers, or whatever. No, the system was sold to the navy for a much gentler application. LRAD can also broadcast speech for up to 300 meters. The navy planned to use LRAD to warn ships to get out of the way. This was needed in places like the crowded coastal waters of the northern Persian Gulf, where the navy patrols. Many small fishing and cargo boats ply these waters, and it's often hard to get the attention of the crews. With LRAD, you just aim it at a member of the crew, and have an interpreter "speak" to the sailor. It was noted that the guy on the receiving end was sometimes terrified, even after he realized it was that large American destroyer that was talking to him. This apparently gave the army guys some ideas, for there are now rumors in Iraq of a devilish American weapon that makes people believe they are hearing voices in their heads.

This made more sense when an American advertising firm recently used an LRAD unit to support a media campaign for a new TV show. LRAD was pointed at a sidewalk in Manhattan, below the billboard featuring the new show. LRAD broadcast a female voice providing teaser lines from the show. The effect was startling, and a bit scary for many who passed through the LRAD beam. It appears that some of the troops in Iraq are using "spoken" (as opposed to "screeching") LRAD to mess with enemy fighters. Islamic terrorists tend to be superstitious and, of course, very religious. LRAD can put the "word of God" into their heads. If God, in the form of a voice that only you can hear, tells you to surrender, or run away, what are you gonna do?
Meanwhile, the microwave powered ADS, a non-lethal weapon that looks like a radar dish, languishes in politically correct limbo. The ADS "radar dish" projects a "burn ray" that is about four feet in diameter. It is effective in fog, smoke and rain. When pointed at people and turned on, it creates a burning sensation on the skin of its victims, causing them to want to leave the area, or at least greatly distracts them. The microwave weapon has a range of about 500 meters. ADS is carried on a hummer or Stryker, along with a machine-gun and other non-lethal weapons (like LRAD). The proposed ROE (Rules of Engagement) for ADS were that anyone who kept coming after getting hit with microwave was assumed to have evil intent, and could be killed. The microwave is believed to be particularly useful for terrorists who hide in crowds of women and children, using the human shields to get close enough to make an attack. This has been encountered in Somalia and Iraq.

Deployment of ADS has been delayed for years because of concerns about how non-lethal it really is. ADS has been fired, in tests, over 2,500 times. Many of these firings were against human volunteers, and the device performed as predicted, without any permanent damage. But generations of exposure to lurid science fiction descriptions of "death rays" has made the defense bureaucrats anxious over the negative public relations potential if something like ADS was actually used. From a publicity perspective, using more lethal "non-lethal-weapons" is preferable to deploying something safer, but that could be described, however incorrectly, as a "death ray." In any event, it appears that the cheaper, smaller (about 45 pounds), gentler and more flexible LRAD has taken ADS's place in the American arsenal. At least for now.

[alkemical]

http://blog.wired.com/defense/2007/06/darpas_sonic_pr.html


A Voice Only You Can Hear: DARPA's Sonic Projector
By Sharon Weinberger EmailJune 05, 2007 | 12:20:54 PMCategories: Bizarro, DarpaWatch, Lasers and Ray Guns

Imagine a weapon that creates sound that only you can hear. Science fiction? No, this is one area that has a very solid basis in reality. The Air Force has experimented with microwaves that create sounds in people's head (which they've called a possible psychological warfare tool), and American Technologies can "beam" sounds to specific targets with their patented HyperSound (and yes, I've heard/seen them demonstrate the speakers, and they are shockingly effective).

Sound Now the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is jumping on the bandwagon with their new "Sonic Projector" program:

The goal of the Sonic Projector program is to provide Special Forces with a method of surreptitious audio communication at distances over 1 km. Sonic Projector technology is based on the non-linear interaction of sound in air translating an ultrasonic signal into audible sound. The Sonic Projector will be designed to be a man-deployable system, using high power acoustic transducer technology and signal processing algorithms which result in no, or unintelligible, sound everywhere but at the intended target. The Sonic Projector system could be used to conceal communications for special operations forces and hostage rescue missions, and to disrupt enemy activities.

[alkemical]

New surveillance program will turn military satellites on US (http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081005-new-surveillance-program-will-turn-military-satellites-on-us.html)

By Julian Sanchez | Published: October 05, 2008 - 07:15PM CT

An appropriations bill signed by President Bush last week allows the controversial National Applications Office to begin operating a stringently limited version of a program that would turn military spy satellites on the US, sharing imagery with other federal, state, and local government agencies. The government's own watchdog agency, the Government Accountability Office, has warned in an unpublished report that the more expansive program in the offing lacks adequate safeguards to protect privacy and civil liberties.

For now, the law restricts the NAO to "activities substantially similar" to those carried out by the Civil Applications Committee, an interagency coordinating body formed in 1976 to give civilian agencies access to military satellites for scientific and disaster preparedness purposes, such as "monitoring volcanic activity, environmental and geological changes, hurricanes, and floods." But as a draft charter for the Office makes clear, officials at the Department of Homeland Security hope to branch out from these traditional applications, providing assistance and information to domestic law enforcement agencies.

That doesn't sit well with some members of Congess, who in a sharply worded letter earlier this year expressed concerns that the NAO "raises major issues under the Posse Comitatus Act" barring the military from performing law enforcement duties, and worried the program could be used to "gather domestic intelligence outside the rigorous protections of the law—and, ultimately, to share this intelligence with local law enforcement outside of constitutional parameters."

Thanks for the ****ing letter you douchebags