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

[alkemical]

http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial...13/1057887.asp

Enron jury won't hear some tapes
By KRISTEN HAYS
Associated Press
1/13/2006

HOUSTON - The upcoming fraud and conspiracy trial of Enron Corp. founder Kenneth Lay and former CEO Jeffrey Skilling won't feature audio tapes of Enron traders discussing how they gamed California's power system for high profits when the state was plagued by rolling blackouts and skyrocketing power prices in 2000 and 2001, a judge ruled Thursday.
U.S. District Judge Sim Lake sided with defense arguments that such inflammatory evidence had no place in the Jan. 30 trial because neither Lay nor Skilling are charged with illegal trading or market manipulation in California.

Prosecutors had argued that the two men are charged with conspiring to hide Enron's wobbly financial condition through lies and omissions in public statements and regulatory filings that painted the company as healthy. California market manipulation was part of that puzzle, they said.

However, Lake ruled prosecutors can present some California-related evidence. That includes prosecution testimony from former in-house Enron lawyer Richard Sanders regarding his June 2001 meeting with Skilling during which he informed the CEO about the California gaming strategies. Those strategies included making uncongested transmission lines seem congested with fraudulent schedules for energy so Enron could be paid to solve a problem that didn't exist. Skilling faces 35 counts of conspiracy, fraud, insider trading and lying to auditors. Lay faces seven counts of fraud and conspiracy.

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http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,181520,00.html

Police Make Arrest in Slaying of Reporter
Thursday, January 12, 2006

WASHINGTON — A suspect in the beating death of New York Times reporter David Rosenbaum turned himself in to police Thursday night after TV stations broadcast surveillance images showing his face.

Michael Hamlin, 23, of Washington, saw one of the broadcasts and went to the 7th District police station "inquiring why his face was on TV," said Metropolitan Police Detective Anthony Paci.

Hamlin arrived at the police station around 6:20 p.m. EST and confessed to the crime shortly thereafter, Paci said.

Earlier, investigators released surveillance videos showing a man who may have used a credit card stolen from Rosenbaum.

Police said the credit card had been used seven times since Rosenbaum's death, to buy a total of $1,300 worth of merchandise.

Paci and Capt. C.V. Morris, the lead investigator in the homicide case, praised credit card companies and the local media for their cooperation.

Asked why Hamlin turned himself in, Morris said, "Stranger things have happened." Hamlin told police he would show them where he hid the weapon, Morris said.

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http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/011306Z.shtml

Bush Authorized Domestic Spying Before 9/11
By Jason Leopold
t r u t h o u t | Perspective

Friday 13 January 2006

The National Security Agency advised President Bush in early 2001 that it had been eavesdropping on Americans during the course of its work monitoring suspected terrorists and foreigners believed to have ties to terrorist groups, according to a declassified document.

The NSA's vast data-mining activities began shortly after Bush was sworn in as president and the document contradicts his assertion that the 9/11 attacks prompted him to take the unprecedented step of signing a secret executive order authorizing the NSA to monitor a select number of American citizens thought to have ties to terrorist groups.

In its "Transition 2001" report, the NSA said that the ever-changing world of global communication means that "American communication and targeted adversary communication will coexist."

"Make no mistake, NSA can and will perform its missions consistent with the Fourth Amendment and all applicable laws," the document says.

However, it adds that "senior leadership must understand that the NSA's mission will demand a 'powerful, permanent presence' on global telecommunications networks that host both 'protected' communications of Americans and the communications of adversaries the agency wants to target."

What had long been understood to be protocol in the event that the NSA spied on average Americans was that the agency would black out the identities of those individuals or immediately destroy the information.

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http://society.guardian.co.uk/health...687321,00.html

Rise in mental illness linked to unhealthy diets, say studies

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,1689653,00.html

Rightwing group offers students $100 to spy on professors

· Republican graduate's site prompts witch-hunt fears
· 31 academics listed as 'worthy of scrutiny'


It is the sort of invitation any poverty-stricken student would find hard to resist. "Do you have a professor who just can't stop talking about President Bush, about the war in Iraq, about the Republican party, or any other ideological issue that has nothing to do with the class subject matter? If you help ... expose the professor, we'll pay you for your work."



http://www.strike-the-root.com/61/ma...acgregor1.html

The Power of the Lie

"It seems as if the human psyche is programmed to believe a repeated lie--when uttered by authority figures." Column by David MacGregor.



http://www.cnn.com/2006/LAW/01/17/ac...ion=cnn_latest

Two groups sue over NSA wiretap program

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Two lawsuits were filed Tuesday against the National Security Agency over its no-warrant wiretapping program, claiming the domestic eavesdropping is unconstitutional and that President Bush exceeded his authority by authorizing it.





http://www.townhall.com/opinion/colu...18/182482.html

A much better explanation for the millions going to the campaign coffers of Washington politicians lies in the awesome growth of government control over business, property, employment and other areas of our lives. Having such power, Washington politicians are in the position to grant favors. The greater their power to grant favors, the greater the value of being able to influence Congress, and there's no better influence than money.



http://starbulletin.com/2006/01/12/news/story08.html

Wrong-house bust brings suit
A Kauai couple claims they were manhandled in their home by officers looking for marijuana


OMAO, Kauai » Two Kauai police officers were sued in federal court yesterday for allegedly slamming two grandparents to the ground and putting guns to their head after wrongly suspecting they were marijuana dealers.

Officers Scott Kaui and Damien M. Mendiola, as well as Kauai County, are named as defendants in the suit brought by Sharon and William McCulley of Omao alleging violations of their constitutional rights, assault and infliction of emotional distress among others.




http://www.boston.com/ae/food/articl...p1=MEWell_Pos1

Guinness ice cream

Makes 1 quart

1/2 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
1 cup whole milk
1 cup heavy cream
2/3 cup Guinness stout
2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons molasses
4 egg yolks
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1. In a medium saucepan, scrape in the vanilla bean seeds. Add the pod, milk, and cream. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Turn off the heat, cover the pan, and let the flavors infuse for 30 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, in a small saucepan over medium-high heat, whisk together the stout and molasses. Bring to a boil and turn off heat.

3. In a large mixing bowl, whisk the yolks, sugar, and vanilla extract. Whisk in a few tablespoons of the hot cream mixture, then slowly whisk in another 1/4 cup of the cream. Add the remaining cream in a steady stream, whisking constantly. Pour the mixture back into the saucepan.

4. Stir the beer mixture into the cream mixture. Cook the custard over medium heat, stirring often with a wooden spoon, for 6 to 8 minutes or until the custard thickens enough to coat the back of the spoon.

5. Strain the mixture into a bowl and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight. Process the custard in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.

All recipes adaptedfrom ''Sunday Suppersat Lucques"

[alkemical]

http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/01/17/g...rosecution.ap/

BOISE, Idaho (AP) -- In a game of global positioning called geocaching, the lowly treasure hunt has gone high-tech -- but it can also be a game of risk when terrorism-sensitive authorities find the goods first.

Scot Tintsman found that out when he stashed a green bucket under an Idaho highway bridge last September, intending to fill it with goodies for other players to find using Global Positioning System units. But before he could finish adding the requisite trinkets and log books and posting its GPS coordinates on the Internet, a bridge inspection crew found it.

Rounding a corner on his motorcycle to finish rigging his cache, he was greeted by a barricade of police cars and a bomb squad. He struggled to explain the misunderstanding.

"I got off my bike and three officers approached me very cautiously, hands on their holsters," he said. "I was trying to turn off my MP3 player and I think they were worried I was going for a detonator."

Tintsman and other geocachers play the game this way: Participants stash a vessel of some sort containing goods as a reward for the person who finds the "cache," as it's known. The person or group hiding the cache posts the hiding place's GPS coordinates on the Internet. People who find the cache are expected to take something from it and replace it with something else.

In November, a geocache outside a police station in Provo, Utah, met a bomb squad robot as its fate. It contained a toy gun, holster and nightstick.

In June, a bomb squad in De Pere, Wisconsin, used a robot-mounted shotgun to blast the lid off a suspicious-looking military ammunition box found in a park. It also turned out to be a geocache.

And on the night before the 2004 presidential election, police and the FBI spent hours questioning a man seen prowling along a fence at Los Angeles International Airport with a GPS unit. He was a geocacher from Vermont trying to stash a toy snake into a cache, placed five weeks earlier, that had already been visited by 463 people.

Guidelines on Geocaching.com -- the most popular Web clearinghouse for registering geocache hides and finds -- advise players not to place caches near critical infrastructure or public buildings that might be terrorist targets. And with more than 1 million people worldwide estimated to participate, Geocaching.com co-founder Bryan Roth of Seattle says the number of homeland security false alarms is comparatively low.

"I dare say I have heard of no more than five or 10 incidents," said Roth, whose Web site lists more than 225,000 caches in 219 countries.

"Police can always contact us and we'll tell them whether something is a registered geocache. And if they're still not comfortable with that, we tell them to blow it up. We don't want to be legally or, more importantly, morally liable if it indeed was a problem."

Many geocachers fear the pastime could be banned in some areas because of the scares caused by ill-advised cache placements. A "Geocacher's Creed" posted on the Internet asks participants to "avoid causing disruptions or public alarm."

Even when geocachers cause public alarm, severe criminal repercussions appear to be rare.

Tintsman, whose geocache sat high above the whitewater of Idaho's Payette River, was charged with placing debris on public property, a misdemeanor punishable by six months in jail and a $300 fine.

County prosecutor Matthew Williams said that he is not seeking jail time but that he would like restitution for the expense of the law enforcement response.

Tintsman said he is still avidly geocaching -- but with a better awareness of how it might look in a post-Sept. 11 landscape.

"I wasn't thinking about terrorism when I placed it under the bridge. I was thinking about making the most extreme cache possible," he said. "I just got carried away."

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http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/1/19/17445/7449




Day traders were confused. On Tuesday, Nov. 15, they couldn't figure out why there was so much action in USG Corp. (), a Chicago building-materials company whose subsidiary is mired in asbestos lawsuits. The stock was trading at double the normal daily volume and would gain $2.12 to close at $61.55. But there wasn't any major news to power the run-up.

Public news, that is. Behind the scenes, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) had decided to override the qualms of Budget Committee leaders and press ahead with a bill to create a $140 billion fund to relieve companies such as USG of their asbestos liabilities. Frist wouldn't announce his move until Nov. 16. But the news got to key Wall Street players a day early via a little-known pipeline: a small group of firms specializing in "political intelligence" that mine the capital for information and translate Washington wonkspeak into trading tips.

[alkemical]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060120/...zuela_us_drugs

Venezuela OKs Anti-Drug Pact With U.S.


Venezuelan officials said Thursday that they have approved a new anti-drug agreement with the U.S., months after the South American nation suspended cooperation amid allegations of U.S. spying.

"We have resolved our basic differences and we hope that we will be able to sign soon," said Salome Hernandez, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Embassy in Caracas.

The new agreement will go into effect once it has been signed by Venezuelan Interior Minister Jesse Chacon and U.S. Ambassador to Venezuela William Brownfield, said Luis Correa, Venezuela's top anti-drug official.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez halted cooperation with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in August. He accused U.S. agents of spying, a charge the U.S. has repeatedly denied. Venezuelan officials said they would only be willing to work with the U.S. under new terms, under which the DEA would not be permitted to lead drug busts.

[alkemical]

Hamster, snake best friends at Tokyo zoo


TOKYO - Gohan and Aochan make strange bedfellows: one's a 3.5-inch dwarf hamster; the other is a yard-long rat snake.

Zookeepers at Tokyo's Mutsugoro Okoku zoo presented the hamster — whose name is a tasty rice dish in Japanese — to Aochan as a snack in October, after the snake refused to eat frozen mice.

But instead of indulging, Aochan decided to make friends with the furry rodent, according to keeper Kazuya Yamamoto. The pair have shared a cage since.


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10903211/

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Moment of zen

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http://www.strike-the-root.com/61/blow/blow3.html

Push the Blue Button

In the course of attempting to teach my high school students about the disastrous effects of inflation, I devised an easy way to explain it: push the blue button. This works for me, see what you think. Maybe you can use it with your own students or children.

First, I explain to them the standard traits of money, including the two major differences between fiat currency and real money—limited supply and store of value—and then I introduce the concept of the blue button, which of course belongs to the Federal Reserve.




http://today.reuters.com/business/ne...&imageid=&cap=

Kuwait oil reserves only half official estimate-PIW

LONDON, Jan 20 (Reuters) - OPEC producer Kuwait's oil reserves are only half those officially stated, according to internal Kuwaiti records seen by industry newsletter Petroleum Intelligence Weekly (PIW).

"PIW learns from sources that Kuwait's actual oil reserves, which are officially stated at around 99 billion barrels, or close to 10 percent of the global total, are a good deal lower, according to internal Kuwaiti records," the weekly PIW reported on Friday.



http://www.newhousenews.com/archive/sefton012006.html

Author `Amazed and Amused' by Book Plug From bin Laden

WASHINGTON -- Osama bin Laden has a book recommendation for you.

In the audiotape released Thursday, the al-Qaida leader said: "If you (Americans) are sincere in your desire for peace and security, we have answered you. And if (President) Bush decides to carry on with his lies and oppression, then it would be useful for you to read the book `Rogue State."'





http://www.newsday.com/news/politics...tics-headlines

Republicans Worried About Party Faithful

WASHINGTON -- A growing number of Republican voters are frustrated by congressional spending and scandal, according to GOP leaders from across the country who worry that an "enthusiasm deficit" could cost the party control of Congress in November.

Some rank-and-file Republicans wonder what happened to the party that promised to reform Washington after taking control of Congress in 1994 for the first time in 40 years.




http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv...rkin020199.htm

When Seeing and Hearing Isn't Believing
"Gentlemen! We have called you together to inform you that we are going to overthrow the United States government." So begins a statement being delivered by Gen. Carl W. Steiner, former Commander-in-chief, U.S. Special Operations Command.

At least the voice sounds amazingly like him.

But it is not Steiner. It is the result of voice "morphing" technology developed at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico.



http://www.angolapress-angop.ao/noticia-e.asp?ID=409853

China to build world`s first "artificial sun" experimental device

HEFEI, 01/21 - A full superconducting experimental Tokamak fusion device, which aims to generate infinite, clean nuclear-fusion-based energy, will be built in March or April in Hefei, capital city of east China`s Anhui Province.

Experiments with the advanced new device will start in July or August. If the experiments prove successful, China will become the first country in the world to build a full superconducting experimental Tokamak fusion device, nicknamed "artificial sun", experts here said.

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http://www.mises.org/story/2016

The Union Conspiracy Against Wal-Mart Workers
by Thomas DiLorenzo


Most of the commentary on the ongoing propaganda campaign against Wal-Mart ignores what is probably the most important aspect of it: It is primarily a labor union-inspired campaign against Wal-Mart employees, as well as the company in general. This is the essential truth of all union organizing campaigns. Historically, all of the violence, libel, and intimidation that goes along with "organizing campaigns" has been directed at competing, non-union labor, not management. The Wal-Mart campaign is no different.




http://www.strike-the-root.com/61/davis/davis2.html

The War on Citizens

The phrase “Police State” stirs up emotional responses that differ among citizens depending on whether they support or oppose increased control over individuals by the state as a means of providing security. Knowledge that “trading” freedom for security diminishes both individual freedom and security goes back at least to the founding fathers, yet too many people today are acquiescent to this exercise in futility even as it accelerates. Defining “Police State” may be fraught with emotional pitfalls and nearly impossible to find general agreement on, but observing that the state is at war with its own citizens simply requires opening one’s eyes.

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http://www.bradblog.com/archives/00002327.htm

Diebold Blocks Alaska Voters From Viewing Election 2004 Results, Data!
Contract with State said to Bar Release of 'Company Secrets' Such as the Records of Who Citizens Voted For
Democratic Official: 'It's impossible to say whether the correct candidates were declared the winner in all Alaska races from 2004'


http://www.consortiumnews.com/2006/012406.html

The End of 'Unalienable Rights'
Every American school child is taught that in the United States, people have “unalienable rights,” heralded by the Declaration of Independence and enshrined in the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights. Supposedly, these liberties can’t be taken away, but they are now gone.


http://www.capitolhillblue.com/artma...cle_8045.shtml

Grounded along with other fellow terroristsWhen my wife’s favorite aunt died last November we immediately made plans to head for St. Louis for the funeral.

We drove the 700 miles to St. Louis. I am not allowed to fly on an airplane within the United States because the Department of Homeland Security and the Transportation Security Administration consider me a threat to the security of the United States.

Yep. I’m on the official “no-fly” list, along with some 80,000 other Americans.



http://www.rumormillnews.com/cgi-bin...cgi?read=84579

"We need a program of PSYCHOSURGERY for POLITICAL CONTROL of our society. The purpose is PHISICAL CONTROL OF THE MIND. Everyone who deviates from the given norm can be SURGICALLY MUTILATED...

...The individual may think that the most important reality is his own existence, but this is only his personal point of view. This lacks historical perspective...

...Man does NOT HAVE THE RIGHT to develop his own mind. This kind of liberal orientation has great appeal. We must ELECTRICALLY CONTROL THE BRAIN. Some day armies and generals will be controlled by electric stimulation of the brain."

Dr. Jose M.R. Delgado Director of Neuropsychiatry Yale University Medical School Congressional Record, No. 26, Vol. 118 February 24, 1974




http://www2.townonline.com/newton/lo...ticleid=414573

City demands warrant in FBI investigation

Law enforcement and Newton Free Library officials were embroiled in a tense standoff for nearly 10 hours last week when the city refused to let police and the FBI examine library computers without a warrant.

Police rushed to the main library last Wednesday after it was determined that a terrorist threat to Brandeis University had been sent from a computer at the library.

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http://www.informationweek.com/secur...leID=177103030

New Jersey Grade School Institutes Iris Scanning

Parents picking up children at Freehold Borough School District will need to submit to an iris scan before being allowed entrance.




http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs....0329/1017/NEWS

State says new 'crack tax' brought in $1.7 million



Drug dealers not only paid their debts to society last year with prison sentences, they often paid with tax money as well.

The state's unauthorized substances tax, dubbed the "crack tax," raked in $1,714,565 since becoming effective on Jan 1., 2005, according to a statement released yesterday by the Tennessee Department of Revenue. More than $32 million in uncollected taxes has been assessed.

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http://www.11alive.com/news/news_art...?storyid=75151

ACLU Releases Government Photos
The ACLU of Georgia released copies of government files on Wednesday that illustrate the extent to which the FBI, the DeKalb County Division of Homeland Security and other government agencies have gone to compile information on Georgians suspected of being threats simply for expressing controversial opinions.

Two documents relating to anti-war and anti-government protests, and a vegan rally, prove the agencies have been "spying" on Georgia residents unconstitutionally, the ACLU said. (Related: ACLU Complaint -- PDF file)


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...012502261.html

Protesters Sue for Speech Spot
Reflecting Pool Area Off Limits During State of the Union

Organizers planning a protest during President Bush's State of the Union address next week say they have been denied a permit to hold the demonstration around the U.S. Capitol Reflecting Pool because that area has been reclassified as part of the security perimeter for the day of the speech.


"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances." -- First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2006/0...l_n_14505.html

Another Payola Scandal... This Time Fox News Columnist On Big Tobacco Payroll...

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http://www.impactlab.com/modules.php...rder=0&thold=0

Currently under construction in Dubai, Hydropolis is the world's first luxury underwater hotel. It will include three elements: the land station, where guests will be welcomed, the connecting tunnel, which will transport people by train to the main area of the hotel, and the 220 suites within the submarine leisure complex. Great photos.



http://mosnews.com/news/2006/01/27/bushbaradei.shtml

U.S. President Backs Russian Plan for Iran’s Uranium Enrichment

President George W. Bush gave public backing to a Russian compromise plan to end the Iran nuclear, as well as China and the chief of the UN International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohamed ElBaradei. According to the plan, Russia would manufacture nuclear fuel for Iran and collect the waste to prevent the development of nuclear arms, AFP reported Thursday.




http://rawstory.com/news/2005/Studio...0000_0126.html

Studio that scrubbed Abramoff/Bush photo earned $140,000 from 2004 campaign

A photograpy studio which admitted to scrubbing at least one photograph of President George Bush and disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff was paid more that $140,000 by the Bush/Cheney campaign in 2004, RAW STORY has learned.

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

Just in case you ever run low on paranoia fuel...

Note: This story comes from the BBC - not some 'conspiracy theory' site.

"Fight the net" - a terrifying Pentagon document

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4655196.stm

A newly declassified document gives a fascinating glimpse into the US military's plans for "information operations" - from psychological operations, to attacks on hostile computer networks.

Bloggers beware.

As the world turns networked, the Pentagon is calculating the military opportunities that computer networks, wireless technologies and the modern media offer.

From influencing public opinion through new media to designing "computer network attack" weapons, the US military is learning to fight an electronic war.

The declassified document is called "Information Operations Roadmap". It was obtained by the National Security Archive at George Washington University using the Freedom of Information Act.

Officials in the Pentagon wrote it in 2003. The Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, signed it.

The "roadmap" calls for a far-reaching overhaul of the military's ability to conduct information operations and electronic warfare. And, in some detail, it makes recommendations for how the US armed forces should think about this new, virtual warfare.

The document says that information is "critical to military success". Computer and telecommunications networks are of vital operational importance.

The operations described in the document include a surprising range of military activities: public affairs officers who brief journalists, psychological operations troops who try to manipulate the thoughts and beliefs of an enemy, computer network attack specialists who seek to destroy enemy networks.

All these are engaged in information operations.

Perhaps the most startling aspect of the roadmap is its acknowledgement that information put out as part of the military's psychological operations, or Psyops, is finding its way onto the computer and television screens of ordinary Americans.

"Information intended for foreign audiences, including public diplomacy and Psyops, is increasingly consumed by our domestic audience," it reads.

"Psyops messages will often be replayed by the news media for much larger audiences, including the American public," it goes on.

The document's authors acknowledge that American news media should not unwittingly broadcast military propaganda. "Specific boundaries should be established," they write. But they don't seem to explain how.

"In this day and age it is impossible to prevent stories that are fed abroad as part of psychological operations propaganda from blowing back into the United States - even though they were directed abroad," says Kristin Adair of the National Security Archive.

Public awareness of the US military's information operations is low, but it's growing - thanks to some operational clumsiness.

When it describes plans for electronic warfare, or EW, the document takes on an extraordinary tone. It seems to see the internet as being equivalent to an enemy weapons system

Late last year, it emerged that the Pentagon had paid a private company, the Lincoln Group, to plant hundreds of stories in Iraqi newspapers. The stories - all supportive of US policy - were written by military personnel and then placed in Iraqi publications.

And websites that appeared to be information sites on the politics of Africa and the Balkans were found to be run by the Pentagon.

But the true extent of the Pentagon's information operations, how they work, who they're aimed at, and at what point they turn from informing the public to influencing populations, is far from clear.

The roadmap, however, gives a flavour of what the US military is up to - and the grand scale on which it's thinking.

It reveals that Psyops personnel "support" the American government's international broadcasting. It singles out TV Marti - a station which broadcasts to Cuba - as receiving such support.

It recommends that a global website be established that supports America's strategic objectives. But no American diplomats here, thank you. The website would use content from "third parties with greater credibility to foreign audiences than US officials".

It also recommends that Psyops personnel should consider a range of technologies to disseminate propaganda in enemy territory: unmanned aerial vehicles, "miniaturized, scatterable public address systems", wireless devices, cellular phones and the internet.

When it describes plans for electronic warfare, or EW, the document takes on an extraordinary tone.

It seems to see the internet as being equivalent to an enemy weapons system.

"Strategy should be based on the premise that the Department [of Defense] will 'fight the net' as it would an enemy weapons system," it reads.

The slogan "fight the net" appears several times throughout the roadmap. Shocked

The authors warn that US networks are very vulnerable to attack by hackers, enemies seeking to disable them, or spies looking for intelligence.

"Networks are growing faster than we can defend them... Attack sophistication is increasing... Number of events is increasing."

And, in a grand finale, the document recommends that the United States should seek the ability to "provide maximum control of the entire electromagnetic spectrum".

US forces should be able to "disrupt or destroy the full spectrum of globally emerging communications systems, sensors, and weapons systems dependent on the electromagnetic spectrum".

Consider that for a moment.

The US military seeks the capability to knock out every telephone, every networked computer, every radar system on the planet.

Are these plans the pipe dreams of self-aggrandising bureaucrats? Or are they real?

The fact that the "Information Operations Roadmap" is approved by the Secretary of Defense suggests that these plans are taken very seriously indeed in the Pentagon.

And that the scale and grandeur of the digital revolution is matched only by the US military's ambitions for it.

PDF: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/bsp/h..._06_psyops.pdf

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http://www.rfidjournal.com/article/a...view/2098/1/1/

RFID-Zapper Shoots to Kill

Two students turned a disposable camera into a gadget that shocks the life out of RFID tags; now, a privacy advocacy group hopes to sell devices based on their design

[alkemical]

http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB177/index.htm

Rumsfeld's Roadmap to Propaganda

Secret Pentagon "roadmap" calls for "boundaries"
between "information operations" abroad and at home
but provides no actual limits as long as US doesn't "target" Americans



http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,183147,00.html

New Patriot Act Provision Creates Tighter Barrier to Officials at Public Events

WASHINGTON — A new provision tucked into the Patriot Act bill now before Congress would allow authorities to haul demonstrators at any "special event of national significance" away to jail on felony charges if they are caught breaching a security perimeter.

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http://cnn.netscape.cnn.com/news/sto...1545717676.htm


Geometry may be hard-wired into brain, study shows



WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Amazonian hunter-gatherers who lack written language and who have never seen a math book score highly on basic tests of geometric concepts, researchers said on Thursday in a study that suggests geometry may be hard-wired into the brain.



http://www.wired.com/news/technology...?tw=wn_index_4

ATT Sued over NSA Eavesdropping
"The Electronic Frontier Foundation filed a class-action lawsuit against AT&T on Tuesday, accusing the telecom company of violating federal laws by collaborating with the government's secret, warrantless wiretapping of American citizens' phone and internet usage."


http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll...126/SPORTS0101

Fraud crackdown

Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Customs and Immigration officers will focus on bogus NFL memorabilia this week.

At last year's game in Jacksonville, Fla., agents seized some 21,000 pieces of counterfeit NFL merchandise worth $5 million.

On Monday, customs agents arrested a 42-year-old U.S. citizen as he tried to enter Detroit from Windsor, said Capt. Ron Smith, spokesman for the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol. The driver said he was from New York, and his car was loaded with boxes containing 432 phony Super Bowl shirts valued at $1,200, Smith said.

[alkemical]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikiped...tates_Congress


Description
This RFC is being opened in order to further a centralized discussion concerning actions to be taken against US Congressional staffers and possibly other federal employees who have engaged in unethical and possibly libelous behavior in violation of Wikipedia policies (WP:NPOV, WP:CIV). The editors from these IP ranges have been rude, abrasive, immature, and show disregard for Wikipedia policy. The editors have frequently tried to censor the history of elected officials, often replacing community articles with censored biographies despite other users' attempts to dispute these violations. They also violate Wikipedia:Verifiability, by deleting verified reports, while adding flattering things about members of Congress that are unverified.

The offending editors have been blocked. This RFC is needed to gather community comments. It is proposed that a one week block is not enough. The block was lifted January 30, 2006. A new block for additional vandalism was enforced for three hours February 1, 2006 at 14:59

[alkemical]

http://www.capitolhillblue.com/artma...cle_8096.shtml

Key White House records in Plame probe disappear

Key White House email records in the investigation of the leak of a covert CIA operative's name to the press are missing.

Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald. the special prosecutor in the criminal case against Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff said in a Jan. 23 letter that not all e-mail was archived in 2003, the year the Bush administration exposed the identity of undercover CIA officer Valerie Plame.




http://www.capitolhillblue.com/artma...cle_8101.shtml

The wiretap war
By JAMES ROSEN
McClatchy Newspapers
Feb 3, 2006, 00:23

Senators traded bitter barbs over President Bush's wiretapping initiative Thursday, with Republicans accusing its critics of aiding terrorists and Democrats charging its supporters of violating the Constitution.

[alkemical]

http://www.physorg.com/news10295.html

Researchers at Northeastern University and the University of California, Irvine say that scientists might soon have evidence for extra dimensions and other exotic predictions of string theory. Early results from a neutrino detector at the South Pole, called AMANDA, show that ghostlike particles from space could serve as probes to a world beyond our familiar three dimensions, the research team says.


http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial...05/1054419.asp

Youth saves life of woman who saved him years earlier
Kevin Stephan always wanted to find the right way to thank the off-duty nurse who got his 11-year-old heart beating again after a baseball bat struck him in the chest in 1999.
Nine days ago, the now-17-year-old Kevin found the perfect way to thank Penny Brown. He returned the life-saving favor, rushing out of a Depew restaurant kitchen to administer the Heimlich maneuver as Brown choked on her lunch.






http://wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=48675

Nurses want self-harmers to be given fresh blades Professional group proposes safe cutting – like 'giving clean needles to reduce HIV'



http://kurtnimmo.com/?p=208

Super Bowl Police State
According to a Department of Perpetual War (formerly the Department of Defense) “news release,” NORAD “will contribute to security operations” during the Super Bowl in Detroit. “The aerospace command will fly Operation Noble Eagle air defense protection missions in the Detroit and Windsor, Ont., Canada area, officials said. Windsor is just across the Detroit River from Michigan. And NORAD has military assets from both Canada and the U.S,” explains the American Forces Press Service. “Operation Noble Eagle is a defense and civil support mission started after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, to help protect the U.S. homeland.” In other words, the Pentagon is exploiting a premier gladiatorial event watched by millions of Americans in order to get folks accustomed to a “wider portfolio of missions,” as the Carlyle Group-influenced RAND (http://www.rand.org/publications/ran.../airforce.html) corporation deems it, shorthand for ever-increasing militarization of society.



http://users.chartertn.net/tonytemplin/FBI%5Feyes/




http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article...027979,00.html

Hawks have warplanes ready if the nuclear diplomacy fails
By Richard Beeston, Diplomatic Editor
IT IS the option of last resort with consequences too hideous to contemplate. And yet, with diplomacy nearly exhausted, the use of military force to destroy Iran’s nuclear programme is being actively considered by those grappling with one of the world’s most pressing security problems.



http://www.insightmag.com/Media/MediaManager/Rove2.htm

Rove counting heads on the Senate Judiciary Committee
Congressional sources said Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove has threatened to blacklist any Republican who votes against the president. The sources said the blacklist would mean a halt in any White House political or financial support of senators running for re-election in November.

[alkemical]

http://www.americanchronicle.com/art...articleID=5409

Legislation to remove firearms in domestic violence cases passes Senate unopposed

Need for legislation underscored after San Diego boy was slain by armed father.

SACRAMENTO – Senator Christine Kehoe’s (D-San Diego) legislation to provide additional protection for people seeking protective orders from the court in non-violent domestic situations passed the Senate this week by a vote of 37 to 0.


Specifically, Senate Bill 585:

1.) Adds additional provisions to the Family Code to allow law enforcement to consider seeking the immediate surrender of a firearm from a person served with a protective order.




http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la...home-headlines

Police Panel Scraps ID Policy
L.A. commission has quietly stopped naming officers in shootings, but will talk publicly today.

By Scott Glover and Matt Lait, Times Staff Writers


Without any public discussion, the Los Angeles Police Commission decided two months ago to overturn a 25-year-old policy and begin withholding the names of police officers involved in shootings.

Commission President John W. Mack, who for years was a prominent civil rights activist noted for his insistence on holding officers accountable, said the commission made the change after being told that state law protects the privacy of officers.

[alkemical]

http://www.townhall.com/blogs/c-log/...85452.htmlThis week,

Congress may consider H.R. 4157, the "Health Information Technology Promotion Act." This bill should also be known as the "Big Brother May Have Access to Your Personal Medical Information Act." Swathed in HIPPA "Privacy" Act regulation lingo, this bill puts the U.S. on a fast track to a nationalized healthcare database.
The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, an association for private practioners, is leading the opposition against the bill. AAPS says the bill expands federal power over medical information and trumps current state protections.




http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11180519/site/newsweek


Exclusive: Can the President Order a Killing on U.S. Soil?
Feb. 13, 2006 issue - In the latest twist in the debate over presidential powers, a Justice Department official suggested that in certain circumstances, the president might have the power to order the killing of terrorist suspects inside the United States.



http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0209/p...spo.html?s=hns

US plans massive data sweep
Little-known data-collection system could troll news, blogs, even e-mails. Will it go too far?

The US government is developing a massive computer system that can collect huge amounts of data and, by linking far-flung information from blogs and e-mail to government records and intelligence reports, search for patterns of terrorist activity.





http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles...tagedpsyop.htm

New Evidence Suggests Muslim Riots Are Staged Psyop
As news breaks of four more demonstrators being shot dead in Kabul, fresh evidence has surfaced lending credibility to the assertion that the Muslim riots are a staged psyop or at the very least based on false pretenses.

Yesterday leading Russian MP Vladimir Zhirinovsky said that the riots were a manufactured psychological operation on the part of the US in an attempt to enlist hardened EU support for a military strike against Iran.

As first highlighted by this website and others, more evidence has come to light that confirms fake and misleading caricatures were bundled in with the more tame cartoons that were printed in Danish newspapers. Muslims were misled into believing that all the images were printed in newspapers when they were not.



http://kurtnimmo.com/?p=213

CIA Patsy Gets Help in Prison Escape
Be afraid of Jamal al-Badawi, al-CIA-duh “mastermind” terrorist—or interchangeably, dim bulb Muslim patsy—who supposedly dug a tunnel out of “a heavily guarded” Yemeni prison and made his escape, thus posing a “clear and present danger to all countries.” As it turns out, al-Badawi received the equivalent of a cake with a metal file from Yemeni intelligence officers, according to the Associated Press.

Of course, the Associated Press did not bother to mention that Yemeni intelligence is in the pocket of the CIA, as reported by the Sydney Morning Herald in 2002. The CIA has “received tremendous co-operation from the intel services” in Yemen, Pakistan, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, to name but a few, according to a former CIA employee. So effective was this “tremendous co-operation” between the CIA and Yemeni intelligence, the CIA was able to track down and assassinate American citizen and alleged “al-Qaeda” operative Ahmed Hijazi outside of Sanaa, Yemen, in November, 2002.



ATTN: This will not be updated till monday at the earliest.

please check out these fine news sites:

www.strike-the-root.com

www.whatreallyhappened.com

Thanks!