News and Developments
M5 Readers: Keep in Mind That Political News, By Nature, May Reflect Sequential Agenda
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August  2010 

 

Threats Made Against 'Hidden Judiciary' [08/31/10] "Threats and assaults against immigration and Social Security judges are endangering a crucial component of the justice system, a panel of federal judges said Monday. "No judge should be sitting in a courtroom where he or she may be fearful of physical harm," said Randall Frye, president of the Association of Administrative Law Judges. [...]"    

NTSB: Faulty plane simulators cause deaths [08/31/10] "Flight simulator training flaws led to some of the worst airline accidents in the last decade, a U.S. newspaper's analysis showed. [...]"   

700 workers abandoned in Dubai [08/31/10] "Hundreds of workers in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, have been abandoned by their employer and left to live in squalor and filth, a source told Gulf News. [...]" 

Russian military intel chief in mystery death [08/31/10] "General Yuri Ivanov, 52, deputy head of Russia’s powerful military intelligence agency, the GRU, died mysteriously in a swimming accident “several days ago”, Russian media has reported. No further details have been released on the circumstances or the location of Ivanov’s death. [...]"    

3M buying Israeli maker of people tracking devices [08/31/10] "Manufacturing conglomerate 3M says it has agreed to pay $230 million in cash for an Israeli company that makes technology used to keep track of people.  The company, Attenti Holdings SA, makes systems that can be used, for example, to track the movements of people awaiting trial or are on probation and those of patients in senior care centers.  3M Co., the maker of Post-Its and Scotch Tape, already makes products that can be used in file tracking, library management, supply chain management. The deal announced Tuesday comes a day after Maplewood, Minn.'s 3M said it will pay $943 million for Cogent Inc., which develops systems that read finger and palm prints and makes iris and face recognition systems.  [...]"  

HP Holds Navy Network ‘Hostage’ for $3.3 Billion [08/31/10] "Someday, somehow, the U.S. Navy would like to run its networks — maybe even own its computers again. After 10 years and nearly $10 billion, many sailors are tired of leasing their PCs, and relying on a private contractor to operate most of their data systems. Troops are sick of getting stuck with inboxes that hold 150 times less than a Gmail account, and local networks that go down for days while Microsoft Office 2007 gets installed … in 2010. But the Navy just can’t quit its tangled relationship with Hewlett-Packard. The admirals and the firm recently signed another $3.3 billion no-bid contract that begins Oct. 1st. It’s a final, five-year deal, both sides promise, to let the Navy gently wean itself from its reliance on HP. But that’s what they said the last time, and the time before that. It’s become a Washington cliché that the military and the intelligence community rely too much on outside contractors. Everyone from President Obama to Defense Secretary Robert Gates has promised to cut back on Pentagon outsourcing. But the Navy’s ongoing inability to separate itself from Hewlett-Packard – after years of trying – shows how difficult that withdrawal is going to be. [...]"  Note: An amazing story .... worthy of a deep, deep investigation of the basic quid pro quo.

Australia’s Radiation Cover Up [08/31/10] "On November 3, 2006, in Lucas Heights Australia, OPAL, the Open Pool Australian Light-Water Reactor was throttled to full power. There was grave opposition to this $400 million science research/nuclear facility, a facility used for the science and manufacturing of nuclear medicines. Those who opposed the facility claimed that the dangers of a nuclear fission facility were too high to allow such a facility to operate in Australia. [...]" 

MSM: Dead soldiers’ parents sue insurer over benefits [08/31/10] "Dead soldiers' parents sue insurer Prudential over interest paid on life insurance policies. The parents of six deceased U.S. soldiers are suing Prudential Financial, saying it paid paltry interest on military life insurance benefits while keeping more generous interest earnings for itself. Five plaintiffs joined the original plaintiff Monday in the lawsuit, which was filed in July in U.S. District Court in Springfield, Mass. It accuses Prudential of profiting from the dead soldiers' policies with bookkeeping maneuvers and misrepresenting the way the beneficiaries could collect lump-sum payouts. Their attorneys are seeking class-action status. If granted, it could affect tens of thousands of beneficiaries who received payments under group life insurance policies for military members and veterans created by Congress and administered by Prudential.  A spokesman for the Newark, N.J.-based financial giant said Monday that while company officials cannot address the pending litigation, they strongly defend their handling of the money as responsible and deferential to the beneficiaries' grief and needs.  The debate centers on Prudential's use of what it calls Alliance Accounts. The accounts are similar to checking accounts and come with a booklet of drafts. Beneficiaries can write drafts to themselves up to the payout's full amount, an option they can pick in lieu of 36 equal monthly installments.
Interest paid to beneficiaries who parked their money in Alliance Accounts in the last several years has ranged from 0.5 to 1.5 percent, according to the lawsuit. But the plaintiffs say the checks are equivalent to an IOU, and that the money doesn't actually sit in those accounts as of the time of the soldier's death. They allege Prudential holds the money in its $200 billion general account and earns 5 to 6 percent interest; moves it into an Alliance Account only when the beneficiary requests it; pays out at the lower interest rate; then keeps the difference. Cristobal Bonifaz, one of four attorneys representing the plaintiffs, said the lost interest would vary greatly depending on how quickly the beneficiaries withdrew the money. It could range from a few thousand dollars up to perhaps $20,000 to $30,000 for people who let their payouts sit untouched for years in Prudential's accounts, he said. "They didn't tell anybody, 'We're going to make money with it,'" Bonifaz said. "What we're saying to Prudential is, 'You kept investing the money, but that money did not belong to you as of the day that person died, and whatever you made off it, you should give to those persons it was meant for.'"[...]"  

MSM: Two Men on United Flight from Chicago Arrested on 'Preparation of a Terrorist Attack' in Amsterdam [08/31/10] "Suspects Had Been Cleared Sunday by TSA in Chicago, Birmingham Despite Security Concerns.] U.S. officials said the two appeared to be traveling with what were termed "mock bombs" in their luggage. "This was almost certainly a dry run, a test," said one senior law enforcement official. A spokesman for the Dutch public prosecutor, Ernst Koelman, confirmed the two men were arrested this morning and said "the investigation is ongoing." He said the arrests were made "at the request of American authorities."   [...]"  Note:  Here we go again, with a similar pattern to the 'shoe bomber' and 'underwear bomber'. SAME pattern over again. Related:  AP source: "Unlikely 2 men were plotting terror" 

Drone Patrol of Mexican Border Expanded [08/31/10] "Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano announced Monday that Predator drone aircraft will begin to patrol south Texas’ border with Mexico on Sept. 1. The deployment of the unmanned aircraft, which will fly out of Corpus Christi, Tex., will extend aerial surveillance to cover the border “from the El Centro Sector in California all the way to the Gulf of Mexico,” and provide “critical aerial surveillance assistance to personnel on the ground,” the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement. Two Predators already patrol other parts of the border, AFP reported. [...]"   

 Commentary:  "Ground Zero Islamic center’s funding leads to CFR" [08/31/10] "I received a second email from the Corbett Report, a video report whose Sunday stories were the Ground Zero Mosque Distraction, Israel Lobby, Apple and Orwell, the first with some fascinating information about Imam Faisal Abdul Rauf, who heads up the Cordoba Initiative, i.e., the building of the Ground Zero Islamic center. Eureka! The Cordoba Initiative, and Imam Rauf, Corbett went on to say, were affiliated with the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations and support for that came from fellow Council on Foreign Relations’ members. Imam Rauf himself was on the Council on Foreign Relations’ Religious Advisory Committee. The Cordoba initiative’s website cited “Christian support for the Cordoba House” from a Christian publication, “Sojourners,” which is owned by evangelical Christian writer and political activist Jim Wallis, also a sitting member of the CFR’s Religious Advisory Committee. Wow! [...]" 

Obama Shields Govt. Contractors From Disclosure Law [08/31/10] "In a statement issued to the publication, the White House said that “there will be legal and practical issues” that must be addressed before contractors are forced to reveal their corrupt past. However, Americans ran rest assured that the president’s people intend to address those mysterious issues “as quickly as possible” to keep with the administration’s commitment of increasing “transparency in government contracting.” [...]"  

Mom: Officer delayed care for dying girl [08/31/10] "New York police say they're investigating a woman's report her 11-year-old daughter died after an officer prevented her from rushing the child to a hospital. [...]"    

Bolivia sees its future powered by lithium after S. Korea deal [08/31/10] "Bolivia's economic future appears set to be transformed by its vast lithium reserves -- half of all proven deposits on Earth -- after President Evo Morales clinched a deal with South Korea for mining and infrastructural development. [...]"  

Commentary:  "On BlackBerry bans and the real threat to national security" [08/31/10] " ....  Indeed, Israel has become a technologist’s playground, a “Silicon Wadi,” as Israelis like to claim. Thousands of Israeli companies have contributed to the information and communication technology needs of modern day life. What do they, along with the names mentioned above, share in common? Unlike Dubai, Unit 8200, known as “Shmone Matayim” in Hebrew, doesn’t like the lime light. Set up in the 1959 on Mount Avital in the occupied Golan Heights, Unit 8200 is as a secretive electronic warfare unit responsible for collecting signal intelligence and code decryption. Its name represents the ethnic origins of its founding members: eight Ashkenazi and 200 Iraqi Jews who were specialists in wireless communications. The unit has attained an almost mythical reputation among venture capitalists for producing the top entrepreneurial, technical and creative pioneers in the global tech industry. Israeli billionaire Gil Shwed, CEO of Check Point Software Technologies, a NASDAQ (CHKP) listed global provider of IT security solutions pioneering Firewall and VPN technology, won’t confirm that he allegedly served at 8200.  However, in a Forbes report dated March 18, 2002, entitled: “A Fortune in Firewalls” on Shwed’s biography, Lea Goldman outlines that “a four-year-long period goes virtually unmentioned in the official biography of the Israeli billionaire Gil Shwed. This much information can be cobbled together: In 1986, Shwed, just 18 years old, joined the super secret electronic intelligence arm, Unit 8200, of the [Israeli Army]. His job most likely was to string together military computer networks in a way that would allow some users access to confidential materials and deny it to others.” Both Gadi Mazor and Ron Maor of Onset and Nobex Technologies are veterans of Unit 8200 as well; so is the influential Yossi Vardi.  [...]  Note:  The biggest threat to 'national security' is 'national security'.

Israeli Agent Threatens U.S.S. Liberty Veteran [08/30/10] "After telling Tourney that the men of the USS Liberty “got what they deserved that day,” the man with the Israeli accent admitted he was not a doctor but rather an employee of the state which orchestrated the murder of the men aboard the Liberty. Tourney asked the man what he did specifically. He responded, “many things,” and “I do whatever my government asks of me.”  The Israeli stressed that his bosses were “not happy” with some of Tourney’s recent “activities.” [...]" A Conservative Estimate of Total Direct U.S. Aid to Israel: Almost $114 Billion 

Mexico sacks 10% of police force [08/30/10] "The federal police force in Mexico dismisses 3,200 officers for incompetence, corruption or links to organised crime. [...]"  Note:  Who will now become paid cohorts of the drug gangs, against the very police force they left.

US imposing North Korea sanctions [08/30/10] "The US is to impose "new financial sanctions on North Korea" after the sinking of a South Korean warship in March, officials say. [...]"  Note:  But it has already been proven that North Korea had nothing to do with it. It happened in the midst of a South Korean and US war game ... and there is no evidence against the North Koreans. The US is as out-of-control as Israel is ...

Update:  Police see ‘professional job’ in British spy’s death [08/30/10] "As authorities investigate the recent death of British spy Dr. Gareth Williams, the country’s notorious tabloid media industry is having a field day disorienting interested observers. It is thus easy to miss important news breakthroughs in the cacophony of sensationalized headlines about Williams, whose body was discovered a week ago, stuffed in a sports duffle bag in the bath of his London apartment. One such breakthrough was yesterday’s report by Britain’s widely respected Channel 4, which said that law enforcement investigators described Williams’ death as “a neat job”, a term used to refer to professional killings. The Channel 4 report was preceded by strong official denials by police that Williams’ murder was sex-related, as had been previously reported. Some investigators now believe that Williams was killed by a foreign agent, who then deliberately “planted a trail of clues” pointing to a homosexual link to the death. Pending the results of toxicological analysis, there is even suspicion that Williams, who was most recently working for British external intelligence agency MI6, may have been poisoned or drugged. In other important news about the case, multiple sources have confirmed that General Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), Britain’s electronic surveillance agency, which technically employed Williams, dispatched him twice to Kabul, Afghanistan, in 2008, and routinely to the National Security Agency (GCHQ’s American equivalent) in Fort George F. Meade, Maryland. It is for this reason that the CIA now appears implicated in the investigation into Williams’ mysterious death. Interestingly, the precise job post of Dr. Williams, a mathematician, in GCHQ and MI6 remains unknown. Intelligence author Gordon Thomas claims Williams worked on the cybersecurity of Britain’s financial infrastructure, whereas other sources suggest he was tasked with devising methods of breaking encrypted voice-over-Internet-protocol (VOIP) communications. [...]"  Related: UK: MI6 worker's family 'devastated' [08/25/10] "The family of an MI6 worker from Anglesey whose body was found in a holdall at his London flat say they are devastated by the discovery. [...]"  

"Annie Machon: my so-called life as a spy" [08/30/10] "The murder of MI6 operative Gareth Williams last week has turned the spotlight on the shady world of espionage. Here, a former intelligence offer for MI5 explains why the life of a British spy is an insular one  [...]"  

The United Kingdoms Cass Sunstein? Dangerous Conspiracy Theorists Oh My! [08/30/10] "It looks like the United Kingdoms version of Cass Sunstein has finally arrived. A new publication called "The Power of Unreason" has been released which labels conspiracy theories as dangerous thoughts that could lead to violence. In the publication and subsequent BBC propaganda piece, the authors site the 7/7 and 9/11 attacks as dangerous conspiracy theories. What they fail to mention is that the official stories for these horrendous terrorist attacks are conspiracy theories in themselves. Basically the corporate news defies logic and acts as a sort of god, demanding that you do not believe so called theories no matter how much proof is put forward.  An example of one such theory is that the bombings in New York and London, on 11 September 2001 and 7 July 2005 respectively, were “inside jobs” carried out by authorities in the US and UK. Other theories highlighted were that “freemasons control the world economy through manipulation of paper currency”, that the UK government is “consciously seeking to destroy Islam” and that a “conspiracy between the Japanese government, the US, and the Jews existed to gain world domination”. BBC Both 7/7 and 9/11 were inside jobs, carried out by rogue elements of the CIA, Mossad, and MI6. All the proof needed to come to this conclusion is easily accessible.  The publication is openly calling for the indoctrination of our youth. BBC even went as far as to say the government needs to teach youth to think more critically!    “More needs to be done in schools to teach young people digital literacy, such as being taught to tell the difference between propaganda and honest and accurate reporting,” argues the think tank.  Similar to quotes by Sunstein, the report calls for the infiltration of internet sites in order to dispute so called “extremist rhetoric.”   A Demos report published today, The Power of Unreason, argues that secrecy surrounding the investigation of events such as the 9/11 New York attacks and the 7/7 bombings in London merely adds weight to unsubstantiated claims that they were “inside jobs”.  The publication specifically attacks the increasingly influential 9/11 truth movement. With millions of people awake or at least open to the possibility of state sponsored terror, the powers that be have ignored legitimate questions and ramped up their attacks on free speech by simply labeling us domestic terrorists.  “Most notoriously and influentially, the ‘9/11 truth movement’ has questioned the official accounts of 9/11 and has become a large and growing political force.” Truth seekers and patriots around the world are being labeled as extremists/domestic terrorists. In times like this we must always double check our facts, preach non violence, and watch out for the tremendous amount of shills within the movement. [...]"  Note: Worth examining the entire article and accompanying video clips. Cass Sunstein ... that sneaky little sequential control freak. I'd like to see the smirk wiped off his face.   Related: "Department of Justice Lists Constitutionalists in 'Extremism' Guide"

UK Government Think Tank Calls For Infiltrating Conspiracy Websites, closing them down, "to increase trust in government by limiting revelations" "Furious that state involvement in major terror attacks is being exposed to a wider audience than ever before via the Internet, a UK think tank closely affiliated with the Downing Street has called for authorities to infiltrate conspiracy websites in an effort to “increase trust in the government”. “A Demos report published today, The Power of Unreason, argues that secrecy surrounding the investigation of events such as the 9/11 New York attacks and the 7/7 bombings in London merely adds weight to unsubstantiated claims that they were “inside jobs,” reports the London Independent. In other words, the fact that the overwhelming amount of evidence indicates that both 7/7 and 9/11 were “inside jobs” of one form or another, and that huge numbers of people are now aware of this via the increasing influence of the Internet, is hampering efforts to commit more acts of terror, therefore the government needs to change its strategy. In the report, Demos, “Recommends the Government fight back by infiltrating internet sites to dispute these theories.” One of the tools Demos already employs to “fight back” against conspiracy theories is by labeling anyone who challenges the government’s official story (openly presented as a conspiracy theory in itself) as an extremist or a terrorist recruiter. [...]"  Note:  It never occurs to them that openly declaring the intent of the UK government in this directions only undermines their own plans, and that 'the public' that 'believes' anything they say is an extreme naive minority.

Making Sense of the Media Cover-Up of 9-11 [08/30/10] "Anyone who has looked at the events of 9-11 knows there are basically two competing histories. First, there is the official version, presented by President George W. Bush in a speech given shortly after the attacks and bolstered by the appointed 9-11 commission, that Muslim terrorists were responsible for the death and destruction. This version has since been adopted and supported by the Obama administration and virtually every member of Congress. The second version is fundamentally opposed to the official version in that it claims that the terror attacks were a sophisticated "false flag" operation carried out by Israelis with the assistance of highly- placed Zionist agents inside the U.S. government. This version posits that the Israeli plan was for the attacks to be blamed on Al Qaida in order to usher in the Zionist-designed "War on Terror" with its pre-planned invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. [...]"   

Why The Military Knows Israel Did 9/11 [08/30/10] [9:59]  "Dr. Alan Sabrosky, former Director of Studies at the U.S. Army War College, on audio. The video details evidence on why it is 100% certain that Israel did 9/11 and the official story is a pack of lies. [...]"   

"Pentagon considers preemptive strikes as part of cyber-defense strategy" [08/29/10] "The Pentagon is contemplating an aggressive approach to defending its computer systems that includes preemptive actions such as knocking out parts of an adversary's computer network overseas - but it is still wrestling with how to pursue the strategy legally.  [...]"  Note: The Pentagon, home of dangerous, cognitively-challenged stupid people, cannot co-exist with the rest of the civilization.

Corbett Report: JFK Truth, Drugwar, The People Strike Back - Sunday Update  [08/29/10] [9:34]  

Katrina called a 'man-made' disaster [08/29/10] "On the fifth anniversary of hurricane Katrina, New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu called the devastation caused by the storm a "man-made disaster." [...]"  

Paul Allen alleges patent infringement [08/29/10] "Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen sued in Seattle Friday, contending Apple, Google and others are profiting illegally from patents he owns, court records show. A spokesman for Allen said the 11 companies named in the suit filed in U.S. District Court are using technology created years ago by Allen's now-defunct Palo Alto, Calif., firm, Interval Research Corp. The suit alleges the companies have used technology covered by four of his patents. Besides Apple and Google, the defendants include Facebook, eBay, AOL Inc., Netflix Inc., Office Depot Inc., OfficeMax Inc., Staples Inc., Yahoo Inc. and Google's YouTube subsidiary. Microsoft was not among them. Mark Lemley, a Stanford Law School professor specializing in intellectual property, said the suit "sounds like the classic patent troll case," referring to a label slapped on holders of patents who use their intellectual property primarily as a basis for infringement lawsuits. [...]"  

MSM: Hate crimes against Muslims rare, FBI data shows [08/29/10] "Hate crimes directed against Muslims remain relatively rare, notwithstanding the notoriety gained by incidents such as recent vandalism at the Madera Islamic Center.  [...]"  

Internet: Net Neutrality: 7 Worst Case Scenarios [08/29/10] "Many consumer advocacy groups, web companies and startups are ranting about the perils of losing net neutrality. Net neutrality, they say, is what made the Internet what it is today by giving small companies the opportunity to become big companies, and it rightly puts the user in full control of what he views on the Internet. [...]"   

Veterans’ group: CIA blocking lawsuit over experiments on troops [08/29/10] "An advocacy group working on behalf of Vietnam veterans has asked a federal judge in California to sanction the CIA, saying the spy agency has been blocking efforts to uncover its role in alleged experiments on US soldiers from the 1950s to 1970s. The Vietnam Veterans of America filed a lawsuit on behalf of six Vietnam War veterans in January, 2009, claiming that the CIA had used an estimated 7,800 US service members as “guinea pigs” in experiments involving “at least 250, but as many as 400 chemical and biological agents,” according to Courthouse News. [...]"   

Internet:  The Top 9 Riskiest Places To Surf [08/28/10] "AVG, a security company, has ranked the top ten riskiest places for people to browse the web, as measured by users' likelihood of being attacked by malicious viruses.  AVG explains that its list of the riskiest nations is based on data collected from "AVG's vast user network, spanning 100 million PCs in 144 countries." It's based a week's worth of data: AVG says to compile its list, it tracked the number of worldwide Internet attacks, as well as the frequency with which AVG was installed, during the last week of July. Given that AVG is in the Internet security business, and the limited timeframe of the research, the rankings should, of course, be taken with a grain of salt. Check out the rankings in the slideshow [...]"    

"Texas fire destroys voting machines" [08/28/10] "Houston election officials say they'll be ready for an upcoming election even though a fire destroyed almost all of the county's electronic voting machines. [...]"  Note:  Is anyone surprised? Related: Fort Worth tops in political donations   "Records show that a Texas ZIP code that is home to a bevy of law firms and energy companies is the leading source of political contributions this year. The Center for Responsive Politics said the 76102 ZIP code in Fort Worth sent in nearly $250,000 for federal office candidates during the current election cycle, the most of any ZIP code in the United States. Fort Worth topped other Texas energy meccas such as downtown Houston and Midland, according to the organization. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram said Saturday concerns about future regulation of the natural gas industry in Texas appear to have driven the donations from 76102. "They are putting their money behind the current lightly regulated regime," said Cal Jillson, a political science professor at Southern Methodist University. "They don't want to see the regulations tightened up." The bulk of the donations went to Republican candidates, according to the analysis. [...]"   

EPA Rejects Calls to Ban Lead in Ammo, Fishing Tackle [08/28/10] "The Environmental Protection Agency has denied a petition filed by "environmental activists" seeking to ban lead in ammunition and fishing tackle, saying such regulation is beyond the agency’s authority. [...]"  Note:  "environmental activists" - who are they, who funds them, and who benefits? 

Violence Rules in Mexico [08/28/10] "An investigator probing the deaths of 72 migrants in violence-wracked Tamaulipas state in northern Mexico has turned up missing. The massacre victims, apparently people trying to reach the U.S. border, were reportedly slain by members of the notorious Zetas drug gang.  [...]"  

"Fidel Castro Says Wikileak Documents Provide Osama Bin Laden is a CIA Asset" [08/28/10] "  Note: A Press TV News Video clip [0:37]  

Pentagon’s New Global Military Partner: Sweden [08/28/10] "... The main function of the Partnership for Peace program – whose name is counterintuitive, Orwellian and blasphemous given the fact it has graduated 12 Eastern European nations into full membership in the world’s only military bloc and prepared them for deployments to Afghanistan and Iraq – is to integrate nations in Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia for NATO operations abroad. The major beneficiary of that process is the Pentagon.  Over twenty nations currently in that category are having their armed forces, military doctrines, weapons arsenals and foreign policy orientation transformed for interoperability with the Western alliance and in particular its leading member, the United States. [...]" 

BBC News - Fort Carson soldiers' killing spree after Iraq combat [08/27/10] "Seventeen US soldiers from a Colorado military base who mostly served in Iraq have been linked to violent killings and attempted killings since their return to US soil. Three of them came from one platoon - highlighting how a generation of American soldiers are struggling to cope with life after military service. "I was having a total mental breakdown. Every day we were getting in battles, and never having a break, it seemed like, it was just crazy. "I just got to where I couldn't take it. I tried to go to mental health, and they put me on all kinds of meds, too. And I was still going out on missions... they tried different medications, different doses, and nothing worked." Kenny Eastridge was a decorated gunner, but is now serving 10 years in prison for his role in the murder of fellow soldier Kevin Shields in Colorado Springs. [...]"  Note: The Romans were smart enough, at one time, to give their troops a break for a while, to unwind, before sending the troops home. Not the US administration. They want disorder.

DoD Suicide Task Force Contradicts Army Findings [08/27/10] "This week a congressionally mandated task force released its final report on military suicides to the Pentagon citing “heightened operational tempo, repeated deployments and insufficient quantity and quality of dwell time” as contributing to incredibly high suicide rates in the military. The report noted that from 2005 to 2009, more than 1,100 servicemembers committed suicide—an average of 1 suicide every 36 hours. Suicide rates in the Marine Corps and Army have severely increased and the Army rate has more than doubled. Since 2001, 252 servicemembers have killed themselves in Iraq and Afghanistan. [...]"   

Commentary: "Biden Touts Corrupt Welfare Program As Stimulus Triumph" [08/27/10] "In a desperate publicity stunt that made him look like a crackpot, Vice President Joe Biden touted a fraud-infested welfare program to make low-income houses energy efficient as an example of success in stimulus spending.  Flashing his trademark capped teeth during a press conference in New Hampshire, the vice president had the audacity to promote the scandal-plagued weatherization program as a great stimulus-funded effort despite the documented fraud and corruption that has surrounded the disastrous endeavor nationwide. Tens of millions of taxpayer dollars have so far been lost because there’s virtually no oversight of the $5 billion program which is largely managed by “community groups.” The U.S. Department of Energy distributes the cash to local charities across the country that turn around and subcontract companies—usually their buddies—to do the actual work. The idea is to make the homes of poor folks more efficient by offering them free insulation, sealing and even new central heating and cooling systems compliments of Uncle Sam.  Instead there have been serious problems in the workmanship of more than half of the weatherization jobs in some states and a chunk of the money has been illegally used by “community group” employees in other states to buy things like Christmas decorations, Halloween candy and to pay parking tickets. In one instance the husband of a charity employee got $10,000 worth of U.S. taxpayer-financed work on his house even though it didn’t qualify. In Biden’s home state of Delaware, the weatherization program got a $13.7 million stimulus infusion but state officials were forced to put it on hold a few months ago after a federal audit discovered serious corruption problems. The probe found “gross mismanagement” and fraudulent activity that includes contractors getting paid for work that was never done. No word on when the state will be allowed to resume weatherizing.   Ignoring reality, Biden never the less praised weatherization as “one of our signature programs” under the monstrous $787 billion stimulus law, claiming that thousands of workers across the country are on the job making energy-saving home improvements that will save working families hundreds of dollars a year on utility bills. Just call him Vice President Bozo. [...]"     

US: Blockbuster tells Hollywood studios it's preparing for mid-September bankruptcy [08/27/10] "After dominating the home video rental business for more than a decade and struggling to survive in recent years against upstarts Netflix and Redbox, Blockbuster Inc. is preparing to file for bankruptcy next month, according to people who have been briefed on the matter.  Executives from Blockbuster and its senior debt holders last week held meetings with the six major movie studios to discuss their intention to enter a “pre-planned” bankruptcy in mid-September, said several people familiar with the situation who requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of ongoing talks.  Blockbuster is hoping to use its time in Chapter 11 to restructure a crippling debt load of nearly $1 billion and escape leases on 500 or more of it 3,425 stores in the U.S. Maintaining the support of Hollywood's film studios during the process will be critical so that Blockbuster can continue to rely upon an uninterrupted supply of new DVDs. Blockbuster has lost a total of $1.1 billion since the beginning of 2008 and has been severely hamstrung in efforts to grow its business due to interest payments on $920 million in debt. Earlier this month the company announced that most of its debt holders had agreed to a forbearance on interest payments until Sept. 30, during which time it would attempt a recapitalization. [...]"  Note:  Perhaps a good time to pick up a few on-sale DVD's ... 

Killer priest: Report into IRA atrocity reveals British government and Catholic Church conspired to cover up cleric's involvement in bombing [08/27/10] "A priest suspected of being an IRA leader and masterminding a bombing atrocity was allowed to escape arrest after a secret deal was struck between police, the Government and the Catholic Church, a report revealed today. Father James Chesney was the ‘prime suspect’ after nine people, including an eight-year-old girl, were killed and 30 injured when three car bombs exploded in the quiet Northern Ireland village of Claudy in July 1972. [...]"   

UN: Attacks on Hutus in 1990s could be WERE genocide [08/27/10] "Rwandan army attacks on refugees in Congo in the 1990s could be genocide A leaked U.N. draft report says the Rwandan army and its Congolese rebel allies committed massacres in Congo in the aftermath of the Rwandan genocide that could also be classified as genocide, using hoes and axes to kill ethnic [...]"  Note: I saw telephoto video of them hacking people up with machetes ... tens of thousands floating down the rivers ... of course it was genocide ... the same tribe is raping women and babies last week.  What the Israelis are doing to the Palestinians is genocide, too.

Swiss May Consider Death Penalty Reboot [08/27/10] "Thanks to their democratic signatory system, the Swiss government may soon be compelled to reconsider the “neutral” nation’s official stance on the death penalty in certain cases if its supporters are successful in drumming up 100,000 signatures by late February. [...]"  

EPA Considering Ban on Traditional Ammunition [08/27/10] "With the fall hunting season fast approaching, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under Lisa Jackson, who was responsible for banning bear hunting in New Jersey, is now considering a petition by the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) – a leading anti-hunting organization – to ban all traditional ammunition under the Toxic Substance Control Act of 1976, a law in which Congress expressly exempted ammunition. If the EPA approves the petition, the result will be a total ban on all ammunition containing lead-core components, including hunting and target-shooting rounds. The EPA must decide to accept or reject this petition by November 1, 2010, the day before the midterm elections. Today, the EPA has opened to public comment the CBD petition. The comment period ends on October 31, 2010. [...]" 

Commentary: "Post-Apocalyptic Predictive Programming For The Whole Family" [08/27/10] "Hollywood is the magician’s wand (holly-holy) which has been used to cast a spell on the unsuspecting public. Things or ideas which would otherwise be seen as bizarre, vulgar, undesirable or impossible are inserted into films in the realm of fantasy. When the viewer watches these films, his/her mind is left open to suggestion and the conditioning process begins. These same movies which are designed to program the average person, can give the discerning viewer a better understanding of the workings and the plan of the world agenda.  [...]"   

48 Foot Yacht, Worth $1 Million, Registered with/to U.S. Government, Washes Ashore in Florida, Engine Running, Lights On, Nobody Aboard [08/26/10] "The owner of a 48-foot Mexican yacht that mysteriously ran ashore with no one onboard and its engines running said today he had reported it stolen from a Cancun marina days earlier. Arturo Millet Reyes said the yacht was taken from private marina on Saturday and that he reported the theft to local police. Millet, 43, who owns a professional soccer team in the Mexican state of Yucatan, said the Mexican Coast Guard had been on the lookout for the yacht. “I am was very worried about what had happened,” Millet told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. “My first concern was what they were going to do with the boat, if they were going to traffic drugs or something.” The yacht, named “Makin Waves,” washed ashore midmorning Wednesday on Redding Beach, about 480 miles away from Cancun. Investigators said they saw no signs of violence on the boat, which they were in the process of towing away this afternoon. Millet said officials told him that the plasma TVs had been removed from the boat. He did not know what other damage may have been done to the yacht, which sells for about $1 million new. Millet said he has stored the yacht at the Cancun marina since he bought it in 2008.  Millet owns the soccer team Merida F.C., which plays in Mexico’s second-tier league. Dozens of curious people lined Redington Beach this morning, trying to get a closer look at the boat and efforts to get it off the beach. The vessel out of Jupiter had an expired Florida registration but a current Delaware registration and U.S. documentation, according to the sheriff’s office. The boat had a Mexican flag at the bow and an American flag at the stern. [...] Officials from the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office said the vessel is now registered with the federal government."  

ACLU Report: Spying on Free Speech Nearly at Cold War Level [08/26/10] "The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) released numerous reports of increased government spying on American citizens. Once upon an unhappy time, U.S. law enforcement agencies, from the FBI to local police, had a history of political spying during the Cold War. The ACLU said that the old political spying tendencies are running high again. Individuals and groups are being monitored and harassed for “little more than peacefully exercising their First Amendment rights.”  One ACLU report, Policing Free Speech: Police Surveillance and Obstruction of First Amendment-Protected Activity (.pdf), reveals that, in recent years, Americans have been put under surveillance or harassed by law enforcement agencies in 33 states plus the District of Columbia. What horrific acts did these Americans commit? Organizing, marching, protesting, supporting unusual viewpoints, and engaging in “normal, innocuous behaviors such as writing notes or taking photographs in public.” The map below show states where the ACLU uncovered incidents of political spying: [...]"   

Internet: Music Biz Uses Net Neutrality to Equate P2P with Child Porn – Again   "Earlier this year the IFPI took that sentiment to the next level, going so far as to exclaim that “child pornography is great…because politicians understand child pornography.”  “By playing that card,” IFPI lawyer Johan Schlüter told an audience gathered at an anti-P2P conference in Sweden, “we can get them to act, and start blocking sites. And once they have done that, we can get them to start blocking P2P file-sharing sites.” The music industry knows the drill. Equating P2P with child porn is the quickest way to make people sympathetic to their cause and get them to act accordingly. [...]"  Note:  It's an open conspiracy , with the purpose of affecting the entire internet, through deception and manipulation of political bodies. The issues of 'porn' and 'P2P' are convenient types of content , used as devices for banning and controlling all content. You'd think that in a politically 'anti-conspiracy' climate they'd do otherwise, but they don't even care if people know, now. The internet, as a vehicle of free speech and exploration of information, is rapidly coming to a close ... 

Navy Drone Violated Washington Airspace [08/26/10] "The skies over the nation’s capital are crowded with presidential aircraft, military flyovers and the Delta shuttle, but this month a strange new bird was briefly among them: a United States Navy drone that wandered into the restricted airspace around Washington before operators could stop it. Navy spokesmen could not say  [...]"  

Africa: UN urges action over Congo rapes [08/26/10] "The UN says more must be done to prevent such "atrocities" as a recent mass rape in DR Congo, and criticises peacekeepers' failure to act. [...]"  Note:  This is the kind of stuff that makes some people want to kill off the minions in Africa .... and not interfere with genocidal dynamics there. Related:  Tensions emerge between Rwanda and Western backers  

 Commentary: "Israeli-Palestinian talks part of preparations for US aggression against Iran" [08/26/10] "The August 20 announcement of a resumption of direct talks between Israel and Palestine solicited widespread disbelief internationally. [...]"  

Concepts and Practices: Orwellian DoubleThink: "Welfare is Employment" [08/25/10] "We couldn't end the wars and bring all of the personnel home to a nation whose unemployment rate is already busting at the seems. Therefore, the wars are a very costly part of the welfare state. We can't end the War on Drugs, because the DEA agents, prison guards, the court system, parole officers, and the rest of their support staff are part of the welfare nation. We can't simplify the tax code to a flat rate with little or no exemptions, because the bookkeepers, CPAs, accounting professors, and tax attorneys are part of the welfare nation. We cannot streamline healthcare or the department of education, because they are part of the welfare nation. We can't stop the massive "Top Secret" Surveillance-Industrial Complex, because they employ millions in the welfare nation. Finally, we can't end the Wall Street casino, or no one will be left with a job. And this says nothing of the record 40 million people on food stamps which is considered the bad welfare by the establishment.  It seems like the entire U.S. economy is a giant Ponzi scheme where very little tangible production happens. We live in a giant welfare economy which makes real solutions to problems nearly impossible. In fact the problems seem to be the solutions. It's almost as if the corporate- government must keep breaking things to create false jobs and phony GDP numbers (see 9-11, WMD, BP oil spill, and Pakistan). Furthermore, the solutions offered to us tend restrict our freedom. It may be time to re-evaluate how we think of jobs and production in general as the welfare nation will soon run out of monopoly money."  

MSM: "The Government’s New Right to Track Your Every Move with GPS" [08/25/10] "Government agents can sneak onto your property in the middle of the night, put a GPS device on the bottom of your car and keep track of everywhere you go. This doesn’t violate your Fourth Amendment rights, because you do not have any reasonable expectation of privacy in your own driveway – and no reasonable expectation that the government isn’t tracking your movements. That is the bizarre – and scary – rule that now applies in California and eight other Western states. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which covers this vast jurisdiction, recently decided the government can monitor you in this way virtually anytime it wants – with no need for a search warrant. [...]"  Note: More from that bastion of social propaganda and fearmongering (social terrorism) , Time Magazine. 

Albanian official arrested in U.S. killing [08/25/10] "An Albanian official has been arrested in that country for crimes allegedly committed in New York City on behalf of a drug gang, U.S. authorities said. [...]"    

"What Is Going On At The Wikileaks Site? 10,000 Document Descriptions?" [08/25/10] "There are now descriptions of not 2,000 but 10,000 leaked documents on Wikileaks on all manner of issues.  [...]"  Related:  Wikileaks Files  "While waiting for the expected new CIA paper to be released I am looking through the enormous (literally thousands) amount of files awaiitng analysis on the Wikileaks site. Everything from Bilderberg meeting reports and Obama connections to felons to documents about 1000 U.S. troops in Georgia. Unfortunately some of the documents themselves are not downloading. [...] Leaked CIA Paper: "What If Foreigners See the United States as an “Exporter of Terrorism”? PDF  "This CIA "Red Cell" report from February 2, 2010, looks at what will happen if it is internationally understood that the United States is an exporter of terrorism; 'Contrary to common belief, the American export of terrorism or terrorists is not a recent phenomenon, nor has it been associated only with Islamic radicals or people of Middle Eastern, African or South Asian ethnic origin. This dynamic belies the American belief that our free, open and integrated multicultural society lessens the allure of radicalism and terrorism for US citizens.' The report looks at a number cases of US exported terrorism, including attacks by US based or financed Jewish, Muslim and Irish-nationalism terrorists. It concludes that foreign perceptions of the US as an "Exporter of Terrorism" together with US double standards in international law, may lead to noncooperation in renditions (including the arrest of CIA officers) and the decision to not share terrorism related intelligence with the United States."

Chicago: Daley pal suing developers with ties to Roti family [08/25/10] "Businessman Fred B. Barbara, a longtime friend of Mayor Daley, is suing developers Thomas DiPiazza and Richard Ferro, accusing them of defaulting on a $3.4 million loan involving properties at 921 S. Jefferson and 210 E. 21st St. / 2016-2050 S. Prairie. The lawsuit, filed in Cook County, seeks repayment of the loan, plus interest of $532,916.52. Barbara, DiPiazza and Ferro are related by marriage and part of the extended Roti family that's had ties to City Hall, organized labor and the mob for three generations. [...]"    

New skyscraper called 'monstrosity' [08/25/10]  Video clip  "After 9/11, the Empire State Building has stood as the tallest building in the NYC skyline. But a new skyscraper just 900 feet away might change that. NBC's Brian Williams reports. (Nightly News) [...]"    

Ron Paul Calls for Audit of U.S. Gold Reserves [08/25/10] "U.S. Rep. Ron Paul , R-Tex., plans to introduce a new bill next year that will allow for an audit of US gold reserves, he told Kitco News in an exclusive interview. Paul dropped the news in the interview, indicating that the bill still does not have an official name yet but will be unveiled at the start of the new U.S. Congress. “If there was no question about the gold being there, you think they would be anxious to prove gold is there,” he said of the Federal Reserve. This is not the first time the congressman has made his pitch. “In the early 1980s when I was on the gold commission, I asked them to recommend to the Congress that they audit the gold reserves – we had 17 members of the commission and 15 voted not to the audit,” said Paul. “I think there was only one decent audit done 50 years ago,” he said. Though Paul did not say whether there is any truth to claims that there is no gold in Fort Knox or the New York Federal Reserve, he said, “I think it is a possibility.” [...]"   

Report: Israeli intelligence infiltrated throughout Lebanese government [08/25/10] "WMR has learned from its Lebanese intelligence sources that the Lebanese government is coming to realize that Israeli intelligence penetration of all political groups in the country is worse than originally believed. Israel’s Mossad, once content on penetrating the Christian and Druze parties in the country, has now thoroughly infiltrated the top echelons of Sunni and Shi’a parties, as well. Recently, Lebanon charged retired General Fayez Karam, a senior member of retired General Michel Aoun’s Free Patriotic Movement, which is allied with Hezbollah, with spying for Mossad. [...]"  Note: Just like in the US government. 

Constitution “Silly Stuff,” Says Illinois Congressman [08/25/10] [1:37]  Note: His job is specified in the Constitution ... that must be 'silly stuff' too.

'No talks' if settlement ban ends [08/25/10] "The Palestinian government warns that it will pull out of peace talks if Israel renews the construction of settlements in the occupied West Bank. [...]"   

  LaRouche: Tuesday Night Report [08/24/10] "Let us be reminded that past civilizations collapsed for the same stupid reasons that we are facing today. [...]"  Note:  Yeah, those same stupid reasons ....

Concepts and Practices: "The illusion of individual risk" [08/24/10] "Every society attempts to determine which risks will be borne by the individual and which will be borne by the community. It is certainly not an exact science, and there are many situations in which risk is presumably blended, some being shouldered by the individual and some by the group, either the community in general or a specified group such as a pool of policyholders. An example would be deductibles or co-pays for various kinds of insurance. The policyholder is at risk up to a certain amount. After that, the insurance company, which really means the policyholders in the group, bear the risk. But my task is to convince you that the idea of individual risk is flawed, and that to the extent we organize our society around it we are being hoodwinked by a false libertarian ideology, one that tells us there are choices available to the individual the consequences of which will fall only to that individual. I am going to discuss this in the context of energy and resources later, but first let me offer another kind of illustration.[...]"   

Israel not to attack Iran in 2011 until 2012, say US sources [08/24/10] "The Obama administration, citing evidence of continued troubles inside Iran’s nuclear program, has persuaded Israel that it would take roughly a year for Iran to complete a “dash” for a nuclear weapon. US officials say the assessment has dimmed the prospect that Israel would preemptively strike Iran within the next year. [...]"  

Netanyahu sets obstacles to Middle East peace  [08/24/10] "Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's prime minister, threw hopes for a smooth resumption of Middle East peace talks into turmoil yesterday by rejecting demands to continue a freeze on settlement building in the West Bank.  [...]"  Note: Sequentials ... when will Israel kill itself and be done with it?

Former FBI Agent Claims Oswald Didn’t Kill Kennedy [08/24/10] Video clip 

Iran launches first spy drone [08/24/10] "Iran has launched a domestically made long-range high-altitude drone, called Karrar, according to state media. Hamed Saeedi, managing director of Farnas Aerospace Company, which is in charge of the project, said plans are under way to produce additional drones and unmanned choppers. [...]" 

Prison Planet: Cameraman arrested for calling cops Nazis [08/24/10] "On Tuesday, August 17th 2010 at around 7:45pm I returned home to find one cop interrogating a woman who was apparently pulled over across from my driveway.  I got out my video camera to record the incident happening across the street from within my garage. I was leaning on the back of my car (in garage) to steady the picture and recorded for several minutes. Two more patrol cars, now totaling three, had arrived. The lady was standing outside her car, looking quite distressed at the situation. Cops then begin to search her vehicle and then let her go. One of the officers asked if I was “enjoying myself” from the road. I told him “you are a Nazi”. He cupped an ear like he couldn’t hear me, so I said it louder, “you’re a Nazi”.  One officer then pointed at me and said, “Arrest him for interfering”. Even though their traffic stop was complete and the lady driver was back in her vehicle preparing to leave. The cops were also preparing to leave when I spoke this. [...]"  Note: So it can't be interference with their purpose at that location. Simple abuse under color of law issue, although 'verbal assault' could be deemed a technical 'assault' if it were written into the law, which would invoke 'officer discretion'. Regardless, the core observation is that deliberately choosing to piss off people is not a good plan, especially when there is a desire to claim "victimhood" later. Dumb shit.

Prison Planet: Google Yanks “Kill The Web” Article That Warned Of Internet Takeover [08/24/10] "Having at first appeared as normal, our earlier article about Google’s plan to kill the web has been completely de-listed from Google News. This is completely unprecedented and underscores how keen Google is to prevent people from finding out that it is a CIA-NSA front that is preparing to completely end the Internet as we know it with the Verizon net-neutrality killing deal. The article, entitled Google Plans To Kill Web In Internet Takeover Agenda, originally appeared on Google News but was pulled shortly after. A subsequent blurb promoting Alex Jones’ video presentation on the issue made it through to Google News but could also be yanked at any time. In the face of this censorship, it’s more important than ever that people get the word out about Google’s plan to kill the web and replace it with a sterile clone of cable TV that will ensure all independent voices on the Internet are silenced forever. [...]"  

Apple Seeking to Patent Spyware [08/24/10] "It looks like Apple, Inc., is exploring a new business opportunity: spyware and what we’re calling “traitorware.” While users were celebrating the new jailbreaking and unlocking exemptions, Apple was quietly preparing to apply for a patent on technology that, among other things, would allow Apple to identify and punish users  [...]"   

Internet: Google's new "Gestapo bot" shutting down Blogger sites [08/24/10] "(Google)'s automated web-bot acts as Judge, Jury and Executioner. The bot scans your blog, determines (wrongly in this case) that it's SPAM, sentences your blog to death, removes it from the web and blocks your account – all with no human oversight. [...]"

Internet: Anti-virus Products Struggle Against Exploits [08/24/10] "Most anti-virus products designed for use in businesses do a poor job of detecting the exploits that hacked and malicious Web use to foist malware, a new report concludes. [...]"  

Mexican Police to Patrol New York [08/23/10] "In a series of events which has caused wide notice and a storm of protests, the government of Mexico, through its consulate in New York in the United Nations, has announced it will begin patrolling the New York City borough of Staten Island to “safeguard” its nationals there. The actions of Mexico come after a series of incidents the Mexican government terms “bias attacks.” Ironically, these so-called “hate crimes” have been perpetrated by blacks and Asians, indicative of rising tensions between various ethnic groups in the U.S. The Catholic Examiner and NBC New York both reported the Mexican government’s intention to mount surveillance, patrol and police in and around the Staten Island community of Port Richmond, which in recent years has seen a large influx of Mexican illegal immigrants. Since the Examiner’s coverage, however, councilor officials, city hall and the local press have begun to carefully de-emphasize any possible role of Mexican law enforcement or military in efforts to secure the neighborhood. Mexican officials have set up a neighborhood office and a local phone hot line for their nationals to report “bias incidents”— regardless as to whether they are in the United States legally. [...]"  Related:  Drug traffickers, Mexican police battle within yards of U.S. border  

 The Absurdity of the Ground Zero Mosque Debate  Keith Olbermann [08/23/10]  [12:26]  Commentary: The ‘Mosque’ Affair: An American Comedy [08/23/10] "THE “ground zero mosque,” as you may well know by now, is not at ground zero. It’s not a mosque but an Islamic cultural center containing a prayer room. It’s not going to determine President Obama’s political future or the elections of 2010 or 2012. Still, the battle that has broken out over this project in Lower Manhattan — on the “hallowed ground” of a shuttered Burlington Coat Factory store one block from the New York Dolls Gentlemen’s Club — will prove eventful all the same. And the consequences will be far more profound than any midterm election results or any of the grand debates now raging 24/7 over the parameters of tolerance, religious freedom, and the real estate gospel of location, location, location. [...]"  Related:  Commentary: "Morons Mad About Mosque" [08/19/10] "The official story of 9/11 is a lie. As Andreas Von Bülow said:  ...planning the attacks was a masterwork, in technical and organizational terms. To hijack four big airliners within a few minutes and fly them into targets within a single hour and to do so on complicated flight routes! That is unthinkable, without backing from the secret apparatus of state and industry. Or as another unnamed source from a previous post said:  ...This was not primarily Islamic at all. I'm sure there were Islamic elements, but what is behind this, is a deeply embedded conspiratorial and organized operation, that took two-plus years to put together. These were people, who were able to make sophisticated moves on the markets, right before it happened... The controversy over a mosque in Manhattan is like children screaming about a boogey man. Don't worry children, we will find a little night light for you, so the boogey man doesn't get you.  [...]"  Fox News co-owner funded "Ground Zero mosque" Imam "... That Fox News' second-largest shareholder, after Rupert Murdoch, has financial links to the "Ground Zero mosque" will be seen as ironic by critics of the news network, who have watched with chagrin as the network's talking heads attempt to link the mosque to radical Islamism. [...]"      MSM: 'Grayson slams mosque ‘distraction’: Talk about admin that ‘let’ 9/11 happen instead" [08/23/10] "The debate over a planned Islamic community center several blocks from New York City's World Trade Center site is a "distraction," according to Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL). Instead, the debate should shift in focus to an examination of the administration which "let it happen." 'It,' of course, being the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. [...]" 

India: Techie Exposes Fraudulent Voting System and Gets Arrested for It [08/23/10] "Today, at wee hours Maharashtra police landed up at the residence of Hari Prasad in Hyderabad, a technologist and Technical coordinator of VeTA to arrest him. The arrest was made on the flimsy charge of ‘theft of EVM’ used for vulnerability demonstration by Hari Prasad and a team of security researchers that included Alex Halderman, professor of computer science, University of Michigan and Rop Gonggrijp, a security researcher from Netherlands along with a team of their colleagues. Earlier, police came to Hyderabad in the first week of August and recorded a statement on the EVM they had used for exposing the vulnerability of EVMs. They summoned him to Mumbai for further questioning. Hari Prasad could not go as he was busy with his professional work. Then, the sudden arrest happened this morning. Over the past one year, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has been lying blatantly and willfully to ensure continued use of EVMs at all costs. It attributed all kinds of qualities to its EVMs: “totally tamper proof, perfect, fail safe and requiring no improvement” etc. etc. When Hari Prasad agreed to meet the ECI’s challenge to demonstrate tamperability of EVMs, the ECI backed out imposing silly, unscientific restrictions. [...]"  Related: Pac-Man Hacked Onto a Touch-Screen Voting Machine Without Breaking 'Tamper-Evident' Seals "This is your Sequoia touch-screen voting machine with Pac-Man hacked onto it without disturbing any of the "tamper-evident" seals supposedly meant to protect it from hackers... Any questions?... Sequoia's voting machines, used in some 20% of U.S. elections, employ Intellectual Property (IP) still owned by a Venezuelan firm tied to Hugo Chavez. Sequoia itself is now owned by a Canadian firm called Dominion. (Though Dominion, like Sequoia itself before them, lied about the continuing Venezuelan/Chavez ties in their recent announcement of the acquisition, as detailed exclusively by The BRAD BLOG, to little notice, in June.) The Pac-Man hack onto the Sequoia/Dominion voting machine was revealed this week. It was accomplished without breaking any of the "tamper-evident" seals that voting machine companies and election officials claim are used to ensure nobody can physically hack into them without being discovered. "We received the machine with the original tamper-evident seals intact," the hackers from Princeton and University of Michigan report. "The software can be replaced without breaking any of these seals, simply by removing screws and opening the case." Here's a video of Pac-Man running on the hacked Sequoia touch-screen voting machine... [...]"  

US Politics: Americans coming to dislike Harry Reid almost as much as they dislike fellow Democrat Nancy Pelosi  LA Times [08/23/10] "Nevada Democratic Sen. Harry Reid is catching up to fellow Democrat House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California in terms of being disliked by Americans nationally. A new poll out from Rasmussen Reports finds that, of course, a majority of Americans dislike both of the Democratic legislative leaders who lead one of the least popular and less trusted institutions in American society. [...]"  Note: They're both rabid sequentials, with their predispositions for power, control, and co-opting the experiences of others, and very nasty people. 

Michael Meeropol : Islamophobia and the 'Two Americas' [08/23/10] Note: I had Michael Meeropol as my professor in Economics in college. His original name is Michael Rosenberg, son of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, who were executed by the US government for 'giving nuclear secrets to the Soviets', which was of course, bullshit. I also took a course from his brother in Cultural Anthropology. This was back around 1973.

NY Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver's firm gets cut of 9/11-suit payouts [08/23/10] "Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver has spun the 9/11 lawsuits into gold. Ground Zero workers are on the hook to pay steep interest on money their lawyers borrowed from a group of investors that include Silver and his law partners, The Post has learned. Silver's partners at the Weitz & Luxenberg law firm are top board members of a business that quietly loaned money at 18 percent a year to the law firm representing some 9,800 Ground Zero workers with toxic-illness suits against the city.  [...]"   

Israel tells schools not to teach 'nakba' [08/23/10] "Government officials warned Israeli teachers last week not to cooperate with a civic group that seeks to educate Israelis about how the Palestinians view the loss of their homeland and the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948. [...]"  

3 Taiwan execs ordered not to leave U.S. [08/23/10] "Taiwan's premier Sunday said he is concerned three Taiwanese executives have been ordered to stay in the United States during a price-fixing investigation. [...]"  

US combat brigades still in Iraq: report [08/23/10] "The US military and the Obama administration loudly trumpeted the withdrawal of the "last combat brigade" from Iraq last week, but news reports suggest the move is purely semantic: The combat brigades are still there, but under a different name. The Army Times reported on Saturday that the US still has seven combat brigades inside Iraq, but they have been renamed "advise and assist brigades." The name change will reportedly change little in terms of the duties the brigades carry out: [...]"   

U.S. to spend $100 million on Afghan bases [08/23/10] "The Pentagon says it plans to spend $100 million on air base expansions in Afghanistan with construction efforts continuing into at least 2011. [...]"  Note: using gasoline at $400 per gallon, considering transport costs ... and while people starve at home, in the US ... misplaced priorities and stupid people.

Net Neutrality: There’s a Hard Rain Coming [08/23/10] "[Barry] Diller asserted that the Google-Verizon proposal “doesn’t preserve ‘net neutrality,’ full stop, or anything like it.” Asked if other media executives were staying quiet because they stand to gain from a less open Internet, he said simply, “Yes.”" The Verizon-Google Net Neutrality Proposal begins by stating that “Google and Verizon have been working together to find ways to preserve the open Internet.” Well, that’s nice. Imagine what they would have come up with if they had been trying to kill off the open Internet. Actually, you don’t have to imagine it. Because that’s what this is. An effort to kill off the open Internet. Much of the coverage of the Verizon-Google Proposal has focused on only one of the proposal’s many problems: the fact that the proposal allows wireless broadband carriers — like, say, Verizon, for instance — to discriminate in handling Internet traffic in any manner they choose. They can charge content providers, they can block content providers, and they can slow down content providers, just as they please. That sure doesn’t sound “neutral.” [...]"     

Corbett Report:  Ground Zero Mosque Distraction, Israel Lobby, Apple and Orwell - Sunday Update  [08/23/10] [11:40] 

Israel jets, drone enter Lebanon airspace [08/22/10] "Four Israeli warplanes and one spy drone have illegally flown over Lebanon's airspace in the third day of provocative violations of the country's sovereignty. [...]"   

Now Democrats Want Another $34 Billion to Bailout Teamsters Pension [08/22/10] "When will Obama’s gifts to unions (at the expense of the taxpayers) ever end? On the heels of a $26.1 billion teacher union bailout, now Democrats are attempting to get Congress to give $34 billion of the taxpayer’s money to the Teamsters because that union has mishandled its pension funds.  Senators Robert Casey (D., Pa.) and Rep. Earl Pomeroy (D., N.D.) are now pushing the bill that will bailout the Teamsters pension fund by altering the U.S. Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. which currently charges insurance rates to the funds it helps to solvency. Under new rules the help the PBGC offers troubled pension funds will now just end up coming out of federal funds. As Kevin D. Williamson of National Review informs us, as the PBGC law stands now the obligations that PBGC takes on to help “orphan pensions” are not obligations of the U.S. government. “Casey-Pomeroy would reverse that,” Williamson tells us, “mandating that “‘obligations of the corporation that are financed by the [fifth fund] shall be obligations of the United States.’” Yep, another gigantic bailout. This new plan will make it easier to take further steps to directly begin bailing out both private unions and public employees unions which, combined, are trillions in the red. [...]" 

'Intl. law forbids attack on nuclear sites' [08/22/10] "Iran's envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency says attacking or threatening to attack nuclear facilities is in violation of the UN charter.  [...]" 

Israel says Iranian reactor use 'totally unacceptable' [08/22/10] "In a statement issued after the Islamic Republic celebrated the launch of its reactor in Bushehr, Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yossi Levy said: "It is totally unacceptable that a country that so blatantly violates resolutions of the (United Nations) Security Council, decisions of the International Atomic Energy Agency and its commitments under the NPT (non-proliferation treaty) should enjoy the fruits of using nuclear energy."  [...]"  Note: Idiots. It's a legal, peaceful, power generation plant, having nothing to do with weapons, run by the Russians, who REMOVE the waste from Iran, and observed by the IAEA. No problem, except to those who are insane and out of touch. Israel has violated UN Security Council resolutions HUNDREDS OF TIMES without consequence ... Levy is really acting stupidly ... see the video below. 

"Corporate Media" Poll Claims " Majority of Americans Support Iran Attack [08/22/10] " [...]"  Note:  Which, of course, is a fabrication and lie. Related:  MSM: Massive Israeli manipulation of US media exposed  [4:48] "Files declassified in America have revealed covert public relations and lobbying activities of Israel in the U.S. The National Archive made the documents public following a Senate investigation. They suggest Israel has been trying to shape media coverage of issues it regards as important. You can download the files from the web-site of the Institute for Research on Middle Eastern policy. And we can cross to Washington now and talk to Grant F. Smith who is a director at that Institute. [...]"  " 

Interview: Demolishing Anti-Iran Propaganda [08/21/10] [6:42]  "Scott Horton is one of the best at addressing every warmongers’ lie. Here he is on Russia TV exposing the latest attempts to demonize Persians, whip up fear and anger, and lead Americans into another bloodbath to slaughter innocent people, stop non-existent threats, and cause massive chaos and mayhem, all to benefit no one but the U.S. state, the Israeli state, court ideologues, the merchants of murder and their other private sector allies. [...]"  Note:  Scott Horton discusses the Iranian nuclear program on Russia Today. Related: Iran opens first nuclear power plant "Engineers began loading fuel Saturday into Iran's first nuclear reactor, to be operated by Russia on the Persian Gulf in southwestern Iran, the countries said. Iranian television footage showed engineers loading the Bushehr plant, whose nuclear fuel is provided by Russia, which also will take away the nuclear waste, the BBC reported. The plant should begin producing electricity within a month, experts say. [...]" A License to Steal by Scott Horton

Guantánamo Guards Tortured 90-Year-Old Blind Man, Book Alleges [08/21/10] "Although U.S. officials have attributed the torture of Muslim prisoners in American custody to a handful of maverick guards or limited to a few “high-value detainees,” such criminal acts were widely perpetrated, likely involving large numbers of military personnel, a book by a survivor suggests. According to Murat Kurnaz, a Turkish citizen raised in Germany and defamed as “the German Taliban,” torture at the several prisons in which he was held was frequent, commonplace, and committed by many guards. In his book, Five Years of My Life: An Innocent Man in Guantanamo, he writes that his beatings began in 2001 on the flight from Pakistan (where he was pulled off a public bus and sold by Pakistani police for $3,000) to his first imprisonment in Afghanistan.  [...]" 

Secretly forced brain implants: Explosive court case [08/20/10] "Few American doctors, psychologists and psychiatrists will break rank or brave the new world of high-tech electronic abuse some of their patients report but evidence mounts that increasing numbers of innocent citizens targeted for U.S. state-sponsored terror are being secretly brain implanted with U.S. RFID chips without their consent for no-touch torture and mind control plus experimentation. One man evidenced this in court; won his case; and now prepares for a continuation in federal court, due to be equally explosive. [...]" 

Malware Implicated in Fatal Spanair Plane Crash [08/20/10] "Authorities investigating the 2008 crash of Spanair flight 5022 have discovered a central computer system used to monitor technical problems in the aircraft was infected with malware. [...]"    

Iran Says It May Halt High - Level Fuel Enrichment [08/20/10] "Iran would stop higher-grade enrichment if it is assured of nuclear fuel supplies for a research reactor, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying in a Japanese newspaper on Friday. Russia welcomed Ahmadinejad's offer on Friday and called for a meeting as soon as possible to discuss uranium supplies to Iran. [...]"   

 Commentary: HR 1553 Authorizing 'Use of Force' Against Iran is Based on Pure Propaganda [08/19/10] "America has not officially declared war on a nation since World War II. Yet we are now entangled in endless wars with no feasible goals, except sustained military profits and resource grabs. Instead, we vote to "authorize the use of force" just in case we may need it, which strategically limits the public debate. Although many believe that the stiff Iran sanctions detailed in HR 2194, the Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act was an Act of War, the proposed HR 1553 is the actual "authorization of the use of force." [...]"   

ACLU sues over detention in United Arab Emirates [08/19/10] "American Civil Liberties Union lawyers filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the FBI, CIA and other federal intelligence agencies, accusing them of detaining and torturing an American citizen later convicted on terrorism charges in the United Arab Emirates. The lawsuit filed by the ACLU of Southern California seeks information about the treatment of Naji Hamdan, an American of Lebanese origin who was arrested in the United Arab Emirates in August 2008. The ACLU accuses U.S. agencies of colluding with United Arab Emirates security forces, which kept Hamdan in a secret prison in Abu Dhabi without charging him with a crime until an earlier lawsuit by the rights group prompted his transfer to an official prison. [...]"   

The Latency Phase - Full Blown Zionazi Psychopaths Portray "enemy" infants as proto-terrorists [08/19/10] [1:18]   "Muslim babies as "future terrorists" - the latest barbarous idiom produced by the 'war on terror' and its concomitant Islamophobia. Credit for the phrase goes to Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX), who recently deployed it to outline, before the House no less, the threat posed to the American "way of life" by insurgent Muslim infants:  [...]"   Related: Congressman flips out when challenged on ‘terror babies’ [08/13/10] "On Thursday night, Rep. Louie Gohmert and CNN's Anderson Cooper engaged in a spirited debate over the lawmaker's "terror babies" claims. Basically, the idea is that terrorists are going to use the 14th Amendment to sneak into the U.S. and have a baby that's a U.S. citizen. Then, in 16 or 17 years, this "terror teenager" will be able to easily enter the U.S. and blow shit up. Gohmert previously went to the House floor in June and warned about this evil plan, saying he had heard about it from an unnamed former FBI agent. Then on Wednesday night this week, Cooper hosted an actual former FBI official, who explained that there are no reports of this at all. Cooper brought Gohmert on last night, and began by asking him whether he had even called the FBI agent. And from there, it turned into a nice one-way shouting match -- that is, Gohmert yelling at Cooper repeatedly. At one point Gohmert did admit that he did not check with the FBI itself: "No, I didn't talk to them, because the point is: when we did the research, we found the hole existed." [...]"  Note: There's only a hole between the Congressman's ears. What a paranoid control freak.

Journalist Claims Nokia and Siemens Helped Iran Imprison and Torture Him [08/19/10] "An Iranian journalist claims Nokia and Siemens provided the Iranian government with "sophisticated devices for monitoring, eavesdropping, filtering, and tracking mobile phones," which helped the "oppressive" government throw him prison and torture him for more than a year. [...]"    

California deploys National Guard to Mexico border [08/19/10] "California is deploying a first group of 224 National Guard troops to its southern border with Mexico to assist Border Patrol agents attempting to stem the flow of drugs and illegal immigrants. [...]"   

India likely to export its BrahMos missile [08/19/10] "India will export its indigenously built BrahMos supersonic cruise missile, but only after all Indian military needs have been met, Defense Minister A.K. Antony said. [...]"  Note: The 'future' sure would look bright indeed, for a mentally hobbled civilization bent on mindless self-destruction, given that it is not going to be expanding to other planets. 

MSM: US senators hunt possible BP role over Lockerbie [08/19/10] "US senators doggedly investigating the Lockerbie bomber's release one year ago hope an ever-wider dragnet will reveal whether embattled oil giant BP improperly shaped the widely condemned decision. Frustrated by what they have condemned as "stonewalling" by BP and the British and Scottish governments, the lawmakers have even appealed to informants to share behind-the-scenes secrets  [...] 

Desperately Seeking Accommodation: Iran Offers U.S. Chance to Build Nuclear Power Plants [08/19/10] "Iran has provided the United States with an opportunity to make sure it does not gain the nuclear material required to make a bomb. Do you think the Obama administration will take advantage of the opportunity? Not likely. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said Tuesday that Iran is ready to cooperate with “any country,” including the United States, in building nuclear power plants in Iran, according to Press TV. Mehmanparast was asked if Iran would work with the United States on the country’s nuclear projects and he responded “we are ready to cooperate with any company from any country which is capable of building such facilities with high standard.” “These are big economic projects and there will certainly be much competition between different countries,” he said. In May of this year, Secretary of State Clinton dismissed an offer by Iran to swap some of its enriched uranium for reactor fuel. Clinton said the Iranian offer — and attempt to prevent the bombing of its country — was a “transparent ploy” to avoid a fresh round of U.N. Security Council sanctions. The swap offer was negotiated by Brazil and Turkey, which are opposed to new U.N. sanctions on Iran [...]"   

 Commentary: States of Paralysis: America's Surrender to the Spectacle of Terror [08/18/10] "... As the link between the media and corporate power becomes more integrated, the visual theater of terror mimics the politics of the "official" war on terror. Echoing the discourse of the "official" war on terror, the violence of extremist groups as well as state-sanctioned and corporate violence are understood almost exclusively within the discourse of moral absolutes pitting good against evil. Whether it is former President George W. Bush's claim, "You are either with us or against us," or Osama bin Laden's injunction, "You are either a believer or an infidel," this is a repressive binary logic that not only comes from the mouth of too many politicians, but also saturates the media.  Within the current spectacle of politics, fear and the rhetoric of terror prevail. Obama's press secretary, Robert Gibbs, lashes out at leftist critics suggesting they are both losers and drug users. As Glenn Greenwald points out, Gibbs seems to be in denial over a number of substantive criticisms of the Obama administration raised by the left, including the fact they have "done so little about crisis-level unemployment, foreclosures and widespread economic misery," exhibited an "endless devotion to Wall Street," expanded "a miserable, pointless and unwinnable war that is entering its ninth year.... claimed the power to imprison people for life with no charges and to assassinate American citizens without due process, intensified the secrecy weapons and immunity instruments abused by his predecessor, ... found all new ways of denying habeas corpus.... granted full-scale legal immunity to those who committed serious crimes in the last administration [and] failed to fulfill - or affirmatively broken - promises ranging from transparency to gay rights. [...]"   

Dr. Lawrence Davidson: Feeding At The Pentagon Trough [08/18/10] "... With the ghost of Dwight Eisenhower hovering in the background, Reich noted that the U.S. now appears hopelessly devoted to maintaining the economic activities of the military-industrial complex regardless of need, efficiency, or cost. Why so? Because, he tells us, almost four million Americans are directly employed by either the military or military related companies and corporations. This makes the military-industrial complex, “America’s biggest–and only major–job’s program.” It also makes the entire set up politically inviolable. The distortions that result are labeled “nuts” by former Labor Secretary Robert Reich. [...]"   

US Politics: Washington denies Turkish military claims [08/17/10] "There was no ultimatum issued to Ankara regarding a connection between U.S. weapons and Israeli and Iranian relations, a White House spokesman said. [...]"  Related: Gunshots heard at Turkish embassy in Tel Aviv  

Guantanamo Detainee Released Released After 8 Years for Lack of Evidence [08/17/10] "A federal judge has ordered the release of a Guantanamo Bay detainee imprisoned at the island facility for more than 8 1/2 years. In a previously secret ruling written in July and released Monday, U.S. District Judge Henry Kennedy said the Obama administration failed to show by a preponderance of the evidence that the Yemeni man was part of al-Qaida or an associated force. The government alleged that an al-Qaida recruiter encouraged the man to go to Afghanistan to receive military training. The detainee, Adnan Farhan Abd Al Latif, says he went to the region after being promised free medical care for head injuries suffered in a car accident in his home country. [...]"    

Rogue Arizona sheriff refuses to comply with Feds [08/17/10] "Sheriff Joe Arpaio is at it again. A lawyer for the rogue Arizona sheriff who's staked his position as one of the most vociferous defenders of Arizona's new draconian immigration law now says his client will not comply with a request from the Feds to turn over documents related to a civil rights investigation.   [...]"  

Egypt seizes explosives on ship coming from Israel [08/17/10] "Egyptian security forces seized a ship loaded with explosives coming from Israel and arrested its owner in Port Said, Egypt's independent Al-Shorouk daily reported on Monday. [...]"   

On the Government’s Growing Obsession with Hollywood-Style 'Command Centers' [08/17/10] "Blooming in every corner of the country are high-tech command facilities for fighting terrorism, battling crime linked to national security, coordinating disaster responses, enhancing infrastructure protection and more. The desire for them is insatiable, and Congress seems ever the enabler.  [...]"  Note:  Fools and buffoons in a primitive, immature society.

Corbett Report:  Trust the Billionaires, Chemical Attack - Sunday Update  [08/16/10] [14:24]  

Report: "Every Click You Make" [08/15/10] "Last week the Wall Street Journal ran a terrific series of stories called "What They Know." The general subject was personal privacy—or the lack of it—in the digital world, and the first article in the series explained how websites routinely track your movements on the web and collect a genuinely astonishing amount of personal information about you in the process.  The Journal examined 50 sites using a test computer and discovered that these sites collectively installed a total of 3,180 tracking files—an average of 63 tracking files per site: The state of the art is growing increasingly intrusive, the Journal found. Some tracking files can record a person's keystrokes online and then transmit the text to a data-gathering company that analyzes it for content, tone and clues to a person's social connections. Other tracking files can re-spawn trackers that a person may have deleted. ....Some of the tracking files identified by the Journal were so detailed that they verged on being anonymous in name only. They enabled data-gathering companies to build personal profiles that could include age, gender, race, zip code, income, marital status and health concerns, along with recent purchases and favorite TV shows and movies. A full list of the sites they examined is here. The most intrusive were dictionary.com and msn.com, which installed over 200 tracking files each. The least intrusive were craigslist.org and wikipedia.org. [...]"  

Army Report: AWOLs up 234% [08/15/10] "Tucked into this massive Army report on suicide is an interesting fact: Since 2004, the number of soldiers going AWOL, deserting, and "missing movement" -- that is failing to deploy when they're supposed to -- has gone up a shocking 234 percent. The Army includes this fact on page 92 of the 350 page document, in a section on misdemeanor crimes -- alongside motor vehicle violations, substance abuse, and other crimes -- which collectively have been rising at the rate of more than 5,000 a year for the last five years. "Good order and discipline are on the decline," the report says. Alternatively, one could say that after seven years of war in Iraq and nearly a decade in Afghanistan, American soldiers are increasingly unwilling to risk their lives for unpopular wars with an unclear path to victory. [...]"  Note: Listen, if you took a person and made them watch the hideous, sadistic "Saw" series, 24 hours a day, for six months, that persons 'take' on reality would be affected. Something like that happens to people shoved into the kind of war experiences Army troops encounter in Iraq or Afghanistan. Add 'stop loss' and forced return to the battlefield with no breaks, and you have a problem. In addition, many of these troops are joining police forces ... what kind of 'officer' does that make? A psychopath, or at least a sociopath.

Exposé:  61 trucks loaded with 300 tons of explosives go missing in central India [08/14/10] "Some 61 trucks loaded with over 300 tons of explosives have gone missing in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, a senior police official said Friday. "The trucks were sent from a state-owned factory, Rajasthan Explosives and Chemicals Limited, in Dholpur to a private company called Ganesh Explosives in the state's Sagar district. But it never reached there," the official said. A massive search is on to track down the trucks as fear is mounting that if the explosives, including detonators and gelatin sticks, reach the wrong hands it could be devastating, he added. Meanwhile, Rajasthan Explosives and Chemicals Limited has claimed that it can't be blamed for this disappearance as it sent explosives only in trucks authorized by the company. "We hand over the explosives to those who have the license. And they then dispatch it on their truck. Now, whatever happens to that explosive thereafter, we are not responsible for that," Y.C. Upadhyay of the company said. [...]"  

 Commentary: "America's Ruling Class -- And the Perils of Revolution" By Angelo M. Codevilla [08/14/10] "As over-leveraged investment houses began to fail in September 2008, the leaders of the Republican and Democratic parties, of major corporations, and opinion leaders stretching from the National Review magazine (and the Wall Street Journal) on the right to the Nation magazine on the left, agreed that spending some $700 billion to buy the investors' "toxic assets" was the only alternative to the U.S. economy's "systemic collapse." In this, President George W. Bush and his would-be Republican successor John McCain agreed with the Democratic candidate, Barack Obama. Many, if not most, people around them also agreed upon the eventual commitment of some 10 trillion nonexistent dollars in ways unprecedented in America. They explained neither the difference between the assets' nominal and real values, nor precisely why letting the market find the latter would collapse America. The public objected immediately, by margins of three or four to one. When this majority discovered that virtually no one in a position of power in either party or with a national voice would take their objections seriously, that decisions about their money were being made in bipartisan backroom deals with interested parties, and that the laws on these matters were being voted by people who had not read them, the term "political class" came into use. Then, after those in power changed their plans from buying toxic assets to buying up equity in banks and major industries but refused to explain why, when they reasserted their right to decide ad hoc on these and so many other matters, supposing them to be beyond the general public's understanding, the American people started referring to those in and around government as the "ruling class." And in fact Republican and Democratic office holders and their retinues show a similar presumption to dominate and fewer differences in tastes, habits, opinions, and sources of income among one another than between both and the rest of the country. They think, look, and act as a class.  [...]"  Related: "The Agenda: Project Fuck Tea" [2:29]  "If you still have serious doubts about the self-styled progressive elites of “the Ruling Class” hating and holding in contempt the people who compose “the Country Class,” check out this very revealing video. - Lew Rockwell [...]"  Note:  Cute, and it shows just how culturally programmed most people in the US really are ... low to mid-level boring, unaware perspectives, and that's what their experience is supposed to be ... too sequential - too one-size-fits all to suit individuals who are more aware and exploring higher perspectives.

Commentary: "Towards a World War III Scenario? The Role of Israel in Triggering an Attack on Iran" [08/14/10] "An attack by Israel could, however, be used as "the trigger mechanism" which would unleash an all out war against Iran, as well retaliation by Iran directed against Israel. In this regard, there are indications that Washington might envisage the option of an initial (US backed) attack by Israel rather than an outright US-led military operation directed against Iran. The Israeli attack --although led in close liaison with the Pentagon and NATO-- would be presented to public opinion as a unilateral decision by Tel Aviv. It would then be used by Washington to justify, in the eyes of World opinion, a military intervention of the US and NATO with a view to "defending Israel", rather than attacking Iran. [...]"   

UK:  Dell accused of hiding incriminating evidence in defect case [08/14/10] "Dell stands accused of deliberately hiding emails that showed its top executives in the mid-2000s knew the company was shipping millions of defective computers, one of its customers alleged in court filings Thursday. Web hosting provider Advanced Internet Technologies, which alleges Dell knowingly sold computers that contained faulty components, said it knows that senior executives were aware of the problems. It cites a list of talking points that showed then-chief executive Kevin Rollins, founder Michael Dell, and others discussing ways to publicly address the malfunctions, which involved capacitor failures in Dell OptiPlex computers. AIT claims Dell is deliberating withholding the release of additional documents. [...]"  

US Military Brass Urge Soldiers To Kill Indiscriminately [08/14/10] "... Former Army Specialist Josh Stieber said that newly arrived soldiers in Baghdad were asked if they would fire back at an attacker if they knew unarmed civilians might get hurt in the process. Those who did not respond affirmatively, or who hesitated, were “knocked around” until they realized what was expected of them, added former Army Specialist Ray Corcoles, who deployed with Stieber. A third former Army specialist, Ethan McCord, said his battalion commander gave orders to shoot indiscriminately after attacks by improvised explosive devices. “Anytime someone in your line gets hit by an IED…you kill every motherfucker in the street,” McCord quotes him as saying. Corcoles told the reporters he purposely turned his gun away from people. “You don’t even know if somebody’s shooting at you. It’s just insanity to just start shooting people.”   [...]"

Frontiers of Mental Health: "John Bolton: Russia's Loading of Nuke Fuel Into Iran Plant Means Aug. 21 Deadline for Israeli Attack" [08/14/10] "News that Russia will load nuclear fuel rods into an Iranian reactor has touched off a countdown to a point of no return, a deadline by which Israel would have to launch an attack on Iran's Bushehr reactor before it becomes effectively "immune" to any assault, says former Bush administration U.N. Ambassador John R. Bolton... [...]"  Note: Bolton has a distinctly sociopathic personality, and acts like an idiot and buffoon. 

'US in no position to wage war on Iran' [08/13/10] "An Iranian diplomat says the United States is not in a position to invade Iran, downplaying US and Israeli threats of war as efforts to cover up their internal crises. [...]"  

 Commentary:  Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace: The Road to Economic Disaster [08/13/10] "There was one line in Oliver Stone’s perceptive 1986 film “Salvador” that capsulated the tragic American post-World War Two road to economic calamity. James Belushi, playing the sidekick to James Woods, who seeks to resuscitate his career as an international political reporter amid the dangers of war torn El Salvador, asked Woods an important question of what it says about America’s and the world’s future when the U.S. was preparing to elect “a guy who played straight man to a chimp.” The scene occurred on Election Day 1980. Belushi and Woods were attending a party given by the American Embassy in San Salvador to view U.S. election results. As those who followed Reagan’s movie career know, he played in the 1951 comedy “Bedtime for Bonzo” in which he was cast opposite a chimp. Those critical of his fitness for political office, beginning with governor of California and eventually the presidency, have used the film and Reagan’s role in it to underscore what they deem to be the futility of a B movie leading man undertaking such awesome responsibilities. [...]"   

 Commentary: "Lobbying Is About Getting Nothing Done" [08/12/10] "A 10-year study of the influence business finds that the billions of dollars ($3.5 billion in 2009 alone, according to the Center for Responsive Politics) thrown at elected officials add up to a whole lot of nothing—that is, the influential spend a lot of time, energy and cash stalemating each other and keeping things the way they are. [...]"   

Eyes on the skies over Iran's reactor [08/11/10] "Iran's light water nuclear power plant at Bushehr is preparing to go "live" - again.  Iranian and Russian nuclear scientists and officials have announced Bushehr's reactor will soon be receiving its first shipment of nuclear fuel 36 years after construction first began on the project. This claim may be quietly fueling speculation that a military strike on Iran by Israel - or the United States - may be imminent. [...]"    

'John Doe’ Who Fought FBI Spying Freed From Gag Order After 6 Years [08/11/10] "The owner of an internet service provider who mounted a high-profile court challenge to a secret FBI records demand has finally been partially released from a 6-year-old gag order that forced him to keep his role in the case a secret from even his closest friends and family. He can now identify himself and discuss the case, although he still can’t reveal what information the FBI sought.  Nicholas Merrill, 37, was president of New York-based Calyx Internet Access when he received a so-called “national security letter” from the FBI in February 2004 demanding records of one of his customers and filed a lawsuit to challenge it. His company was a combination ISP and security consultancy business that was launched in the mid-90s and had about 200 customers, Merrill said, many of them advertising agencies and non-profit groups. Despite the fact that the FBI later dropped its demand for the records, Merrill was prohibited from telling his fiancée, friends or family members that he had received the letter or that he was embroiled in a lawsuit challenging its legitimacy. He occasionally showed up for court hearings about the case, but sat silently in the audience with other court observers. In 2007, he was prevented from publicly accepting an award for his courage from the American Civil Liberties Union, because he was not allowed to identify himself as the plaintiff in the case. U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero in New York finally released Merrill partially from the gag order (.pdf) on July 30, which Merrill revealed publicly only on Monday. “After six long years of not being able to tell anyone at all what happened to me – not even my family – I’m grateful to finally be able to talk about my experience of being served with a national security letter,” Merrill said in a statement. “Internet users do not give up their privacy rights when they log on, and the FBI should not have the power to secretly demand that ISPs turn over constitutionally protected information about their users without a court order. I hope my successful challenge to the FBI’s NSL gag power will empower others who may have received NSLs to speak out.” A national security letter is an informal administrative letter the FBI can use to secretly demand customer records from ISPs, financial institutions, libraries, insurance companies, travel agencies, stockbrokers, car dealerships and others. NSLs have been used since the 1980s, but the Patriot Act, passed after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, and a subsequent revision in 2003 expanded the kinds of records that could be obtained with an NSL. [...]"   

Google, Verizon say no ‘net neutrality’ for wireless [08/11/10] "Google and US telecom titan Verizon proposed a legal framework to safeguard "net neutrality" but said the rules should not apply to wireless broadband Internet connections.  "We both recognize that wireless broadband is different from the traditional wireline world, in part because the mobile marketplace is more competitive and changing rapidly," the companies said in a joint statement. "In recognition of the still-nascent nature of the wireless broadband marketplace, under this proposal we would not now apply most of the wireline principles to wireless." Google and Verizon laid out a plan for US legislators to create laws aimed at preventing Internet service providers from violating "net neutrality" by giving some data priority over other digital information. Recommending that wireless Internet connections be exempt from net neutrality rules played into fears that Google is changing allegiance in the battle to stop Internet service providers (ISPs) from giving preferential treatment to those that pay. [...]"  Related:  Pro-Publica: More on Net Neutrality: Parsing Through Google and Verizon’s ‘Policy Announcement’ 

Burning Russia battles to defend nuclear sites [08/11/10] "Russia fought a deadly battle Tuesday to prevent wildfires from engulfing key nuclear sites as alarm mounted over the impact on health of a toxic smoke cloud that has shrouded Moscow.  Two soldiers were killed by blazing trees as they strove to put out a fire dangerously close to Russia's main nuclear research centre, while workers were also mobilised to fight blazes near a nuclear reprocessing plant. After almost two weeks of fires that have claimed over 50 lives and even part destroyed a military storage site, the authorities said they were making progress in fighting fires that still covered 174,035 hectares of land "A positive dynamic in liquidating the wildfires continues to be observed," said the head of the emergencies ministry's crisis unit, Vladimir Stepanov. [...]" 

Mossad operative to avoid jail in extradition deal [08/11/10] "An operative of Israeli intelligence agency Mossad, who was arrested in Poland on charges of forging a German passport, will avoid prison time for the offense, under a suspected Polish-German-Israeli secret deal. The man, whose travel documents identify him as Uri Brodsky, was arrested upon arriving in Poland on June 4. He is wanted by German prosecutors for procuring a forged German passport for use by a member of a Mossad hit squad, who used it to enter Dubai, United Arab Emirates, in mid-January of this year. The user of the forged passport is thought to have participated in the killing of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, a Hamas weapons procurer, who was found dead in his luxury Dubai hotel room on January 20. German prosecutors believe that Brodsky, who worked in Germany under the name of Alexander Werin, assisted numerous Mossad operatives acquire forged identity papers of several European countries, including Estonia, Latvia, Austria and Switzerland. Upon his arrest in Poland, which was rapidly followed by a formal German extradition request, the Israeli government called on both Poland and Germany to drop all charges against Brodsky and allow him to escape to Israel. However, German prosecutors, who strongly objected to Israel’s use of forged German travel documents in a covert assassination operation, rejected the request. Nevertheless, Israeli pressure appears to have paid off. Even though a Polish court on Thursday upheld an earlier decision to extradite Brodsky to Germany, a legal expert told French news agency Agence France Presse on Friday that the Israeli spy will not be prosecuted for espionage once under German custody (see previous intelNews coverage). Instead, Brodsky will be tried in the city of Cologne for “forging official documents”, said international legal scholar Kai Petars. Even though this offense carries a maximum penalty of three years in prison, Petars and other sources have said that Brodsky will probably “only be fined” and will then be allowed to go to Israel. [...]"    

Mexican Jail Guards ‘Let Gang Inmates Out To Kill’ [08/11/10] "Mexican prison guards allowed inmates to walk out of jail with borrowed guns and drive away in official cars so they could carry out drug-related killings, according to authorities. [...]"  

"Israel threatens to pull out of UN’s Gaza probe" [08/11/10] "Israel on Tuesday threatened to pull out of a UN probe into its deadly flotilla raid to keep the panel from grilling its troops, as the defense minister told another inquiry the fleet was a "planned provocation." [...]"  Note: As if the fox NOT guarding the hen-house would be a bad thing. Most non-Israelis would like to see Israel pull out of EARTH, altogether.

Alex Jones: "Everything Is A Lie: The Deliberate Intent To Deceive People Is At An All Time High" [08/11/10] "From pollution to politics, the era of deception and duplicity has reached new heights and hijacked almost every form of media in the world. In the last frontiers for truth such as the internet, disinformation operations are in full swing to discredit and destroy any semblance of authentic and factual information available [...]"  Note:  Again, Alex doesn't have the larger context of reality and his experience ... so, he has no where to go with all of this ... an observer backed into an existential corner ...  not that his observations are not accurate.

Washington 'Protecting' Iraq From... What Washington Did [08/10/10] "In a perhaps unintentional and obtuse twist of sardonic wit and possibly complete unawareness of the irony of his own words, Commander of United States Forces - Iraq (USF-I) General Ray Odierno said on Sunday in an interview with ABC's Christiane Amanpour that the 50,000 US troops that will remain in Iraq along with "a significant civilian presence" after the US 'withdraws', will help Iraq thwart "interference from outside countries". United States forces under President George W. Bush invaded Iraq in an unprovoked attack in 2003 and have occupied the country since. By some counts more than a million Iraqis have died as a direct result of the US invasion and occupation. Really. You can't make this stuff up. If fiction it wouldn't qualify as humor. Odierno's ironic comments in the interview followed only a few days after President Obama publicly backtracked on his 2009 pledge to withdraw all US combat troops from Iraq by September 1, 2010: [...]"

Former Sen. Ted Stevens and former NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe die in Alaskan aircraft crash [08/10/10] "A plane carrying nine people crashed amid southwest Alaska's remote mountains and lakes, killing five people on board, authorities said Tuesday. Former Sen. Ted Stevens and ex-NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe were believed to be aboard, but it was unclear if they were among the dead.  Stevens was one of two survivors in a 1978 plane crash at Anchorage International Airport that killed his wife, Ann, and several others.  Defense contractor EADS North America said Tuesday morning that O'Keefe, the CEO of the U.S.-based division of the European company, was a passenger on the small plane.  Stevens' standing in Alaska was toppled by corruption allegations and a federal trial in 2008. He was convicted of all seven counts — and narrowly lost his Senate seat to Democrat Mark Begich in the election the following week. In Washington, a Federal Aviation Administration spokesman said the aircraft is a DeHavilland DHC-3T registered to Anchorage-based General Communication Corp. [...]"  

Eyes on the skies over Iran's reactor [08/10/10] "Iranian and Russian nuclear scientists and officials have announced Bushehr's reactor will soon be receiving its first shipment of nuclear fuel 36 years after construction first began on the project. This claim may be quietly fueling speculation that a military strike on Iran by Israel - or the United States - may be imminent. .... An aerial assault on Bushehr would have to take place before any nuclear fuel arrives at the site. Beyond that point, an attack on the reactor would release deadly radioactive fallout into the entire Persian Gulf region and beyond. Besides the catastrophic human and environmental toll of such an attack, the sea lanes through which much of the world's oil supplies pass would be endangered. [...]"    

Merck probed for bribes to foreign governments [08/10/10] "Two federal agencies are probing drugmaker Merck & Co. for possibly violating anti-bribery laws in multiple foreign countries. Merck, the world's second-biggest drugmaker by revenue, has received inquiry letters from both the Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission, the company said in a regulatory filing. The letters "seek information about activities in a number of countries and reference the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act," according to Merck. The act bars U.S. companies from bribing government or corporate officials in other countries to win business, among other things. Merck, which is based in Whitehouse Station, New Jersey, disclosed the investigation in a regulatory filing submitted to the SEC on Friday.  [...]"   

"Senator Maxine Waters Caught in Triple Ethical Tangle" [08/09/10] "Rep. Maxine Waters may be in deep ... trouble if she’s found guilty of the trio of ethics charges that a House committee hit her with on Monday. The congresswoman apparently plans to contest the violations, stemming from her alleged involvement in funneling TARP funds to save an ailing bank to which she had family ties in 2008. [...]"  Note: Ha!  In other words, another 'clusterfuck' of magnanimous proportions propagated by the conceptually-hobbled.  Related:  Big Banks Get Billions, Waters Gets Busted  

U.S. to Sell $30 Billion Worth of Fighter Jets to Saudi Arabia [08/09/10] "The Obama administration plans to sell advanced F-15 fighter jets to Saudi Arabia but won’t equip them with long-range weapons systems and other arms whose inclusion was strongly opposed by Israel, diplomats and officials said. The proposed $30 billion, 10-year arms package, which would be one of the biggest single deals of its kind, has been a source of behind-the-scenes tension during months of negotiations. Israeli officials have repeatedly conveyed their concerns in private that the U.S. risks undermining its military advantage by equipping regional rivals with top-flight technologies. U.S. officials say they provided “clarifications” in recent weeks about the deal to help damp Israel’s qualms. Two officials close to the negotiations said Israel still had some reservations, but that the country isn’t expected to challenge the sale by lobbying Congress, which can hold up the deal or push for assurances of its own. The administration is expected to formally notify Congress of its plans as early as next month. [...]"  Note: Not much time left for that to unfold.    

 U.S. Politics: Wealthy  Political Newcomers Spending Big [08/09/10] " In California, billionaire former eBay chief executive Meg Whitman has bankrolled more than $91 million of the nearly $100 million her Republican quest for governor has cost so far. Her outsized spending has bought her some of the nation's best-known GOP strategists and chartered planes offering "white glove service." It's also helped her target traditionally Democratic voters. In Connecticut, footage of stage explosions and wrestlers flying through the air has filled the TV airwaves in ads for former World Wrestling Entertainment CEO Linda McMahon, who has said she's willing to spend up to $50 million of her own money in her bid to succeed retiring Democratic Sen. Chris Dodd. Two former corporate chiefs — one a Republican and one a Democrat — quickly took leads from establishment candidates in Florida despite jumping in late in high-profile races. [...]"  Note: More female players, and others, hoping to land powerful political careers ..... oops! Not enough time to have a career ... bad timing ... poor sequentials ... tsk tsk. They have a blind date with destiny ...

N Korea seizes S Korean vessel [08/09/10] "A South Korean fishing vessel with seven crew members on board has been seized by North Korean in the Sea of Japan amid growing tensions between the two neighbors. [...]"   

Commentary: Gulf Oil Disaster: A Massive Crime Compounded By A Massive Cover-Up [08/09/10] "The Obama administration is in full propaganda mode in an effort to declare an end to the Gulf oil disaster. The way is being prepared for the oil industry in the Gulf to return to business as usual, while working people, whose livelihoods were stripped away by the Deepwater Horizon disaster, will be left to fend for themselves. The administration is promoting claims that most of the oil erupting from the leak has either been contained or evaporated, with only a quarter posing a continued threat to the region. The claim, advanced in a report by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and promoted by the National Incident Command in the Gulf, is simply the latest in a long record of lies and falsifications. From the beginning, the policy of both BP and the Obama administration has been to cover up the true size and scope of the oil spill. It was NOAA which provided the claim in the days immediately following the April 20 blowout that only 5,000 barrels per day were spilling into the Gulf, and continued to drastically underestimate the size of the spill throughout the crisis. Like those claims, the current numbers were immediately challenged by independent scientists. Among them was Susan Shaw, the director of the Marine Environmental Research Institute, who told the press, “The blanket statement that the public understood is that most of the oil has disappeared. That is not true. About 50 percent of it is still in the water.” Others, like University of South Florida chemical oceanographer David Hollander, who described the findings as “ludicrous,” have said as much as 75 percent of the oil remains unaccounted for. [...] The campaign to minimize the impact of the spill is also designed to reinforce the administration's efforts to ensure the continued profitability of BP. The grossly inadequate $20 billion compensation fund set up by BP and the Obama administration only serves to shield the oil giant from overwhelming financial liabilities. The fund is administered by Kenneth Feinberg who was appointed by President Obama and, it has been revealed, is on the BP payroll. Feinberg’s job will entail settling only those claims against BP which he designates as “legitimate,” while working to prevent costly litigation for the company. Above all, no one will be held accountable—either in BP or the government, which facilitated the disaster by giving free reign to the company to ignore safety and environmental regulations." Under pressure from the oil industry to rescind the moratorium on offshore drilling, scheduled to end November 30, Michael Bromwich, the director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management Regulation and Enforcement indicated this week that his agency was prepared to do just that, saying “I think it’s everybody’s hope that we will feel comfortable enough that the moratorium can be lifted significantly in advance of November 30."  The oil companies will return to drilling without having been compelled to make changes to their safety practices. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (Democrat—Nevada) recently withdrew a bill calling for stricter regulations on deepwater drilling and greater financial penalities for corporations responsible for spills.[...]" Note: There are reasons that Oil and Gas companies are not currently  responsible for much environmental damage. See the Documentary called "Gasland" on the Notable Videos panel. See the "Oil and Gas" link on the Special Articles panel for related stories.

BioStorage approved for cargo pre-screens [08/09/10] "The U.S. Transportation Security Administration has approved Indiana's BioStorage Technologies to pre-screen its shipments to avoid airport delays. [...]"  Note: Well, the fact that it's in Indiana (Chicago mob, Obama admin, etc) raises an eyebrow .. suppose this company will be, or is involved in a current or future plan to transport drugs, cash or biological weapons in support of, or abetting, a government-sponsored false flag covert operation. It's a perfect setup ... they inspect their own cargo containers ... it's just too tempting. Since TSA is also corrupt, and the government and CIA has been dealing drugs for years ... it's very plausible. Who owns this company? Who has controlling interest, etc.?

Pfc. Manning and the Value of Truth -By Ray McGovern [08/09/10] "Former CIA analyst Ray McGovern spoke at a rally on Sunday in support of Pfc. Bradley Manning, the young soldier who is alleged to have given classified material to WikiLeaks, including a 2007 video showing a U.S. helicopter gunship cavalierly mowing down a dozen Iraqi men, including two Reuters journalists." [...]"  

MSM: Full Body Scanners At New York Airports [08/08/10] "Full body scanners that have stirred controversy for producing virtually naked images of airline passengers are coming to airports near you next month. [...]"  Related: Full Body Scanner Lobby: Michael Chertoff & Rapiscan "Michael Chertoff, Former Department of  Homeland Security, is the head of the Chertoff Group, the lead cheerleader for what is being called the Full Body Scanner Lobby, reports the Washington Post and the Washington Examiner. Ever since the Christmas Day Bomb Scare, Chertoff has been making the rounds championing the Full Body Scanners as a way to detect hidden explosive devices. Here is a Chertoff quote from the New York Times on December 29th.“If they’d been deployed, this would pick up this kind of device,” Michael Chertoff, the former homeland security secretary, said in an interview, referring to the packet of chemicals hidden in the underwear of the Nigerian man who federal officials say tried to blow up the Northwest Airlines flight.  A few days later the Washington Post revealed that Chertoff represents Rapiscan - a maker of full body scanners drawing criticism of groups who oppose full body scanners "Mr. Chertoff should not be allowed to abuse the trust the public has placed in him as a former public servant to privately gain from the sale of full-body scanners under the pretense that the scanners would have detected this particular type of explosive," said Kate Hanni, founder of FlyersRights.org, which opposes the use of the scanners. Rapiscan has already sold 150 full body scanners to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), with a price tag of $25 million. Rapiscan full body scanners, like the Rapiscan WaveScan 200, seem to be the preferred scanner of choice because they obscure the "private parts."  But the fully body scanner lobby is also littered with a number of companies vying for the $300 million dollars the government has set aside for this type of technology for airports. The Washington Examiner has a list of other full body scanner lobbyists [...]" The Problems With Naked-Body Airport Scans Exposed [07/09/10] | Full-body scanners are waste of money, Israeli expert says [04/23/10] | The Merchants of Fear: Israel's Profiting from Homeland Insecurity [01/31/10]  Note:  Chertoff is, essentially, a terrorist himself, terrorising others for personal profit. Another sequential loser. If this were Russia, he'd be arrested and shot or imprisoned in Siberia along with all the rest of them.

Gerald Celente: "Cheated and Betrayed" [08/08/10] [6:31]  "Gerald Celente – president of the Trends Research Institute and editor of Trends Research Journal – and LRC podcast guest – is interviewed on Russian TV, which tends to be freer than US TV. He discusses the economic collapse and social unrest ahead, and why we can not trust the ruling class or their universities. Americans are rightly angry at the oligarchs of Wall Street and the big banks. They feel cheated, and they have been cheated. They feel betrayed, and they have been betrayed. [...]"    

AZ:  "Brewer Riding High After SB 1070" [08/08/10] "In the months leading up to SB 1070’s passing, Jan Brewer was just a fill-in for the vacant Arizona governorship and even a laggard in the governorship election. Now after signing the anti-immigrant legislation, Brewer is enjoying unprecedented success within the party as she prepares to win the state’s GOP primary in two weeks. Brewer’s success also signals a current in the Republican Party that may continue to push forward candidates of the same ideological form as Brewer [...]"  Note:  Sequential hag ...

Corbett Report: "Naked Truth, Fluoride Poison, 9/11 Responders Strike Back - Sunday Update"  [08/08/10] [9:07]  

 Commentary: CIA: Enforcement Bureau of the Military-Industrial Complex [08/08/10] "When John F. Kennedy was running for president in 1960 he used to say, “Franklin Delano Roosevelt was a good neighbor in Latin America because he was a good neighbor right here at home.”  Kennedy was referring to Roosevelt’s Good Neighbor Policy which increased America’s popularity to people in that region. The future president was correct in citing the connection between how people of other nations see us relative to what we are doing at home, and the parallel between adopting a humane attitude domestically and extending it to other nations with which we interact. Now we are regrettably in a negative cycle in which other nations see America as marauders based not on what the typical American has done, except in instances where voters have overlooked the obvious when some kind of choice was afforded, but what has been done in the name of greed to serve the interest of a tiny handful. As Mitch McConnell and John Boehner struggle mightily to preserve Bush tax cuts to aid the top two percent of Americans we see the level of resistance against America extending political and economic influence. The brainwashing machine of Fox News seeks to explain negative reaction against America’s involvements in Iraq and Afghanistan as nothing more than the efforts of terrorists out to destroy America’s way of life. Fox propagandists such as Bill O’Reilly, Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity will never tell listeners about the influence of the CIA and the impact it has had on American policy as well as the perceptions that its actions have generated among people throughout the world. We know what has happened with the activities of one multinational corporation in the U.S. with British Petroleum and the great Gulf Calamity euphemistically referred to as an “oil spill” to make it sound less ominous than what it really is. [...] 

Drug Gang Got Los Alamos Secrets in 2006? Russia Accuses U.S. of loose weapons control [08/07/10] "Russia accused the United States on Saturday of breaching its obligations over the non proliferation of weapons, a sign of strained relations between the two powers. The charge came after a new arms control treaty between the United States and Russia suffered a setback this week when the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee delayed a ratification vote until mid-September. Russia said it had successfully test fired two ballistic missiles from the Barents Sea on Friday, Interfax news agency reported, in another sign of muscle-flexing from Moscow. The Russian Foreign Ministry said on its web site the United States had been in breach of several arms-related treaties including the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START I) and a treaty on conventional weapons. "During the START I period, the United States failed to resolve Russia's concerns over how this treaty was being fulfilled," the ministry said, citing a long list of what it called irregularities, including a U.S. failure to provide information on ballistic missiles trials. [...]"  Related:  Russia: U.S. violating START terms "Russia Saturday accused the United States of not fulfilling its obligations under a key arms control treaty. [...]"   

US-Vietnam nuke deal will likely allow enrichment [08/07/10] "The Obama administration has told U.S. lawmakers that a nuclear cooperation deal with Vietnam is unlikely to include a coveted promise by the Hanoi government not to enrich uranium, congressional aides say. The United States had sought a no-enrichment pledge, which the State Department promotes as the "gold standard" for civilian nuclear cooperation accords. [...]"  

Lebanon and Israel send army to border [08/07/10] "Lebanese army put units on the border with Israel on high alert after clashes between Israeli forces and Lebanese yesterday, while Israel has vowed to return to the border area to uproot the trees. This came after an emergency meeting held on the Supreme Defense Council in Lebanon, headed by President Michel Suleiman and attended by Minister and Commander of the Armed Forces, the Council stressed in a statement that he gave his directives to address each assault on Lebanon by available means and whatever the sacrifices. The clashes that took place yesterday between Israeli forces and Lebanese resulted in the death of two Lebanese soldiers and a journalist and wounded four other soldiers. The event also caused the killing of an Israeli officer lieutenant colonel and wounding two others. [...]"  Related:  The Enduring Middle East Strategic Framework Begins to Emerge "The lingering impact of August 3, 2010, clash on the Israeli-Lebanese border lies in the greater context of, and wider strategic dynamics in, the Middle East. These aspects were highlighted by HizbAllah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah in his speech later that day. See Defense & Foreign Affairs Special Analysis, August 4, 2010: Clash on Israel-Lebanon Border Holds Potential for Strategic Escalation. Overall, the issue dominating the overall situation in the Middle East is the reaction by the local powers to the emerging new grand strategic reality: namely, the demise of the United States as the dominant regional power. This is a dramatic reversal of a concentrated US policy of more than half a century. [...]"  

U.S. Funding for Israeli Missile Defense Programs Reaches New High [08/07/10] "The Jerusalem Post reported that under President Barack Obama’s leadership, and with the help of Congressional Democrats and other members of Congress, funding for Israeli missile defense programs is set to reach its highest level ever. [...]"   

 Commentary: Intel Professionals: "Israel may attack Iran in August" [08/07/10] "Since the Revolt of the Generals in 2006, the Baker-Hamilton Commission and Donald Rumsfeld's dismissal, the attack on Iran has been off Washington's agenda. However, the warmongers never gave up. Relying on Israel, they have continued to prepare in the shadows. A group of former intelligence officials are worried about the current weakness of the Obama Administration and about the hawks' readiness to exploit the slightest incident in order to precipitate the United States in a new large-scale conflagration. Though addressed to Barack Obama, the VIPS open memorandum aims to alert public opinion to the dangers of the situation. [...]"   

Suspected Israeli torturer gets key police job in Jerusalem: Doron Zahavi accused of running Israel’s ' Abu Ghraib' [08/07/10] "A police officer known as “Major George” who is accused of torturing Arab prisoners in his previous role as chief interrogator in a secret military jail has been appointed to oversee relations with Jerusalem’s Palestinian population, Jonathan Cook reports. The decision has been greeted with stunned disbelief from human rights groups, who say unresolved allegations against Major George that he brutally abused Arab prisoners for many years should disqualify him from such a sensitive post. Relations between the Israeli police and the 250,000 Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem have been on a knife edge for many months, as extremist Jewish groups – backed by the municipality – have increased their settlement drive in traditional Palestinian neighbourhoods such as Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan. The Association of Civil Rights in Israel (Acri), Israel’s largest legal rights group, revealed last week that it had made a formal complaint in February about Major George, whose real name is Doron Zahavi. [...]" 

 Commentary: What a Collapsing Empire Looks Like [08/07/10] "As we enter our ninth year of the War in Afghanistan with an escalated force, and continue to occupyIraq indefinitely, and feed an endlessly growing Surveillance State, reports are emerging of the Deficit Commission hard at work planning how to cut Social Security, Medicare, and now even to freeze military pay. But a new New York Times article today illustrates as vividly as anything else what a collapsing empire looks like, as it profiles just a few of the budget cuts which cities around the country are being forced to make. This is a sampling of what one finds: Plenty of businesses and governments furloughed workers this year, but Hawaii went further -- it furloughed its schoolchildren. Public schools across the state closed on 17 Fridays during the past school year to save money, giving students the shortest academic year in the nation. Many transit systems have cut service to make ends meet, but Clayton County, Ga., a suburb of Atlanta, decided to cut all the way, and shut down its entire public bus system. Its last buses ran on March 31, stranding 8,400 daily riders. Even public safety has not been immune to the budget ax. In Colorado Springs, the downturn will be remembered, quite literally, as a dark age: the city switched off a third of its 24,512 streetlights to save money on electricity, while trimming its police force and auctioning off its police helicopters. There are some lovely photos accompanying the article, including one showing what a darkened street in Colorado looks like as a result of not being able to afford street lights. Read the article to revel in the details of this widespread misery. Meanwhile, the tiniest sliver of the wealthiest -- the ones who caused these problems in the first place -- continue to thrive. Let's recall what former IMF Chief Economist Simon Johnson said last year in The Atlantic about what happens in under-developed and developing countries when an elite-caused financial crises ensues: [...]"   

Iran factory blast coincides with reported bomb attack on Ahmadinejad [08/06/10] "Official Iranian denials of an alleged bomb attack on the life of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Wednesday have been followed by reports of a simultaneous attack on a state-of-the-art Iranian petrochemicals complex. Specifically, on August 4, Reuters news agency cited an Iranian “presidential office source” in reporting a strong blast “500 meters from Ahmadinejad’s motorcade”. The blast, which Reuters attributed to either a hand grenade or a homemade explosive device, occurred as the Iranian President was being transported from the regional airport of Hamadan, in western Iran, to the city’s sports complex, where he was scheduled to deliver a speech. Reuters’ unnamed source said the President escaped unhurt, but subsequent reports indicated that several other passengers on the motorcade were injured. Interestingly, President Ahmadinejad’s office initially appeared to confirm the assassination attempt, but soon afterwards official state news agency IRNA attributed the blast on “an excited young man from Hamadan [who] exploded a firecracker in order to express his happiness”. The IRNA report also blamed “some foreign media [that] tried to take advantage of this event, in line with their goals”, and quoted Deputy Commander of the Iranian police, Ahmadreza Radan, who blasted the assassination reports as “a big lie that some foreign media published and wanted to spread”. However, later on that same evening, Israeli intelligence news website DEBKAfile reported “a massive explosion” at the new state-of-the-art petrochemicals processing facility in Pardis, a planned new suburb of Tehran. The plant was personally inaugurated by President Ahmadinejad just days prior to the blast. More importantly, the explosion, which DEBKAfile said killed “at least five workers”, reportedly occurred at 12:30 p.m. on August 4, which was also the time of the alleged assassination attempt on President Ahmadinejad. In Washington, government officials refused comment on the reports from Iran. State Department spokesman Philip Crowley told reporters that he and his colleagues “are still evaluating based on the information that we have. We haven’t arrived at a judgment as to what happened”. [...]"  

Trends:  FCC Abandons Efforts for Net Neutrality Compromise: Allows Google and Verizon to Write the Regulations [08/06/10] "Federal regulators are abandoning efforts to negotiate a compromise on so-called "network neutrality" rules intended to ensure that phone and cable TV companies cannot discriminate against Internet traffic traveling over their broadband lines. The announcement Thursday by the Federal Communications Commission ends weeks of FCC-brokered talks to try to reach an agreement on the thorny issue among a handful of big phone, cable and Internet companies. And it comes as two big companies that have been taking part in those talks – Verizon Communications Inc. and Google Inc. – attempt to hammer out their own separate proposal for how broadband providers should treat Internet traffic. Verizon and Google expect to unveil their proposal within days and hope it will provide a framework for net neutrality legislation in Congress, said several people briefed on the negotiations between the companies. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the agreement is still not final. But according to one person close to the FCC talks, the deal also undermined the discussions taking place at the FCC and progress that had been made toward an industry-wide compromise. This person said FCC officials fear that the proposal from Google and Verizon would not do enough to prevent phone and cable companies from using their control over broadband connections to become online gatekeepers. FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski wants to adopt rules to ensure that broadband subscribers could access all online content, applications, services and devices as long as they are legal. [...]"  Video clip  [3:59]  Related:  The Trust Crisis with Regulating Net Neutrality "... This is where the problem lies: the American people don’t have any trust in their government, regulatory agencies, or corporations. In fact, it seems that these three entities typically work in unison to establish profit and power guarantees that can only be described as monopolistic cartels where power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely [...]" A Crisis in Confidence: Congress Approval Sinks to New Low: 11%  "The Gallup's 2010 Confidence in Institutions poll was released today and there seems to be a severe crisis in confidence in nearly all major institutions. Congress came in dead last of the 16 institutions studied with a pitiful 11% approval rating. Gallup reported, "Eleven percent of Americans say they have a great deal or quite a lot of confidence in Congress, down from 17% in 2009 and a percentage point lower than the previous low for Congress, recorded in 2008." [...]" 

Rep. Pete Stark: - "The Federal Government can do most anything in this country" [08/06/10] [3:37]   "California's 13th Congressional District, Rep. Pete Stark's latest controversial statement about the Federal Government having the power to do what it wants [...]"  

MSM: Mexico – Cartels move beyond drugs, seek domination [08/06/10] "President Felipe Calderon said Wednesday that Mexico’s cartels in many cases have moved beyond drugs as their main money-earner and are even trying to supplant the government in parts of the country. Speaking at an anti-crime conference, Calderon said gangs are imposing fees like taxes in towns they dominate, extorting money from both legitimate and unauthorized businesses. “This has become an activity that defies the government, and even seeks to replace the government,” he said. “They are trying to impose a monopoly by force of arms, and are even trying to impose their own laws.” Calderon said cartels may even be taking money from churches. “I do not doubt that they are also extorting money from priests and pastors in this country,” he said. Drugs are becoming less of a focus for the gangs, he said. “Their main business is not anymore even drug trafficking, sometimes,” Calderon said. “Their business is dominating other people.” Calderon told the gathering that some people are urging him to leave the cartels alone, after more than 28,000 people have died in drug violence since he launched an offensive against the cartels upon taking office in late 2006. “Really, they are telling me, ‘Mr. President, don’t bother the criminals’,” he said. Calderon called that “simply an unacceptable option.” Meanwhile, in the port of Manzanillo, capital of the western state of Colima, federal authorities said they seized 200 tons of precursor chemicals for making synthetic drugs. A statement said the material was found in 18 containers shipped from China and Korea. The Attorney General’s Office said it was the biggest seizure of such chemicals in Mexico. [...]" 

Commentary: The Psychology of Conspiracy Denial [08/06/10] "Wired Magazine writer Jonah Lehrer claims his critics are engaging in “cognitive dissonance,” by expressing concern about experimental vaccines, which in fact is the perfect description for Lehrer’s own behavior. Paul Joseph Watson Infowars.com Thursday, August 5, 2010 Wired Magazine writer Jonah Lehrer attempts to offset the overwhelmingly critical response to his attack [...]"  

 Commentary: August Forecast: Cloudy With a Chance of Mayhem [08/05/10] "July may have gone out with a whimper, but August may very well come in with a BANG! The eighth month on the Gregorian calendar has a notoriously violent past. World War I kicked in to high gear on August 4, 1914 when Great Britain declared war on Germany (after they refused to withdraw from Belgium). World War II went up in smoke on August 9th, 1945 when the U.S. dropped its 2nd nuclear bomb—on the people of Japan—at Nagasaki. Will August 10th, 2010 go down in history as the beginning of World War III? Indulge me. August is a month when public apathy to world affairs and politics is at an all time high. Stock and commodities markets are slow; people are either on vacation or getting their kids ready for school. What a better time to sneak in Armageddon while parents are more concerned about getting the family out to see the last of those summer movies or hitting the beach before the water gets too cold. World War III is imminent—and it will begin with a strike on Iran—possibly this month. So live it up folks, because this may be the last carefree summer you’ll be able to enjoy for a long time. On Sunday’s “Meet The Press”, the U.S. chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, said that the U.S. has an attack plan ready to deal with Iran’s nuclear ambitions. He stated that, “Military options have been on the table and remain on the table. It’s one of the options that the president has. I hope we don’t get to that, but it’s an important option, and it’s one that’s well understood.” No further details were provided as to the specifics of “the plan,” but you can be sure that the Israeli government will play a significant role. Early last week, Israeli Defense Minister, Ehud Barak, told the Washington Post that the U.S., its European allies and even Russia are now beginning to concede to the reality of Iran’s determination to reach its full nuclear capabilities. But he didn’t believe that the current sanctions would be adequate enough to stop them. [...] "     

 Commentary: "So Please Tell Me Again: What's the War About?" [08/05/10] "When facts are inconvenient, when international law, human rights and history get in the way, when war crimes can't easily be justified or explained away, when logic doesn't help much, the current crop of American political leaders turns to what is now the old reliable: 9/11. We have to fight in Afghanistan because ... somehow ... it's tied into what happened on September 11, 2001. Here's Vice-President Joe Biden: "We know that it was from the space that joins Afghanistan and Pakistan that the attacks of 9/11 occurred. [...]"  Note: It's all for the Mossad and Israel ... the military/intel machine, money, drugs and power. Infantile machinations. 

Historical first: US envoy to attend Hiroshima ceremony [08/05/10] "Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Thursday that US President Barack Obama "thought it appropriate" to recognize Japan's atomic bomb anniversary as he wants to rid the world of nuclear arms. The US ambassador to Japan, John Roos, is due to attend and lay a wreath "to express respect for all of the victims of World War II," the State Department said. The United States has not apologized for the atomic bombs it dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki which, surveys show, most Americans believe were " necessary to bring a quick end to the war and avoid a land invasion that could have been more costly. [...]"  Note:  Not exactly.

Israeli PM Demands International Community Blame Hamas for Sinai Missiles [08/05/10] Note:  Another Mossad operation, no doubt.

China rejects U.S. pressure on Iran trade ties [08/05/10] "China pushed back at U.S. pressure on its business and oil trade with Iran in comments published on Wednesday, while Iran's oil minister was in Beijing seeking to shore up ties with the big customer. [...]"  

US-China tensions over South China Sea [08/05/10] "US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s provocative stance at the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) security forum last month, where she voiced opposition to China’s claims in the South China Sea, has inflamed another global flashpoint. [...]"  Note: I liked her better on the South Park cartoon series, where she was depicted as carrying a 'terroristic device' inside a body cavity ... the cunt-in-chief, reigning delusional sequential Hillary. People are advised to ignore her.

MSM: About 100,000 War Vets Owed Stop-Loss Cash Payments [08/05/10] "A U.S. senator wants to know why more than 100,000 servicemen and women never received thousands of dollars they are owed by the Pentagon after being forced to extend their military tours during the height of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. [...]"   

Commentary: Israel Gears Up For The Final Confrontation [08/04/10] "In May 2009 I wrote that Netanyahu was itching to find an excuse to find a way of kicking off a war against Iran and what better way than to try what his predecessor, Ehud Olmert, tried in 2006 – provoke Hamas in the Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon by getting them to retaliate with minor incidents to Israeli border provocations and then use this as an excuse to launch massive attacks against both. Then last Monday I wrote of how Israel was provoking Palestinians in the Gaza by firing on Gazan farmers in an effort to goad Palestinian fighters to launch rockets into Israel which the Israelis would then use as a casus belli to launch airstrikes against targets in the Gaza Strip. Then today we get news that Israel has provoked Lebanon by crossing over the Israel-Lebanon border via a cherry picker lift that put an Israel soldier over the border fence into Lebanese territory. The Israelis were spotted and Lebanese regular troops opened fire killing one Israeli officer and wounding a soldier. Despite the fact that Israel had clearly put a soldier into Lebanon, Netanyahu has said that it is Lebanon that was responsible for the border clash. Three Lebanese soldiers as well as a Lebanese journalist were killed in the subsequent air strike and artillery bombardment. [...]"  

BlackBerry maker to resist pressure from Gulf governments [08/04/10] "A top executive of the maker of the BlackBerry smartphones said in an interview published Wednesday that the firm would not give in to pressure to allow foreign governments to access customer data. Mike Lazaridis, founder and co-chief executive of Canadian-based Research in Motion, told The New York Times that allowing governments to monitor messages on the BlackBerry networks would imperil the firm's relationships with customers, including major corporations and law enforcement agencies. "We're not going to compromise that," Lazaridis said. "That's what's made BlackBerry the number one solution worldwide." Lazaridis said the encryption causing alarm among some governments was used for many legal purposes including e-commerce transactions, teleconferencing and electronic money transfers. "If you were to ban strong encryption, you would shut down corporations, business, commerce, banking and the Internet," he said. "Effectively, you'd shut it all down. That's not likely going to happen." ... BlackBerry has more than 700,000 subscribers in Saudi Arabia and 500,000 in the UAE, a country that has established itself as a major business hub mainly in the bustling emirate of Dubai. [...]"  Related:  Saudi Blackberry ban from Friday  "The authorities in Saudi Arabia tell telecoms firms to block the messenger function on Blackberry handsets from Friday. Gulf states have announced the bans on some functions of the Blackberry mobile phone, claiming security concerns. The United Arab Emirates wants to block sending e-mails, accessing the internet, and delivering instant messages to other Blackberry handsets. Saudi Arabia had previously announced it was to prevent the use of the Blackberry-to-Blackberry instant messaging service. Both nations are unhappy that they are unable to monitor such communications via the handsets. This is because the Blackberry handsets automatically send the encrypted data to computer servers outside the two countries. [...]"  Note: They will co-opt your experiences at the drop of a hat ... a controlled society in Saudi .... limited or non-existent individualism 'allowed'... sadistic primitivism .. pathetic losers. 

 Commentary: "Why the U.S. Won't Cut Ties with Israel, No Matter How Extreme Its Government Gets" [08/04/10] "Rumors are floating around about why Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak was in Washington – again – last week when Israel’s official top diplomat, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, is nowhere to be seen. This was Barak’s seventh visit to DC; Lieberman has been here exactly once.  So what’s up with that? Why isn’t Israel’s most important envoy playing the key diplomatic role with Israel’s most important diplomatic sponsor? One reason is that Lieberman is an embarrassment to many, even here in Washington’s Israel-can-do-no-wrong political culture. His party, Yisrael Beiteinu (Israel Is Our Home) is so far right that Kadimah -- the party of the 1982 “Butcher of Beirut” Ariel Sharon and Tzipi Livni who helped orchestrate the assault on Gaza -- and the extremist settlement-backing Likud party of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, look centrist and center-right by comparison.  Lieberman’s gang goes way beyond normal Israeli extremism, calling not just for unconstrained settlement expansion, but various versions of “transfer” – the preferred Israeli euphemism for ethnic cleansing. That means the expulsion of Palestinians from Israel, including some who are Israeli citizens, starting with those who refuse to sign an oath of loyalty to Zionism. In May 2004, Lieberman announced that 90 percent of Israel’s Palestinian citizens, who amount to 20 percent of the population, would “have to find a new Arab entity” to live in because “they have no place here. They can take their bundles and get lost.” He called for executing Arab members of the Knesset who speak to Hamas, or who call for commemoration of the nakba, the Palestinian expulsion and dispossession from what would become Israel in 1947-48. Back in 1998 Lieberman urged Israel to bomb Egypt’s giant Aswan Dam, a move that would have flooded pretty much all of Egypt and drowned most of Egypt’s 80 million people. And in 2003, as transport minister, Lieberman called for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons to be drowned in the Dead Sea – and offered buses to take them there. [...]"   

Lawsuit challenges airport full-body scanners [08/04/10] "A privacy advocacy group is suing the Department of Homeland Security to suspend the use of the controversial full-body scanners employed at airports across the country, including at every major checkpoint at Logan International Airport. The machines, which use X-rays or radio frequency energy to detect weapons and explosives beneath passengers’ clothing, have been much criticized because of privacy concerns. In the lawsuit, filed last month, the Electronic Privacy Information Center in Washington, D.C., said the slightly blurred but accurate pictures of passengers’ naked bodies produced by the machines are the equivalent of a “digital strip search.’’ The suit says the program, run by the Transportation Security Administration, which is part of the Department of Homeland Security, violates the Privacy Act and the Administrative Procedure Act. The program also violates the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, the lawsuit says, referencing religious laws about modesty.  Related: Feds Admit Storing Checkpoint Body Scan Images

Microsoft Execs Thwarted IE Privacy Plans [08/04/10] "Microsoft had planned to give Internet Explorer 8.0 the most advanced privacy settings in the industry, until executives swept in and made the browser more advertiser-friendly. Explorer was supposed to keep out all kinds of common tracking tools, but Microsoft opted instead to turn the feature off as a default, pushing it onto a privacy controls menu most users aren’t aware exists, the Wall Street Journal reports. “We were worried it was going to cause a stampede” away from tracking technologies, says Brian McAndrews, the Microsoft VP who stepped in. Of the Internet’s top 50 websites, 31 install Microsoft tracking cookies on users’ computers. Microsoft was also worried that increased privacy would cost it the support of ad-industry groups it wanted to rally against a Google/Yahoo ad deal. Eventually, it decided to allow the feature only if users had to activate it each time they started the browser. [...]"  Note:  IE is largely a defunct browser, now.

Malware Threat Outpaces Antivirus Software  [08/03/10] "Things may suck right now, but they’re not going to get any worse, because it’s the worst case scenario right now.” [...] At this point, computer security cannot go back to a pre-2006 time when simply running AV software would protect the computer against most threats. To truly protect a computer against malware, the user must work as hard as the antivirus software by practicing safe Internet browsing. “Antivirus software isn’t good enough on its own. You need to combine it with common sense as a human being,” McAfee's Dirro said. “You’ve got airbags in your car, but you still don’t drive into a concrete wall at full speed. If you think any email is dodgy, don’t open it.” Responsible browsing means staying away from websites that traffic in pirated material, avoiding adult websites without the proper level of security and, yes, installing the most up to date AV software, since, after all, even 40 percent protection is better than nothing, Correll said."  Related: 10 Things You Must Know About Malware Infections

Shadowy Spy Group Building Dossiers On Internet Users For Feds [08/03/10] "An organization that tracks 250 million IP addresses a day has been developing portfolios on Internet users and handing the information to U.S. federal agencies as the latest incarnation of the supposedly defunct Total Information Awareness spy program is revealed. A group calling itself Project Vigilant went public at yesterday’s Defcon security conference in an effort to add more recruits to its 600 member strong cyber spy force. The outfit announced that it had been tracking “Internet villains” for no less than 14 years and handing the information to federal authorities as part of a massive intelligence gathering program. However, the target of one such investigation did not fall into the category of cyber criminals – “terrorists, drug cartels, mobsters” – that the group claims to be fighting. The organization “encouraged one of its “volunteers”, researcher Adrian Lamo, to inform the federal government about the alleged source of a controversial video of civilian deaths in Iraq leaked to whistle-blower site Wikileaks in April,” reports Forbes. [...]"  Related:  Is Project Vigilant a Fraud?  "Based on this material retrieved from Google cache, Project Vigilant is a fraud. The recent stories about Chet Uber recruiting volunteer Internet spies at Defcon, bragging about having 600 volunteers and advising Adrian Lamo to inform on Bradley Manning have been based on public relations hyperbole. This material shows: [...]"     

Germany gave assassination list to secret US unit [08/03/10] "The German government supplied a secret Pentagon task force with names of Taliban leaders that the US then could target for assassination, documents show. [...]"   

 Commentary: Why Is Obama Fascist? [08/02/10] " Although "fascism" originated as a by-product of a French revolution gone awry, and was also the characteristic of both the Napoleon Bonaparte regime and that of the London-created Napoleon III regime, today's relevant use of the term "fascism" is properly dated to the French developments which served as the model for the Mussolini model created by Venetians such as the Volpi de Misurata who had played a crucial earlier role in a British intelligence operation known as the London-controlled "Young Turks" who conducted the genocide against Armenians.  The formal use of the term "fascism" as the name of a movement began with what became the Mussolini model, which adopted the Julius Caesar model. However, it is crucial to recognize the fact, that all social-political forms known properly as "fascism" today were based on the British imperial model developed under the direction of the British East India Company's Lord Shelburne, and such key Shelburne agents as Adam Smith and Jeremy Bentham, the later the head of the British Foreign Office's secret intelligence bureau's orchestration of the French Revolution's Terror, and subsequent Napoleonic form.: The Vichy regime in occupied France, is a relevant standard for defining fascism. There are, similarly, numerous nominally "socialist" movements, such as that of Vichy, or Hitler's "national socialists," which emphasize the "populist" root and aspect of fascism. President Obama's Hitler-modeled health-case policies and his continuation of his "bail-out of London and Wall Street" policies, are conclusively clear cases of the "hard core" fascist type of the current Obama Presidency. It is not accidental that no less than 80% of the U.S. citizenry hates the Obama regime today. Essentially, today's specifically fascist (as distinct from "fascistic") philosophy is competently traced to the models of Nietzsche and his follower Schumpeter. All of President Obama's leading policies are specifically and systemically fascist, and, according to polls, justly hated by 80% or more of the population today. For a concise response to your question, all of Obama's health-care and other socio-economic policies can serve today as conclusive proofs that Obama is a fascist. It is also the fact that Obama's pathological personality, which is that of a "failed personality" comparable to the Emperor Nero and Adolf Hitler, is an example of the fascist type of personality.  [...]"    

‘KopBuster’ Barry Cooper gets a movie deal, sues Texas authorities [08/02/10] "When former Texas police officer Barry Cooper hatched his scheme to sell "KopBusters," an anti-cop reality show, he had no idea what might come of it.  "I was just determined to make things right for what I had done in all my years as a cop, busting people for pot mostly," he's said. "But, you know, things kinda got complicated." Two years and several media stunts later, the family's home has been invaded by officers with guns drawn, who would tell the Child Protection Services (CPS) that the Coopers were "unsuitable" parents endangering their children -- a possible felony offense. Officers claimed a gram of marijuana was found in the home, which was enough for Candi's ex-husband to claim temporary custody of her youngest son, Zach. Then the Texas Rangers came swooping in, arresting Candi in front of her home and leaving Barry with little option but to turn himself in, which he did with a typical showman's flare. Now both are facing up to a year in jail on two separate charges of Making a False Report to a Peace Officer, a Class B misdemeanor offense, for what they insist was civil disobedience. This all may sound like a series of unfortunate events to an objective observer -- but for Barry and Candi, finally feeling the heat from legal fees and the continuing costs of operating an online business, a big payday really is just around the corner. That's because Cooper, under the guidance of Hollywood talent manager David Ballard, has signed an option arrangement with producer/director Brett Ratner, perhaps best known for his films "Rush Hour," "Red Dragon" and "X-Men: The Last Stand". [...]"   

Peres Calls British "Anti-Semites" [08/02/10] "Shimon Peres is furiously backpedaling after accusing the UK of anti-Semitism, a comment that enraged the British public, who still deeply identify as the country that "stood alone against Nazi Germany during the Second World War," the Telegraph reports. The Israeli president "never accused the British people of anti-Semitism,” his spokesman insisted last night. “The president does not believe that British governments are motivated by anti-Semitism, nor were they in the past." In an interview last week, Peres complained of a pro-Arab, anti-Israeli tendency in the British establishment. Asked if this was because of anti-Semitism, the Israel president said: “Yes, there is also anti-Semitism. There is in England a saying that an anti-Semite is someone who hates the Jews more than is necessary." Peres says the motivation for his comments was that "some people in Britain do not fully appreciate the difficulties of facing an onslaught of terror while adhering to democratic practice, as Israel does.”” [...]"   Shimon Peres denies calling British 'anti-Semites'  " ... David Cameron, the prime minister, caused a furore in Israel last week by describing Gaza as an open prison camp..."  Note: Which, of course, it essentially is.

Federal judge refuses to dismiss Virginia health care reform lawsuit [08/02/10] "Virginia's lawsuit challenging the Obama administration's health care reform law cleared its first legal hurdle Monday as a federal judge ruled the law raises a host of complex constitutional issues. U.S. District Judge Henry Hudson's decision stemmed from Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli's claims that Congress exceeded its authority under the Constitution's Commerce Clause by requiring citizens to buy health insurance or pay a penalty. Hudson's ruling denied the Justice Department's attempt to have the lawsuit dismissed. "The mere existence of the lawfully-enacted statute is sufficient to trigger the duty of the Attorney General of Virginia to defend the law and the associated sovereign power to enact it," Hudson wrote. "Unquestionably, this regulation radically changes the landscape of health insurance coverage in America." [...]"   

Commentary: Are the American People Obsolete? [08/02/10] "Have the American people outlived their usefulness to the rich minority in the United States? A number of trends suggest that the answer may be yes. In every industrial democracy since the end of World War II, there has been a social contract between the few and the many. In return for receiving a disproportionate amount of the gains from economic growth in a capitalist economy, the rich paid a disproportionate percentage of the taxes needed for public goods and a safety net for the majority. In North America and Europe, the economic elite agreed to this bargain because they needed ordinary people as consumers and soldiers. Without mass consumption, the factories in which the rich invested would grind to a halt. Without universal conscription in the world wars, and selective conscription during the Cold War, the U.S. and its allies might have failed to defeat totalitarian empires that would have created a world order hostile to a market economy. Globalization has eliminated the first reason for the rich to continue supporting this bargain at the nation-state level, while the privatization of the military threatens the other rationale.  [...] 

 Commentary:  Thomas Jefferson or the Status Quo [08/02/10] "Nullification isn’t constitutional, Tucker rushes to assure everyone, since he doesn’t see it mentioned anywhere in the U.S. Constitution itself. But that’s the thing about the powers of the states: they don’t have to be mentioned explicitly. Only the powers of the federal government (as well as the restrictions on the states) are to be specifically enumerated. That’s the nature of a limited, federal system. And as I show in the book, the power of nullification was indeed assured to the people at the state ratifying convention of Virginia, the state from which so many of our most important statesmen and thinkers hailed. Add to this the obvious, commonsense point that a federal government allowed to have a monopoly on determining its own powers will continuously discover new ones, which happens to be precisely what has occurred, and you have a logically unassailable case for state nullification. (For that matter, where in the Constitution is the federal government granted the exclusive, monopoly power to judge its own powers infallibly? Assigning certain kinds of cases to the Supreme Court is not the same thing, and the Supremacy Clause, as I show in the book, merely begs the question.)  Some of us are a little tired of electing do-nothing plastic men who intensify our fiscal problems, and then hope the rubes fall for their pretty talk about limited government. We’re also impatient with the equally failed strategy of waiting for the federal government’s own courts to roll it back – a foolish approach Jefferson viewed with contempt, since he knew the federal courts would simply rubber-stamp federal usurpations. [...]"   

Cluster Bomb Treaty in Full Effect [08/02/10] "A global treaty banning cluster munitions has gone into force. The Convention on Cluster Munitions, which became binding international law on Sunday, prohibits the use, production and stockpiling of the weapon, which is blamed for killing and maiming tens of thousands of civilians. Thomas Nash, from the Cluster Munition Coalition, a network of 200 civil society organisations, hailed the ban. [...]"  

Husband of powerful intelligence committee congresswoman is ‘favorite’ to buy Newsweek [08/02/10] "The husband of Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA), one of the most powerful Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee, is the "galloping favorite" to buy Newsweek from The Washington Post. The purchase would mark an odd synergy between a congresswoman with access to the most clandestine intelligence available, and an agenda-setting newsmagazine. According to Politico's "Morning Score," a newsletter which cites no specific sources, Sidney Harman is favored to win control of Newsweek. The Washington Post recently put Newsweek on the block amidst a rapid circulation decline. Rep. Harman ranks among the richest members of Congress, with $160 million in assets, according to US News and World Report. ... Last year, Congressional Quarterly reporter Jeff Stein alleged that Harman was caught by an NSA wiretap pledging to intervene in an espionage case involving an Israeli lobbyist.  [...]"   Note: Another useless, self-indulgent delusionary rag ... of course their whole schtick is lost, and they are losers, (again) but they don't realize it yet.

Mexican Drug Cartel Leader “Nacho Coronel” Linked to CIA Yucatan Cocaine Operations [08/01/10] "How did a Mexican drug trafficker manage to use a CIA rendition aircraft to smuggle drugs into the U.S.? The death of drug cartel leader, Ignacio “Nacho” Coronel reveals surprising (or not so surprising) connections. Earlier this week, Sinaloa drug cartel leader Ignacio “Nacho” Coronel was killed in a raid conducted by the Mexican military. According to several media and official Mexican government reports, Coronel had a long criminal history and played significant roles mostly within the Sinaloa cartel. He was currently a member of the ‘inner circle’ working for Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzman –the drug lord listed by Forbes as one of the richest men in the world. Yesterday, thanks to the arduous work of the Mexican newspaper Por Esto!, it was discovered that Nacho Coronel was literally running “El Chapo” Guzman’s cocaine operations in the Yucatan Peninsula since 2004, when evidently, he became the visible head of the Sinaloa Cartel which operated out of the cities of Merida, Cancun, and Cozumel. This was known as “the Yucatan Peninsula Route.” [...]"  

Israel government extends document secrecy rule to 70 years [08/01/10] "Researchers, academics and transparency advocates have criticized new Israeli government regulations that extend the classification period of state archives from 50 to 70 years. The measure was approved on July 11 by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, following strong pressure by the Israeli intelligence community, led by the country’s General Security Service, also known as Shin Bet.  [...]"  Note:  That's a lifetime worth of secrets. If they do shit that's THAT BAD that they need to hide it from the world for a generation, then they're too despicable to be on the planet in the first place. That should be the first clue. One can hope they light themselves up and change into photons, too. Good riddance ... they can go to another world and screw around. Meanwhile, we're done with this infantile shit.   Related:  Israel Classifies its Past as Top Secret: An Analysis [08/01/10] "Israel is a land built on myths. It is, of course, not unique in this. Indeed in this way Israel is very much like its patron, the United States. In order to build and maintain a mythical status a nation must create a picture of itself from its very inception and pass that picture down generation upon generation. For the U.S. it is the idea that the nation is a beacon of both democracy and capitalism unto the world and what it does in terms of foreign policy, and even when at war, is always done altruistically. For Israel, the myth is that the nation is democratic and the last bastion of safety for the world’s Jews. Everything it does, even when that amounts to imperial expansion, is done "defensively". In order to maintain these myths one must control history. The story line must be taught in the schools and supported by the nation’s multiple media sources. One must raise up a population that is so well inculcated with its mythic worldview that if something occurs which contradicts it, it can be readily dismissed as an exception to the rule. In the case of the United States, two hundred years of indoctrination and a long term status as a great power has allowed its myths to survive, in the minds of its own people, the horrors of Viet Nam, Iraq and now Afghanistan. Israel is a much younger nation with only three or so generations of indoctrination under its psychological belt, so to speak. And, while it may be a regional superpower, its reputation in the Middle East is built on fear. With the rest of the world that reputation is associated with equally unstable and temporary attitudes, like Holocaust guilt. In essence, apart from the convinced Zionists, Israel’s sustaining national myths are still fragile.[...]"    

Monsanto: The world's poster child for corporate manipulation and deceit [08/01/10] "At a biotech industry conference in January 1999, a representative from Arthur Anderson, LLP explained how they had helped Monsanto design their strategic plan. First, his team asked Monsanto executives what their ideal future looked like in 15 to 20 years. The executives described a world with 100 percent of all commercial seeds genetically modified and patented. Anderson consultants then worked backwards from that goal, and developed the strategy and tactics to achieve it. They presented Monsanto with the steps and procedures needed to obtain a place of industry dominance in a world in which natural seeds were virtually extinct. This was a bold new direction for Monsanto, which needed a big change to distance them from a controversial past. As a chemical company, they had polluted the landscape with some of the most poisonous substances ever produced, contaminated virtually every human and animal on earth, and got fined and convicted of deception and wrongdoing. According to a former Monsanto vice president, "We were despised by our customers." So they redefined themselves as a "life sciences" company, and then proceeded to pollute the landscape with toxic herbicide, contaminate the gene pool for all future generations with genetically modified plants, and get fined and convicted of deception and wrongdoing. Monsanto's chief European spokesman admitted in 1999, "Everybody over here hates us." Now the rest of the world is catching on. [...]"  

Commentary: Trends to Barbarism and Prospects for Socialism - Global Empire [08/01/10] "Western societies and states are moving inexorably toward conditions resembling barbarism; structural changes are reversing decades of social welfare and subjecting labor, natural resources and the wealth of nations to raw exploitation, pillage and plunder, driving living standards downward and provoking unprecedented levels of discontent. We will proceed by outlining the economic political and military processes driving this process of decay and decomposition and follow with an account of the mass popular responses to their own deteriorating conditions. The deep structural changes accompanying the rise of barbarism become the basis for considering the prospects for socialism in the 21st century. [...]"   

Under the U.S. Supreme Court: Did Big Tobacco finally get burned? [08/01/10] "Hidden among the thousands of petitions the U.S. Supreme Court rejected before recessing for the summer was a case so spectacular -- the case against Big Tobacco -- you wonder why its outcome isn't drawing more attention. [...]"  

Commentary: Glenn Beck and the Oakland shooter [08/01/10] "Late on a Saturday night two weeks ago, an unemployed carpenter packed his mother's Toyota Tundra with guns and set off for San Francisco with a plan to kill progressives. When California Highway Patrol officers stopped him on an interstate in Oakland for driving erratically, Byron Williams, wearing body armor, fired at police with a 9mm handgun, a shotgun and a .308-caliber rifle with armor-piercing bullets, Oakland police say. Shot and captured after injuring two officers, Williams, on parole for bank robbery, told investigators that he wanted "to start a revolution" by "killing people of importance at the Tides Foundation and the ACLU," according to a police affidavit. His mother, Janice, told the San Francisco Chronicle that her son had been watching television news and was upset by "the way Congress was railroading through all these left-wing agenda items." But what television news show could have directed the troubled man's ire toward the obscure Tides Foundation, which sounds as if it's dedicated to oceanography, or perhaps laundry detergent, but which is in fact a nonprofit that claims to support "sustainability, better education, solutions to the AIDS epidemic and human rights"? A week after the incident, the mystery was solved. "Tides was one of the hardest things that we ever tried to explain, and everyone told us that we couldn't," Fox News host Glenn Beck told his radio listeners on Monday. "The reason why the blackboard" -- the prop Beck uses on his TV show to trace conspiracies -- "really became what the blackboard is, is because I was trying to explain Tides and how all of this worked." Beck accuses Tides of seeking to seize power and destroy capitalism, and he suggests that a full range of his enemies on the left all have "ties to the Tides Center." On Monday, he savored the fact that "no one knew what Tides was until the blackboard." For good measure, Beck went after Tides again on Fox that night. And Tuesday night, Wednesday night and Thursday night. That's on top of 29 other mentions of Tides on Beck's Fox show over the past 18 months (two in the week before the shootout) according to a tally by the liberal press watchdog Media Matters. Other than two mentions of Tides on the show of Beck's Fox colleague Sean Hannity, Media Matters said it was unable to find any other mention of Tides on any news broadcast by any network over that same period. Beck declined comment. It's not fair to blame Beck for violence committed by people who watch his show. [...]"  Note:  Why not? Functionally, Beck is overtly a social provocateur, as are many others. So, the question arises as to whether some  shows are allowed solely because there is a small chance that something will over-stimulate people who are on already the edge ... to entrap them in their own emotions and INDUCE them to act violently, seemingly justifying an authoritarian social response which supports the paranoid 'war on terror'? Pretty much.