Explosives Heist One of the Biggest in Recent History

I've said often enough that the government is either too incompetent, or really isn't interested in protecting us from any terrorists. Well, while they're busy keeping people from carrying nailfiles and cigarette lighters on airlines, why, after four years, haven't they been able to prevent something like this? The facility that housed the explosives was not only robbed two years ago, but has absolutely no security whatsoever.

They aren't even trying, which is telling in itself, that this war on terror is total bullshit!

"Officials say that the amount of stolen explosives would be enough to match the bomb that destroyed the Oklahoma City federal building in 1995 and they do not know who might be responsible."

"We don't have any suspect," said Wayne Dixie of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. "We don't have any leads at this point."

"The stolen goods include 150 pounds of C-4 plastic explosive and 250 pounds of thin sheets of explosives that could be used in letter bombs. Also, 2,500 detonators were missing from a storage explosive container, or magazine, in a bunker owned by Cherry Engineering."

What really gets me is that so many people get to see that the government isn't really all that efficient here at home, in carrying out what should be simple tasks on any level of government, and yet, the same people seem to think that those same "leaders" are doing the right thing, and all knowledgeable and honourable, in their operations outside the country.

It's sad, but we really do deserve the leadership we have.

University of California chief alleges spying

"A University of California chancellor called Wednesday on Bay Area congressional representatives to investigate the government's reported spying at college campus protests, including one in April at UC-Santa Cruz."

"We are greatly concerned about the Pentagon's investigation of a UCSC campus protest of military recruiting last spring," UCSC Chancellor Denice Denton wrote in a campus e-mail. "MSNBC reports that this protest was classified as a `credible threat' by the Department of Defense."

"She called the government's investigation of the campus protest "a questionable use of military resources," adding, "It is especially disquieting that political dissent would be considered threatening."

"Disquieting" really puts it mildly. This is another example of police state tactics, supposedly to "make us safe", being obviously used on political dissenters, instead of Isamic terrorists. More proof that this "War on Terror", on the homefront, is nothing more than an excuse to consolidate power that the government is not suppose to have, and has nothing to do with fighting terrorism.

So far, this "War on" has done nothing more than take liberties away from honest citizens exercising their Constitutional rights, as well as only taking preventive measures wherever they'll get the most publicity, like airlines, subways, and the New Years Times Square celebrations. All designed only to make us "feel" safe so you'll think they're doing everything possible to protect you, when that's simply not true.

This terrorism war is being fought just like they do with guns. They initiate background checks and waiting periods, but criminals don't care because they buy, or aquire, their weapons illegally anyway, so the only ones affected by those measures, are honest citizens. They got those measures, just like ant-terrorism tools, by creating, or using, fear in the public so they can get more power over your everyday life. Power that doesn't really make anyone safer than they were before.

And you let them.

UK Torture Memos

"It's not the al-Jazeera Memo, but these are some more documents that the UK Government are trying to suppress with the threat of prosecution under the Official Secrets Act. They detail our use of intelligence extracted by torture, and legal advice the Foreign Office received on the subject, and we need to get them out there as soon as possible before the government act."

These are what neither the U.K. nor U.S. governments want you to see. Even though there have been many who've managed to see through most all the deceptions of the last 5 years, there are still far too many who steadfastly refuse to see the truth, acknowledge the lies, or even comprehend what's going on, and continue to believe that whatever reasons or excuses come out of Washington are the Gospel Truth, and all done for our best interest. They continue to claim that any dissent is simply and totally partisan. They still don't get it. I'll go so far as to say that there's probably no amount of evidence that will convince them they're supporting deceivers who care nothing about their well being, and are only using them as tools to omnipotence.

The Story about Oil you NEED to Hear

"Some news stories are screamed in 100 headlines in 100 different newspapers and media outlets. This one however is so quiet it's almost a whisper, yet it may be one of the biggest stories next year."

"While oil can be drilled and refined and transported anywhere, there's only two places where it can be officially purchased. One is in New York City on the NYMEX stock exchange and the other in London on the IPE exchange. I should mention that London's IPE is actually now owned by an American country named "ICE"."

This story was included in my previous post on the Top Censored Stories under number 9: Iran’s New Oil Trade System Challenges U.S. Currency. I'm posting it because I believe it's important enough to deserve a post of its own. It could well be the real reason the administration is banging their war drums again. And it may also be one reason we went into Iraq, since they were trying to do the same as Iran is now.

It involves a recent change in reporting of information from the Federal Reserve, Irans' decision to open its' own oil exchange market that would trade in euros, instead of dollars, and the potential damage to the U.S. economy that could result.

Top 25 Censored Stories of 2006

• #1 Bush Administration Moves to Eliminate Open Government


• #2 Media Coverage Fails on Iraq: Fallujah and the Civilian Death


• #3 Another Year of Distorted Election Coverage


• #4 Surveillance Society Quietly Moves In


• #5 U.S. Uses Tsunami to Military Advantage in Southeast Asia


• #6 The Real Oil for Food Scam


• #7 Journalists Face Unprecedented Dangers to Life and Livelihood


• #8 Iraqi Farmers Threatened By Bremer’s Mandates


• #9 Iran’s New Oil Trade System Challenges U.S. Currency


• #10 Mountaintop Removal Threatens Ecosystem and Economy


• #11 Universal Mental Screening Program Usurps Parental Rights


• #12 Military in Iraq Contracts Human Rights Violators


• #13 Rich Countries Fail to Live up to Global Pledges


• #14 Corporations Win Big on Tort Reform, Justice Suffers


• #15 Conservative Plan to Override Academic Freedom in the Classroom


• #16 U.S. Plans for Hemispheric Integration Include Canada


• #17 U.S. Uses South American Military Bases to Expand Control of the Region


• #18 Little Known Stock Fraud Could Weaken U.S. Economy


• #19 Child Wards of the State Used in AIDS Experiments


• #20 American Indians Sue for Resources; Compensation Provided to Others


• #21 New Immigration Plan Favors Business Over People


• #22 Nanotechnology Offers Exciting Possibilities But Health Effects Need Scrutiny


• #23 Plight of Palestinian Child Detainees Highlights Global Problem


• #24 Ethiopian Indigenous Victims of Corporate and Government Resource Aspirations


• #25 Homeland Security Was Designed to Fail

Yes, an extensive list, but nothing compared to the information provided on that site, to explain each item. They even give references and links to sources. It's been a long time since I've see a "Top" list include this much info. Don't go if you're only in the mood for the quick read you find on most other end-of-year lists. These people really did their homework. But then, they're a media watchdog group, so all they really had to do was look over the material they'd already collected throughout the year.

US investigates Bush spying leak

"The US justice department has opened an inquiry into how information about President George Bush's secret spying programme was leaked, officials say."

"The investigation is expected to focus on how the New York Times newspaper obtained the information."

Umm, ok, it is a crime to release classified information to the press/public, and should be investigated. But how about the more serious implication of that leak, you know, the part about the President exceeding his authority? We already know for a fact that they had this story, and kept it to themselves for a year. We know for a fact that Bush knew they knew, because he asked them to keep it quiet. The question is; why did Bush wait so long to try and find the leak when he first learned of it, a year ago? If it's serious enough now to investigate, why not back then?

Why isn't the Justice Department investigating Bushs' abuse of authority? Since Bush has presented no adequate legal defense that proves he was legally allowed to authorize the spying, then it's very likely that it was an illegal act that warrants investigation. Simply saying he wanted to, and will continue, supposedly to "keep us safe", simply isn't good enough. This isn't party politics as usual, this is about his usurpation of dictatorial powers that simply cannot be allowed to stand. Not to mention all his other well documented crimes.

For some odd reason, I feel that his crimes are far more serious and in urgent need of criminal investigation, than the leaking of just one of his crimes. Crimes that also include, by the way, his administrations' leaking to the press, specifically the New York Times, faulty classified information that promoted his cause for going into Iraq.

Or am I just asking too much!

CIA renditions began under Clinton

"The US Central Intelligence Agency's (CIA) controversial "rendition" program was launched under US president Bill Clinton, a former US counter-terrorism agent has told a German newspaper."

"Michael Scheuer, a 22-year veteran of the CIA who resigned from the agency in 2004, has told Die Zeit that the US administration had been looking in the mid-1990s for a way to combat the terrorist threat and circumvent the cumbersome US legal system."

While there have been efforts by the current administration to plant fake news stories, insist it's current policies were either already in existence, or their legal precedence were previously established, deny, deny, deny......., I have no reason to believe this story's false.

Throughout the Clinton administration there were numerous attempts, some successful, to circumvent the law, as well as create new laws aimed at chipping away at the very liberties that were lost under Bush. The only thing that prevented a number of the Patriot Acts' items from being implimented back then, was the fact that we still had two parties operating in Washington. That's why it didn't take long for the Patriot Act to be drafted and pushed into law; most of it was already on the governments' wish list, long before most of us ever knew there was a Bush junior. Now, with a one-party system, there's very little to stop the administrations' grab for authority it doesn't have, or is explicitly prohibited from attaining. If you remember, there were almost as many warnings against the erosion of civil liberties and foreign intreventions then, as now.

It's the current one-party system that's at the heart of why Clinton was under impeachment for such an insignificant reason such as lying about being an adulterer, while Bush, with all the evidence that lies, and crimes against the Constitution and the American people have been committed, some resulting in the continuing deaths of thousands of Americans in a war that was clearly unnecessary, haven't yet resulted in much of anything.

Checks and balances all but disappear during a one-party system, and you can believe that extreme corruption would also take place if we had a Democratic Presidency and Democratic domination of the Legislature. It's important to understand that a balance in government is needed, where both parties have enough power to check the other. Do not wish for Democratic dominance to put a stop to this type of corruption, you'll simply be trading this mess, for another.

It's been almost ten days since I posted both Congressman John Conyers' Iraq Report, as well as his House Resolutions calling for censure of the President and Vice President, yet, even though the Legislature is on holiday, there's been practically no media attention to it. Very strange, don't you think? The evidence they contain is very extensive, yet the silence is deafening. I hope after the holiday is over, action can be taken on those charges, beyond lip-service.

End of the world isn't nigh

The year 2005 does not enter the top league of disaster years, even if we include the Boxing Day tsunami of 2004. The 20th century alone witnessed ten years in which those killed by natural disasters numbered millions. Moreover, individual events in 2005 do not compare with past horrors. How does Hurricane Katrina, bad though it was, match the terrible 1970 Bhola cyclone in East Pakistan that killed 500,000 people? How does the Himalayan earthquake equate with the 1976 Tangshan earthquake that destroyed 242,000 more, or the 1556 Shaanxi earthquake that resulted in a death toll of 830,000?

This is a short article that gives quite a few examples to the fact that, as bad as it was, this past years' natural disasters just don't add up to the doom and gloom that so many End-of-the-Worlders would like you to believe. In just the few minutes it takes to read that article, you'll come into a little perspective. This is why knowing, or at least researching a few historical facts every once in a while, can place current events within a context that is resistent to hysterical hype.

Context, is pretty much the nature of many of my rants on this blog, as practically everything I see in this world has some lesson to be learned, from the past. History does not just belong to the dead, to be forgotten and pushed aside, along with last years' fashion trend.

NO FREE LUNCH

"We are health care providers who believe that pharmaceutical promotion should not guide clinical practice. Our mission is to encourage health care providers to practice medicine on the basis of scientific evidence rather than on the basis of pharmaceutical promotion. We discourage the acceptance of all gifts from industry by health care providers, trainees, and students. Our goal is improved patient care."

"We aim to achieve our goal by informing health care providers as well as the general public about pharmaceutical industry efforts to promote their products and influence prescribing; provide evidence that promotion does in fact influence health care provider behavior, often in ways that run counter to good patient care; and provide products that can replace pharmaceutical company paraphernalia and spread our message."

"We believe that there is ample evidence in the literature--contrary to the beliefs of most heath care providers--that drug companies, by means of samples, gifts, and food, exert significant influence on provider behavior. There is also ample evidence in the literature that promotional materials and presentations are often biased and non-informative. We believe that health care professionals, precisely because they are professionals ,should not allow themselves to be bought by the pharmaceutical industry: It is time to Just say no to drug reps and their pens, pads, calendars, coffee mugs, and of course, lunch."

I was glad to run into this site. For some time now I've been seeing constant advertisements for prescription drugs, aimed at consumers, for the sole purpose of getting people to push their doctors into prescribing the latest miracle-drug "As seen on TV". I gave my opinion on this type of thing in an earlier post entitled: Serotonin and Depression: A Disconnect between the Advertisements and the Scientific Literature.

It appears, from another article entitled: Backstory: A pill they won't swallow, that some are getting, and spreading the message.......

"Behind the modest rebellion is the belief that taking gifts from drug companies creates a conflict of interest for doctors. The argument: To accept handouts is to feel indebted, and doctors indebted to drug firms may not be prescribing medicines based solely on what's best for their patients. The 60,000-member American Medical Student Association (AMSA) urges students and doctors alike to just say "no" to all personal gifts from drugmakers."

But this still isn't nearly enough to counteract the effects of the constant bombardment of prescription drug ads directed at the general public. The pharmaceutical companies, the public must understand, are in it for the money. They sware no Hippocratic oath, and their only allegiance is to their stockholders. There's nothing inherently wrong with that, it's business as usual. And it's also a good thing for people to become more involved in their own health care by learning of their options. But there's an effort to create diseases out of everything, and, to avoid developing actual cures. If you've seen these ads, you may have noticed that they recommend, or imply, that you take their drug, for the rest of your life. From a business standpoint, it's better to have repeat customers, than to have one-time buyers who are cured and no longer need to purchase more drugs after anymore than a few treatments.

I read somewhere (and if I ever remember where, I'll surely post it) that with all the medical expertise and technology, Americans are the most drug dependent people on earth, and also the most diseased. For some odd reason, we are the most unhealthiest of people. I don't mean to imply that's all the drug companies' fault, we're responsible for our own health, but it's just fascinating that people of other nations, who don't have a monolithic medical/pharmaceutical industry are so much healther the we are. It's a good thing we have such an industry, being as sick as we are. If you're an American, ask yourself how many people do you know, that are on some kind of prescription drug for managing some ailment, rather than curing it. There's just something not right about such a large portion of any society, needing to be forever medicated.

Chinese Plan Nanjing Memorial to 'the Good Nazi'

"The Nanjing Massacre remains a touchstone of China-Japan conflict nearly seven decades after the event. Now Chinese plans to honor John Rabe, a Germany citizen in Nanjing, for his efforts to protect Chinese citizens from slaughter have inflamed tensions with Japan over war and rare memory. The Chinese plan offers a rare example in the annals of warfare in general, and China in particular, of recognizing in a public and prominent way the achievements of a foreign national in a world that is dominated by nationalist icons."

"The Chinese authorities are drawing up plans for a museum dedicated to the memory of John Rabe, who defied the "Rape of Nanking'' - a six-week massacre during which an estimated 300,000 Chinese were slaughtered by Japanese soldiers."

"A card-carrying Nazi, Rabe was a China-based Siemens employee in 1937 when the Japanese stormed Nanking, or Nanjing as it is now known. His superiors ordered him to return home, but instead he sent his family back and established a "safety zone'' in the city where he offered shelter to terrified Chinese."

This is a story I found about a week ago that I saved as a draft, and promptly forgot. It reawakens a World War 2 story that most people don't know about. I first heard of this through a televised documentary series on the era a few years ago.

The "good nazi" it seems, was the saviour of countless Chinese lives during the "Rape of Nanking", and has never gotten the recognition he deserved, outside China. The story also brings back into focus the fact that Japan has never atoned for it's activites throughout the East during that period in which it told it's citizens it was "liberating" Asia from the colonial empires of Europe. To this day it hasn't come to terms, as Germany has, with it's part in plunging the world into war, nor have they done, again, as Germany has, admitted to the war crimes committed during it's campaigns.

They teach their people that they were forced to go to war as a matter of national survival, and because, as a nation, they've kept the truth from themselves, deny that they committed any war crimes at all. Their refusal to accept the truth about their behaviour has been a huge wedge between them and practically all their Asian neighbors who suffered Japanese occupation, to this day.

Today, the Japanese are looked upon as model citizens of the world, but just how good are they when they can't admit to their own past? Imagine if today, Germans believed, and taught their children, that Nazi atrocities never happened, and that the other European countries forced Germany into a war it didn't want. Who would trust them? Of course there are Holocaust deniers, but they don't represent the bulk of Germans, and are not in control of the national psyche. It's the opposite in Japan, and it's neighbors know the truth, just as Europeans know the truth of Germany.

We Americans can pat ourselves on the back for aiding the Japanese deniers, as it was in our best interest to concentrate on the Cold War, and fashioning Japans' future roll in it, that we didn't push the point of forcing them to accept their atrocities, like we did in Germany. Oh, we did hold War Crimes trials, but they were not nearly as extensive as the ones at Nuremberg, and even of those few convicted, few were executed, and the rest were quietly released (pardoned) after less than ten years of incarceration. We were tired of war, and were in a hurry to put it behind us so we could deal with more pressing concerns.

And time marches on......

Letter From a Military Mom

"Moms writing back and forth to “sons and daughters” in Iraq, who might “slip” and tell “mom” what life is really like in Iraq; Can’t have that now, can we? What if the “moms” start telling others what their sons and daughters are telling them (at least the ones that are still able to access a computer). Can’t have that people might turn against the war ON Iraq. I guess we better threaten and intimidate the moms so they’ll keep their mouths shut, stay off the internet and just go home and be a mom. Doesn’t matter to the military these moms only wanted to do what moms do, especially military moms, worry and take advantage of the internet to chat with sons and daughters."

"Read Robin’s letter. Write her. Give her your support—what has been done to her and the other mothers in her group cannot go unanswered! This will only get worse the longer we delay in taking this nation back from the crooks, thugs in whose hands it now is in. Too many Iraqi’s; too many of our own; just too many, period have been killed and maimed already! Now moms are being threatened…what next? (Definitely a rhetorical question)"

Yes, read her letter, then see if you can justify what the military did on any grounds. This was just a support group website for families with relatives fighting in Iraq. They were not threatening national security in any way. They were just being Americans, not always agreeing with their governments' policies, but it seems these days, that's a bad thing.

Top 12 media myths and falsehoods on the Bush administration's spying scandal

"Summary: Media Matters presents the top 12 myths and falsehoods promoted by the media on President Bush's spying scandal stemming from the recent revelation in The New York Times that he authorized the National Security Agency (NSA) to eavesdrop on domestic communications without the required approval of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance court."

1: Timeliness necessitated bypassing the FISA court

2: Congress was adequately informed of -- and approved -- the administration's actions

3: Warrantless searches of Americans are legal under the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act

4: Clinton, Carter also authorized warrantless searches of U.S. citizens

5: Only Democrats are concerned about the Bush administration's secret surveillance

6: Debate is between those supporting civil liberties and those seeking to prevent terrorism

7: Bin Laden phone leak demonstrates how leak of spy operation could damage national security

8: Gorelick testimony proved Clinton asserted "the same authority" as Bush

9: Aldrich Ames investigation is example of Clinton administration bypassing FISA regulations

10: Clinton administration conducted domestic spying

11: Moussaoui case proved that FISA probable-cause standard impedes terrorism probes

12: A 2002 FISA review court opinion makes clear that Bush acted legally

If you've been following the news at all lately, no doubt you've heard at least one of these lies being put out in the media, or created by the media. If this were just a list, it really wouldn't be worth posting, but this site lists and refutes them all. You'll see that there's been a concerted effort to whitewash this spying scandal to save the Imperial Presidency from what is clearly an illegal act.

Oh, and one more thing, don't give the New York Times too much credit for exposing this story, as they only did so now because they were about to lose the scoop. There's no telling how long they would've aided the administration in keeping this a secret, if it were not for a new book about to be published by a Times reporter that would itself expose the whole story.

From another article intitled
How the Media "Authorize" the Abuse of Government Power:

"You might be thinking, "How is that possible? Didn't the New York Times print the story exposing the surveillance program, and doesn't that show the media challenges power?"

"Well, not really, when you consider that the Times actually held the story for a year. As the Washington Post reports, the Times' essentially held the story because of exactly what I said: deference to power, and its own bottom line. First, deference: the Times editors now tell us they held the story because the White House told them to. Then, profit: we learn that what changed between now and a year ago was that a Times reporter, James Risen, is about to publish a book about the entire affair and thus publishing the story now will mean maximum pre-sale buzz in January when the book is released - a key for any big book sales."

As you can see, even when the media appears to be on the side of truth and justice, it's only when forced to do so by self-interest.

Federal agents' visit was a hoax:

Dammit!! I hate wasting a rant, especially because of a stupid kid!

"The UMass Dartmouth student who claimed to have been visited by Homeland Security agents over his request for "The Little Red Book" by Mao Zedong has admitted to making up the entire story.
The 22-year-old student tearfully admitted he made the story up to his history professor, Dr. Brian Glyn Williams, and his parents, after being confronted with the inconsistencies in his account."

Plans for tracking all U.S. vehicles

This is almost funny, considering just a couple of days ago, in a post about Britain monitoring every car with cameras, I said:

"...but I suspect that with the growing use of OnStar-type GPS systems built into new vehicles, such wide-spread use of street cams like Britons', may not even be necessary here to keep us under surveillance. I'm sure that if the government wants, it can simply tap into the satellite signals,...."

Well they will be using GPS, but the excuse is to create a new method of charging road tolls based on the time of day.

"The U.S. Department of Transportation has been handing millions of dollars to state governments for GPS-tracking pilot projects designed to track vehicles wherever they go. So far, Washington state and Oregon have received fat federal checks to figure out how to levy these "mileage-based road user fees."

"Now electronic tracking and taxing may be coming to a DMV near you. The Office of Transportation Policy Studies, part of the Federal Highway Administration, is about to announce another round of grants totaling some $11 million. A spokeswoman on Friday said the office is "shooting for the end of the year" for the announcement, and more money is expected for GPS (Global Positioning System) tracking efforts."

"Airlines and hotels have long charged less for off-peak use. Toll roads would be more efficient--in particular, less congested--if they could follow the same model and charge virtually nothing in the middle of the night but high prices during rush hour."

"That price structure would encourage drivers to take public transportation, use alternate routes, or leave earlier or later in the day."

Hmm, now you just know that if people do find ways to avoid or reduce their "fees", that means the states have to continually raise the "tax" on those forced to drive during peak hours, to compensate for the loss in revenue from the others. Even though this scheme may sound reasonable at first, this is the government we're talking about here, and they do nothing to benefit us, more than themselves, so something just doesn't smell right about all this. Somehow, either the government feels they can profit more than they do now, or some corporate interest is pushing for this to profit from in some way. I'll have to keep an eye on this.

P.S. don't think it hasn't occured to me that this "tax" may only be a cover story, and the real reason is to allow the government to monitor more of our daily activity, for our Great Crusade against those fiendish Terrorists, which, in itself, is a way to keep us under tighter control.