Another Brick In The Wall

Police state files

2006-05-05T17:02:00.000-04:00

"Two releases of local law enforcement files in recent days have shed new light on just how far the Bush administration, federal, and local law enforcement are going to suppress political dissent in the aftermath of 9-11."

This article was first published back in late March, so this isn't exactly new, but still relevant. This highlights two cases of abuse of power under the guise of fighting terrorism. What they reveal is growing intolerance of political activism and dissent, and makes clear that terrorism played no part in the actions of authorities, other than to create it themselves. Far from combating any terrorists, they're intent is to stiffle any opposition to government policy. The lesson being taught is that "if you have a problem with the way government is being run, then you'd better just stay home, keep quiet, and get over it, because we won't tolerate any peaceful anti-government activites anymore".

And we're supposed to believe we still live in a free country? Bullshit!

Nobody has a problem with cracking down on known violent people or groups, but we should all have a problem when simple acts of free speech are considered acts of terrorism, only because they run counter to the ruling powers. We have the right to speak out, and must continue to do so, whatever the cost, otherwise we will have betrayed the trust of the countless numbers who've fought for and given their lives over the centuries to preserve the freedoms and principles of this country. There have been many setbacks in the past, and no matter how long or short-lived they lasted, it was necessary for people to fight to restore the balance. That time has come again.

This Democratic Republic cannot possibly stand if we all just meekly accept everything the government tells us, and behave only in a manner that praises our government under any and all circumstances.

To acquiesce, is to commit treason.

20 Amazing Facts About Voting In The United States

2006-05-04T06:57:00.000-04:00

1. 80% of all votes in America are counted by only two companies: Diebold and ES&S.

2. There is no federal agency with regulatory authority or oversight of the US voting machine industry.

3. The vice-president of Diebold and the president of ES&S are brothers.

4. The chairman and CEO of Diebold is a major Bush campaign organizer and donor who wrote in 2003 that he was "committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president next year."

5. 35% of ES&S is owned by Republican Senator Chuck Hagel, who became Senator based on votes counted by ES&S machines.

These are a few little details every American should know, regarding the most vital process of our republic. As with the ones quoted above, all the others on the list involve the two companies that control the machines that we're now forced to use, whether we like it or not.

The fact that both these companies are clearly politically biased should raise a stink, but for some reason it hasn't. Voting has become such a fraud, yet we don't even seem to notice.

Despite a troubled history, police across the nation are keeping tabs on ordinary Americans

2006-05-04T06:36:00.000-04:00

"Good or bad, intelligence gathering by local police departments is back. Interviews with police officers, homeland security officials, and privacy experts reveal a transformation among state and local law enforcement."

Among the changes:

"Since 9/11, the U.S. Departments of Justice and Homeland Security have poured over a half-billion dollars into building up local and state police intelligence operations. The funding has helped create more than 100 police intelligence units reaching into nearly every state."

"To qualify for federal homeland security grants, states were told to assemble lists of "potential threat elements"--individuals or groups suspected of possible terrorist activity. In response, state authorities have come up with thousands of loosely defined targets, ranging from genuine terrorists to biker gangs and environmentalists."

"Guidelines for protecting privacy and civil liberties have lagged far behind the federal money. After four years of doling out homeland security grants to police departments, federal officials released guidelines for the conduct of local intelligence operations only last year; the standards are voluntary and are being implemented slowly."

Some probably think this is a good thing. Some probably say it's necessary to "make us safe". Some say: "if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to worry about". The trouble with that line of reasoning is that it goes against everything America is supposed to stand for.

Once upon a time, the activities that are being forced upon us by authorities at every level of government, where all the things that distingushed us from most all other countries in the world. Now, we meekly accept the kind of monitoring and invasive police actions that used to make us glad and above all, proud, that we didn't live in other places that controlled their populations through fear and intimidation. Those days are long gone.

We've been so conditioned to live in a constant state of fear for our safety, that we just accept all efforts to minimize our civil rights, just to keep us safe and warm from all the dark forces that lurk in every shadow, and around every corner. That fear has led us to completely forget (assuming we were ever attentive enough to know) about exactly how the roads to dictatorship were constructed in countless other countries, over countless eons. We still proudly proclaim our freedoms to be the greatest in the world, while totally ignoring the fact that those freedoms are being stolen right out from under us, all in the name of freedom.

We're constantly being told that people hate us for our freedoms, so the solution; just eliminated them, and we'll all be safe.

[backup link]

Disease Mongering Collection

2006-05-02T21:42:00.000-04:00

This page gives a list of links leading to articles about how the pharmaceutical industry has created a number of new "diseases" and hyped up some obscure ones. This is why just about everyone I know is on some kind of extremely expensive meds. This "trend" has pissed me off since the day drug companies began marketing their prescription products directly to the public, instead of just to healthcare workers like they used to. Here are a few of the offerings:

Medicine Goes to School: Teachers as Sickness Brokers for ADHD

The Latest Mania: Selling Bipolar Disorder

Pharmaceutical Marketing and the Invention of the Medical Consumer

Cholinesterase Inhibitors: Drugs Looking for a Disease?

State Would Outlaw Mandatory Microchip Implants

2006-05-02T20:49:00.000-04:00

RFID microchips implanted in humans? Who would think of such a thing? Here are a few examples:

* VeriChip RFID Tag Patient Implant Badges Now FDA Approved
* U.S. Company Implants Chips in Workers
* RFID Tags Proposed to Halt Blackmarket Cadaver Trade

You're not even safe from being 'chipped when you're dead.

But you'll be safe in Wisconsin, if State Representative Marlin Schneider, D-Wisconsin Rapids, gets his bill passed. A proposal moving through the Wisconsin Legislature would prohibit anyone from requiring people to have the tiny RFID chips embedded in them or doing so without their knowledge. Violators would face fines of up to $10,000.

Here's something I'd like to see grow and take root in every state in the union. No one under any circumstances should be forced to become implanted. And that includes criminals. If any one group can be forced into it, eventually we all could.

DEPLETED URANIUM - FAR WORSE THAN 9/11

2006-05-02T07:26:00.000-04:00

"In 1979, depleted uranium (DU) particles escaped from the National Lead Industries factory near Albany, N.Y.,which was manufacturing DU weapons for the U.S military. The particles traveled 26 miles and were discovered in a laboratory filter by Dr. Leonard Dietz, a nuclear physicist. This discovery led to a shut down of the factory in 1980, for releasing morethan 0.85 pounds of DU dust into the atmosphere every month, and involved a cleanup of contaminated properties costing over 100 million dollars."

"Imagine a far worse scenario. Terrorists acquire a million pounds of the deadly dust and scatter it in populated areas throughout the U.S. Hundreds of children report symptoms. Many acquire cancer and leukemia, suffering an early and painful death. Huge increases in severe birth defects are reported. Oncologists are overwhelmed. Soccer fields, sand lots and parks, traditional play areas for kids, are no longer safe. People lose their most basic freedom, the ability to go outside and safely breathe. Sounds worse than 9/11? Welcome to Iraq and Afghanistan."

These are the weapons being used by the U.S. military every day. They know full well the dangers posed to anyone in the area where these weapons are used, yet they still use them. In my book, this is a crime against humanity. Read on, and decide for yourself.

How to spot a terrorist

2006-05-02T07:12:00.000-04:00

"I really had no idea how to spot a terrorist until I studied the manuals published by the Phoenix FBI, the state employees of Virginia, and the Texas Department of Public Safety. Now that I have absorbed these manuals, I not only know how to spot a terrorist, but I have discovered that I probably am a terrorist."

This article shows how U.S. agencies have targeted practically every U.S. citizen as being a terrorist. The criteria is so broad that it would be difficult for most to avoid being considered a terrorist. As you read them, it will become clear that the primary targets are meant less to catch actual terrorist, then to stiffle anyone who dares exercise their constitutional rights. Here are a few examples:

Phoenix FBI manual

Defenders of the U.S. Constitution against federal government and the UN.
Those who make numerous references to the U.S. Constitution.
Those who attempt to police the police.

Virginia manual

Property rights activists.
Environmental and animal rights activists.

Texas manual

Focused and committed.
Team-oriented and disciplined.
Familiar with their physical environments.
Employ a variety of vehicles and communicate by cell phone, email, or text messaging.

There's a little more to those lists, and some, arguably, could be debatable, but the message is clear; if you stand up for your constitutional rights, you will be considered a terrorist in the eyes of authorities.

If you've yet to question the motivation behind the war on terror, start paying attention!

The Corporate Control Of Society And Human Life

2006-05-01T21:41:00.000-04:00

"Large transnational corporations are clearly the dominant institution of our time. They're preeminent throughout the world but especially in the Global North and its epicenter in the US. They control or greatly influence what we eat and drink, where we live, what we wear, how we get most of our essential services like health care and even what we're taught in schools up to the highest levels. They create and control our sources of information and greatly influence how we think and our view of the world and them. They even now own patents on our genetic code, the most basic elements of human life, and are likely planning to manipulate and control them as just another commodity to exploit for profit in their brave new world that should concern everyone. They also carefully craft their image and use catchy slogans to convince us of their benefit to society and the world, like: "better things for better living through chemistry" (if you don't mind toxic air, water and soil), "we bring good things to life" for them, not us), and "all the news that's fit to print" (only if you love state and corporate friendly disinformation and propaganda). The slogans are clever, but the truth is ugly."

This piece goes into why multi-nationals cannot be trusted to have the consumers best interests at heart. In spite of the promises of "globalization", it means no good for the average person. Many of the economic problems now plaguing the U.S. and others, can be traced directly to corporate greed and the corruption it's brought to political processes. Their campaigns to bring about their own version of the U.S. militarys' "full spectrum dominance" has so deluded the publics' perception of what they're actually doing, that many of those who are being driven to economic ruin by globalization, still believe that globalization, or a completely free trade economy, is the only road to prosperity. These same people still fail to notice that the gap between the top percent and the rest of us is growing wider and wider every single day.

One hundred years ago, this very same threat to the economic security of the average citizen was recognized, confronted, and combated, yet today, all the progress of the previous century has been eroded away by the politicians who've been bought and paid for by the mega-corporations. "Monopoly" was once a bad word, but within the last 25 years all the restraints placed upon corporations have been reversed, and now companies that had been broken up to stop monopolies are once again consolidating at an alarming rate, and gathering so much power with the aide of their political flunkies, that neither politicians nor the public are even mentioning the word "monopoly" any more, and worse, they're now welcoming the dawning of global coporate empires, many of whom already wield more power than most countries in the world.

Far too many people are simply blinded by all the sparkling baubles dangled in front of their eyes.

Project for the New American Century

2006-05-01T17:51:00.000-04:00

"The Project for the New American Century is arguably the most influential right-wing advocacy group since the Committee on the Present Danger in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Established in 1997 by two leading neocon figures, William Kristol and Robert Kagan, PNAC aims to put the United States back on a course toward "global leadership" and to promote a "Reaganite policy of military strength and moral clarity." It is located in a warren of offices in the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) building in Washington, DC, that are also home to the Weekly Standard and various other Kristol brainchildren. More than an advocacy outfit, PNAC serves as a revolving door for administration officials, congressional aids, up-and-coming neoconservative wonks, and corporate players from such esteemed institutions as Lockheed Martin."

This page gives a short summary of activities of the group that currently controls the actions of the U.S government. You'll also find a list of its' members and contributors. This is the group that has pushed American onto the road towards "total spectrum dominance", and shows why simply impeaching Bush will have absolutly no impact on diverting our course away from what must inevitably result in our downfall. It doesn't matter if they're successful in the begining, there's no precedent in history that would lead any intelligent human to believe that this New American Century will last. All empires eventually fail, and there's no reason to think it won't happen again. History is filled with examples of what happens to imperial powers once they spread themselves too thin. In our case, the collapse will be devastating for all our succeeding generations, unless reversed in time.

Bush Brandishes Jail Time at Critics

2006-04-25T16:01:00.000-04:00

"Over the past five-plus years, the American people have gotten a taste of what a triumphant George W. Bush is like, as he basked in high approval ratings and asserted virtually unlimited powers as Commander in Chief. Now, the question is: How will Bush and his inner circle behave when cornered?"

"So far, the answer should send chills through today’s weakened American Republic. Bush and his team – faced with plunging poll numbers and cascading disclosures of wrongdoing – appear determined to punish and criminalize resistance to their regime."

This article chronicles the responses of the administration and their media and party henchmen towards those true patriots who understand their duty is to their country first, and to their criminal leaders last. It shows that whenever misdeeds are exposed, it is the messenger who gets attacked, from all sides, to change the issue from possible criminal activity by the government, to accusations of treason and sedition on those who dare refuse to allow anti-American principals used by our government to go unspoken and unchallenged.

Those who lived through, or grew up in the shadow of World War II will remember just how adamant the victorious allies were, that "just following orders", used by the Germans, was no excuse!! We all need to remember that now, more that ever, and support and encourage anyone with knowledge of ANY government crimes, to do their duty to the American people. We already know exactly where blind loyalty and submissive obedience to ones' leaders can take us. Let's not go there without one hell of a fight.

New Plans Foresee Fighting Terrorism Beyond War Zones

2006-04-23T19:50:00.000-04:00

"Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld has approved the military's most ambitious plan yet to fight terrorism around the world and retaliate more rapidly and decisively in the case of another major terrorist attack on the United States, according to defense officials."

"The long-awaited campaign plan for the global war on terrorism, as well as two subordinate plans also approved within the past month by Rumsfeld, are considered the Pentagon's highest priority, according to officials familiar with the three documents who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak about them publicly."

"Details of the plans are secret, but in general they envision a significantly expanded role for the military -- and, in particular, a growing force of elite Special Operations troops -- in continuous operations to combat terrorism outside of war zones such as Iraq and Afghanistan. Developed over about three years by the Special Operations Command (SOCOM) in Tampa, the plans reflect a beefing up of the Pentagon's involvement in domains traditionally handled by the Central Intelligence Agency and the State Department."

Keep in mind that nothing the government has said, has been true, and so none of their activities are taking place for the reasons they give. It should be understood that after more than four years of abiding by no ones' rules but our own (that we're making up as we go along), that if we haven't caught up to "the terrorists" by now, that catching them isn't really on the agenda, and never was. Think about it. As long as those phantom still run free, our government has a ready made excuse to continue on track towards "full spectrum dominance" of the globe, along with the growing authority to suppress through intimidation, any meaningful dissent here at home.

The CIA "Wehrmacht"

2006-04-23T18:53:00.000-04:00

"This former senior officer said there “seems to be a quiet conspiracy by rational people” at the agency to avoid involvement in some of the particularly nasty tactics being employed by the administration, especially "renditions"—the practice whereby the CIA sends terrorist suspects abroad to be questioned in Egypt, Syria, Uzbekistan, and other nations where the regimes are not squeamish about torturing detainees. My source, hardly a softie on the topic of terrorism, said of the split at the CIA: "There's an SS group within the agency that's willing to do anything and there's a Wehrmacht group that is saying, 'I'm not gonna touch this stuff'."

I don't like the comparison of the Wehrmacht and SS, to that of the competing forces within our government agencies. It's an old fallacy that the Nazi war crimes were primarily committed by the SS. While it's true that the SS could be counted upon to commit any despicable act at the drop of a hat, the Wehrmacht certainly committed its' fair share.

Aside from that bad analogy, the rest of the article points to some good news, namely that some of the very people tasked with committing the current set of crimes against peace, war crimes, and crimes against humanity, are not simply remaining quiet and "just following orders", though most apparently still are. There hasn't been this much dissent since the heat of the Vietnam war. Now, if we can just get past talking, and start doing something.....

Debunking conspiracy theorists' paranoid fantasies about Sept. 11

2006-04-23T14:36:00.000-04:00

"Astute observers of history are aware that for every notable event there will usually be at least one ,often several wild conspiracy theories which spring up around it. "The CIA killed Hendrix" " The Pope had John Lennon murdered ", "Hitler was half Werewolf", "Space aliens replaced Nixon with a clone" etc,etc. The bigger the event, the more ridiculous and more numerous are the fanciful rantings which circulate in relation to it. So its hardly surprising that the events of Sept 11 2001 have spawned their fair share of these ludicrous fairy tales. And as always, there is - sadly - a small but gullible percentage of the population eager to lap up these tall tales, regardless of facts or rational analysis.

One of the wilder stories circulating about Sept 11, and one that has attracted something of a cult following amongst conspiracy buffs is that it was carried out by 19 fanatical Arab hijackers, masterminded by an evil genius named Osama bin Laden, with no apparent motivation other than that they "hate our freedoms."

Ok, that last paragraph should clue you in on where this is all headed. I found this page while following links for another post I'll get to later, and just had to post this first. It was the title that caught my eye, and by the time I'd read as far as what I've quoted above, I was trying not to laugh out loud. It's not that it was really funny, but it caught me off guard and i started laughing at myself.

This is another one of those topics I'll be posting on once in a while that will take you back to the day when not a single shred of truth was uttered by a single federal official. It's been four and a half years, and we're still faced with the official lies and cover-ups of everything that happened that day. When it's clearly understood by all that nothing happened the way the government said it did, then people can begin to understand that nothing that's happened since (wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, wars on terror, and civil liberties), has happened for the reasons they gave. Only when you understand you're being manipulated for the goals of a few power-hungry elitists, and that your sons, daughters, uncles, aunts, brothers, sisters, fathers, mothers, and friends, are shedding their blood for liars who have no intention of sharing with anyone the massive profits of war.

Normally, to the victors go the spoils, but not anymore. The puppet masters will reap all the rewards, and all we'll get are perpetual fear-mongering, fewer decent jobs, rising prices with the accompanying economic hardships, a severe loss of constitutional rights, and a government that will increasingly forego the pretense of being public servants, and act more like what they really are; corporate employees. We're all expendable to these people, and when you realize just how much of 9/11 was covered-up, and how much the government had to be involved with fore-knowledge, you can no longer pretend we were hit by outsiders alone, who caught us unaware.

It's time to awaken, and get really pissed.

America's Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq

2006-04-22T18:09:00.000-04:00

"The invasion of Iraq in 2003 was not an isolated episode. It was the culmination of a 110-year period during which Americans overthrew fourteen governments that displeased them for various ideological, political, and economic reasons."

So writes author Stephen Kinzer in his new book "Overthrow: America's Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq."

Kinzer writes that "The "regime change" in Iraq seemed for a time -- a very short time -- to have worked. It is now clear, however, that this operation has had terrible unintended consequences. So have most of the other coups, revolutions, and invasions that the United States has mounted to depose governments it feared or mistrusted."

In this Democracy Now interview (which you can stream) you'll get a sense of the true nature of our government. The author explains that our history of interventions are directly tied to business interests, and not out of any sense of humanitarianism that's used as a public excuse for military action.

Only by understanding our history can you understand that our military is not used to help nor defend people of other nations, but to help and defend our business interests in other countries. Making the world safe for democracy is what you're always told, yet in truth, we make the world safe for corporate and banking profits.

Save the Internet

2006-04-22T16:05:00.000-04:00

"Congress is pushing a law that would abandon Network Neutrality, the Internet’s First Amendment. Network neutrality prevents companies like AT&T, Verizon and Comcast from deciding which Web sites work the best — based on who pays them the most. Your local library shouldn’t have to outbid Barnes & Noble for the right to have its Web site open quickly on your computer."

"Net Neutrality allows everyone to compete on a level playing field and is the reason that the Internet is a force for economic innovation, civic participation and free speech. If the public doesn’t speak up now, Congress will cave to a multi-million dollar lobbying campaign by telephone and cable companies that want to decide what you do, where you go, and what you watch online."

You may have been hearing rumors about the 'net beoming caste-based, where your ability to pay, will determine the quality of your access. This is the other side of the same coin, where companies will be coerced into paying extortion, to be able to get quality access to you. If you want to put a stop to this telecom greed, now's the time to speak up.

Research links digital images and cameras

2006-04-22T13:19:00.000-04:00

"Child pornographers will soon have a harder time escaping prosecution thanks to a stunning new technology in development at Binghamton University, State University of New York, that can reliably link digital images to the camera with which they were taken, in much the same way that tell-tale scratches are used by forensic examiners to link bullets to the gun that fired them."

They've found another tool for the arsenal of the surveillance society we're all being trained to accept. Like all the other methods, this one too is promoted as being for your own good, to protect the children. Like all the other methods, this one too will be used in many other ways to identify law-abiding citizens who may be participating in legal activities that the government may consider subversive. Just as in all the other methods, this one would also be hard to stop as well, since to even protest it will get you nothing but accusations of being a child molester. Just as in all the other methods, this same pacifist statement applies;"if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to worry about", right?

Study Shows Profits Driving Gasoline Price Spike

2006-04-21T23:05:00.000-04:00

"The Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights released a new study today of rising gasoline prices in California that found corporate markups and profiteering are responsible for spring price spikes, not rising crude costs or the national switchover to higher-cost ethanol, as the oil industry claims."

"Oil companies are opportunistically using the rising world price for crude oil as an excuse to excessively raise gasoline prices and pump up their profits, even though the spot market price for crude has gone up far more slowly than gasoline prices," said FTCR President Jamie Court. "In addition, the spot price is higher than most oil companies pay, since they either harvest their own crude or pay more stable and often much lower contract prices."

Ok so we already know this to be the case, but it's just nice to have it confirmed.

Heckler Charged With Harrassing Chinese President

2006-04-21T22:59:00.000-04:00

"The U.S. government has charged Wenyi Wang, a Chinese national who has lived in the United States for 20 years, with threatening Chinese President Hu Jintao on Thursday while he met with President Bush at the White House."

"After waiting overnight in jail, Wang was formally charged with "knowingly and willfully intimidating, coercing, threatening or harassing … a foreign official performing his duties," a misdemeanor punishable by up to six months in prison and a fine of $5,000."

"Wang did not break the law when she yelled "Stop oppressing the Falun Gong" at Hu or even when she unfurled a red-and-yellow banner of the Falun Gong, a religious movement banned in China. Wang broke the law — crossing from First Amendment protected speech to criminality — according to government prosecutor Angela George, when she yelled "Your time is running out," to Hu, and later, when she screamed "Anything you have done will come back to you in this life."

So, informing someone that they've created "bad karma" is now a crime. Let's cut the bullshit, her one and only real crime was embarrassing our dictator in front of an honored guest dictator.

Pure, wholesome, good old-fashioned dissent is not tolerated in America these days. Our right to protest our own, or anyone elses' government has become so stiffled over many years by rules and regulations, that we can now only protest by appointment, after applying for the proper permits and authorizations, and staying within certain designated areas, a certain distance away from the target of protest, and using only certain language, and signs must be constructed of certain materials....etc, etc, that it's just no fun anymore. Throwing a tomato would definately result in execution on the spot. And you know that's no joke.

She should have no problem "beating the rap", but the damage is done. Another warning has been implanted into your psyche that your peaceful, law-abiding, constitutionally protected acts of civil disobedience, are not welcome in the land of the formerly free.

Big Brother is listening

2006-04-21T17:45:00.000-04:00

"In today’s threatcast Barrett Lyon and I resort to an air-gap technique to interview an engineer at ATT about the massive funneling of data and voice traffic into the NSA’s analysis centers. At first we looked into doing the interview directly with this guy, who we call Deep Packet, and masking his voice with digital effects. When we realized just what sort of processing power the NSA has available to them we decided that was not good enough to protect our source. Any digital effects could be reversed. So I got Barrett on the phone and he relayed my questions to Deep Packet via IRC and read his responses back to me."

"And those responses were chilling. Deep Packet gives a sense of an insider who at first did not believe the press reports but quickly learned that not only were they true but it went deeper."

"Deep Packet" Interview.mp3

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

2006-04-20T17:51:00.000-04:00

Adopted and proclaimed by General Assembly Resolution 217 A (III) of 10 December 1948

The General Assembly

Proclaims this Universal Declaration of Human Rights as a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations, to the end that every individual and every organ of society, keeping this Declaration constantly in mind, shall strive by teaching and education to promote respect for these rights and freedoms and by progressive measures, national and international, to secure their universal and effective recognition and observance, both among the peoples of member States themselves and among the peoples of territories under their jurisdiction.

Video - The 9/11 Commission Report: Omissions and Distortions

2006-04-20T16:06:00.000-04:00

"Professor Griffin argues that "omissions and distortions" in the report amount to a cover-up by government officials and says that the available evidence suggests that the Bush administration was complicit in the 9/11 attacks."

"Professor Griffin covers topics he says have been inadequately answered by the commission. These include questions surrounding the attack on the Pentagon, the way in which the World Trade Center towers collapsed, and the behavior of President Bush and his Secret Service detail following notification that a second plane had hit the WTC. The talk was hosted by the Muslim- Jewish- Christian Alliance for 9/11 Truth and took place at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. Includes Q&A."

Broadcast On C-Span 2 - Thursday, April 28, 2005

This is an older video presentation by the same David Ray Griffin who more recently spoke in California on the same topic, entitled "9/11, The Myth & The Reality", that I posted just a few days ago.

This is basically the same speech as the audio version, but as far as I'm concerned, this info can't be repeated often enough. He covers all the questions that were raised by the "official" accounts of what was supposed to have happened on 9/11, and points to one ugly conclusion that the government was involved in covering up, and lying about, practically everything that happened on that day. If we really were the totally suprised, innocent victims we're told we were, then why all the lies and cover ups? For all those who've questioned the official accounts from day one, there are no new revelations here, but for those just awakening, you'll learn why so many continue to insist a conspiracy of grand dimensions took place on that day, and won't stop bringing it up until everyone knows and understands the implications of our government covering up even one small aspect of 9/11 events. It doesn't take any leap of faith at all to see very clearly that all of the official stories about all of the events that day, are actually the ones that require the leaps of faith.

On the page, there's a link to Griffins' book, but it appears to have changed or gone dead. Not to worry though, I searched around and found another online version of it that you'll find here:

"THE NEW PEARL HARBOR"

Muslim-Jewish-Christian Alliance for 9/11 Truth

2006-04-20T14:27:00.000-04:00

"MUJCA-NET is a group of scholars, religious leaders and activists dedicated to uniting members of the Jewish, Christian and Islamic faiths in pursuit of 9/11 truth. We believe that the process of joining together in search of the truth about 9/11 will bring enormous benefits, regardless of what truths we may discover. While our endorsers and supporters have different views about the probable level of US government complicity in 9/11, all of us agree that a new, honest investigation of the possibility of official complicity is a matter of the most urgent national and global importance."

Peaking Of World Oil Production

2006-04-20T14:11:00.000-04:00

"Oil is the lifeblood of modern civilization. It fuels the vast majority of the world’s mechanized transportation equipment – Automobiles, trucks, airplanes, trains, ships, farm equipment, the military, etc. Oil is also the primary feedstock for many of the chemicals that are essential to modern life. This study deals with the upcoming physical shortage of world conventional oil —an event that has the potential to inflict disruptions and hardships on the economies of every country. The earth’s endowment of oil is finite and demand for oil continues to increase with time. Accordingly, geologists know that at some future date, conventional oil supply will no longer be capable of satisfying world demand. At that point world conventional oil production will have peaked and begin to decline."

Philips tries to block ad-blocking

2006-04-19T16:07:00.000-04:00

"Philips is attempting to patent a technique that would prevent viewers from skipping through ads embedded within recorded programmes or even channel surfing during broadcast ad breaks - or force viewers to cough up cash if they want to avoid the ads."

"A viewer may either watch the advertisements or pay a fee in order to be able to change channels or fast forward when the advertisements are being displayed," Philips' potential patent states."

This is the kind of crap that just gets under my skin. I block ads online because I have no intention of buying anything I don't need, and won't be forced to look at them. The same goes for TV, though I just ignore those, and see what else is on. Now they don't want me to do that anymore. Well screw'em. Soon as I have the misfortune of having to buy new electronics with any of this sort of nonsense, I'll be looking around for hacks to undo it. As soon as they get that crap to market, someone's going to rip it apart and figure out how to defeat it, and I'll be right there cheering them on.

I've never been swayed by any of the pro-ad excuses because I've never been the type of sucker they're looking for anyway, that runs out and buys just because I saw it on TV. I don't care if advertisers choose to sponsor programs so we can watch them for free, I wouldn't buy any of their wares unless I developed a need, outside of being told by them that I "must have it". If they think they're going to hold me hostage, they'd better develop a very thick skin. Hardware markers, sponsors, and show production companies are going to hear an earfull from me. I'll even go as far as telling them that I've defeated their practice, even if I haven't, just to screw with their heads.

To hell with patents and copyrights, once I buy something for my own personal use, I'll do with it whatever I damn well please.

Scientists Against Disease Mongering

2006-04-18T06:14:00.000-04:00

"New conference addresses social implications of pharmaceutical companies marketing drugs for minor disorders."

"Pharmaceutical companies are marketing yesterday's unfortunate discomfort as today's official disorder, says an international group of scientists and physicians who gathered this week in Australia for the first ever Conference on Disease-Mongering. The meeting—and a series of papers published to coincide with it—addresses the social, financial and medical repercussions of disease mongering and calls on pharmaceutical companies, doctors and the general public to help put a stop to this practice."

Iran: The Next Neocon Target

2006-04-18T05:58:00.000-04:00

"It’s been three years since the U.S. launched its war against Saddam Hussein and his weapons of mass destruction. Of course now almost everybody knows there were no WMDs, and Saddam Hussein posed no threat to the United States. Though some of our soldiers serving in Iraq still believe they are there because Saddam Hussein was involved in 9/11, even the administration now acknowledges there was no connection. Indeed, no one can be absolutely certain why we invaded Iraq. The current excuse, also given for staying in Iraq, is to make it a democratic state, friendly to the United States. There are now fewer denials that securing oil supplies played a significant role in our decision to go into Iraq and stay there. That certainly would explain why U.S. taxpayers are paying such a price to build and maintain numerous huge, permanent military bases in Iraq. They’re also funding a new billion dollar embassy- the largest in the world."

"The significant question we must ask ourselves is: What have we learned from three years in Iraq? With plans now being laid for regime change in Iran, it appears we have learned absolutely nothing."

Video - The Power of Nightmares parts I, II, III

2006-04-17T15:38:00.000-04:00

"In the past, politicians promised to create a better world. They had different ways of achieving this. But their power and authority came from the optimistic visions they offered their people. Those dreams failed. And today, people have lost faith in ideologies. Increasingly, politicians are seen simply as managers of public life. But now, they have discovered a new role that restores their power and authority. Instead of delivering dreams, politicians now promise to protect us from nightmares. They say that they will rescue us from dreadful dangers that we cannot see and do not understand. And the greatest danger of all is international terrorism. A powerful and sinister network, with sleeper cells in countries across the world. A threat that needs to be fought by a war on terror. But much of this threat is a fantasy, which has been exaggerated and distorted by politicians. It’s a dark illusion that has spread unquestioned through governments around the world, the security services, and the international media."

"This is a series of films about how and why that fantasy was created, and who it benefits. At the heart of the story are two groups: the American neoconservatives, and the radical Islamists."

Part I
Baby It’s Cold Outside

Part II
The Phantom Victory

Part III
The Shadows In The Cave

A window into a world of need

2006-04-17T02:32:00.000-04:00

When an economist and her three children gave up their lifestyle to live on a welfare budget for 40 days, they did not bargain for what they would find out.

"Every year, my family gives up something for Lent. This year, we sacrificed our lifestyle to live on a welfare budget for the 40-day period before Easter. This is what we learned:

"Welfare today isolates people. It makes poverty in our midst invisible, a situation that nearly 700,000 people on social assistance in Ontario today can attest to."

"And while my family became invisible for a while, the discomfiting truth is that Lent is temporary; poverty often is not."

Telecom giant pulled into domestic eavesdropping controversy

2006-04-17T02:10:00.000-04:00

"AT&T, which provides phone and Internet service to millions of Americans, is ensnared in the widening controversy over the Bush administration's domestic eavesdropping: A former employee claims firsthand knowledge of AT&T's cooperation in "wholesale" monitoring of Americans' communications."

"Mark Klein, who says he was an AT&T technician for more than 20 years, says that the company aids the National Security Agency in "conducting what amounts to vacuum-cleaner surveillance of all the data crossing the Internet -- whether that be people's e-mail, Web surfing, or any other data," according to a statement Klein released. AT&T has given the NSA extraordinary access to its central switching offices, the nerve centers of its digital networks, Klein contends."

Rumsfeld Potentially Liable for Torture

2006-04-17T01:36:00.000-04:00

"Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld could be criminally liable for the torture of a detainee at Guantanamo Bay in late 2002 and early 2003, Human Rights Watch said today."

"A December 20, 2005 Army Inspector General’s report, obtained by Salon.com this week, contains a sworn statement by Lt. Gen. Randall M. Schmidt that implicates Secretary Rumsfeld in the abuse of detainee Mohammad al-Qahtani. Based on an investigation that he carried out in early 2005, which included two interviews with Rumsfeld, Gen. Schmidt describes the defense secretary as being "personally involved" in al-Qahtani’s interrogation."

"Human Rights Watch urges the United States to name a special prosecutor to investigate the culpability of Rumsfeld and others in the al-Qahtani case."

"The question at this point is not whether Secretary Rumsfeld should resign, it’s whether he should be indicted," said Joanne Mariner, Terrorism and Counterterrorism Program director at Human Rights Watch. "General Schmidt’s sworn statement suggests that Rumsfeld may have been perfectly aware of the abuses inflicted on al-Qahtani."

Audio - 9/11, The Myth & The Reality parts I & II

2006-04-16T21:22:00.000-04:00

"In this definitive presentation given on March 30th, 2006 at the historic Grand Lake Theater in Oakland, California, Dr. David Ray Griffin deconstructs nine official myths, given that day."

Part I

Part II
Recorded 03/30/06 - Broadcast 04/05/06 on Guns And Butter

How to Break the American Trance

2006-04-16T10:20:00.000-04:00

The following is a speech given by 92-year-old Doris "Granny D" Haddock, who walked across the U.S. in 1999-2000 for campaign finance reform. She made this speech to Citizens for Participation in Political Action in Boston, on Sept. 27, 2002.

"Some of you may be old enough to remember the Reagan Administration. Mr. Reagan and those around him believed in a very new kind of American hero. This new hero was a business hero -- not the fellow who built up a family furniture store on Main Street and supported the Little League and the Scouts; this new hero was not the woman who worked late hours to create a successful travel agency, nor was this new business hero anything like any of the hard-working Americans who built-up our middle class, advanced our standard of living and gave us the resources and leisure for the proper civic life of a democracy, with its leagues and Rotaries and Lions and Elks and VFWs and party conventions and all that glory."

"No, the Reagan business hero was the corporate takeover artist."

"Any regulations that might get in the way of these ruthless new capitalists were removed -- removed so that reptiles of uncommon greed and brutality might rule the earth, which they now nearly do."

Chicago, Houston, consider cameras in private homes

2006-04-15T00:39:00.000-04:00

"George Orwell's classic dystopian novel 1984 opens with a surveillance helicopter chopping its blades menacingly through London, peeking inside apartment buildings. The protagonist, a conscience-stricken state worker with no way to blow the whistle, goes home to a "telescreen" watching and reporting his every word, move and even mood."

"The totalitarian state apparatus of Orwell's bleak vision was patterned after the world's Communist parties. But many of today's 21st-century Democrat and Republican politicians see no problem with the kind of permanent police dragnet envisioned in the novel."

"While Orwell's homeland of the United Kingdom is still the most-surveilled on Earth, recent actions by two big-city mayors will help the United States in the race to capture this dubious honor."

UK - Terrorism Act comes into force

2006-04-14T14:57:00.000-04:00

"The government's controversial Terrorism Act comes into force today, outlawing the glorification of terrorism and paving the way for the detention of terror suspects for 28 days without charge."

"The bill, introduced in response to the July 7 bombings, was opposed by both the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats, and saw Tony Blair's first Commons defeat since coming to power, when Labour rebels overturned a government clause allowing 90 days detention."

"The act creates new offences of undertaking terrorism training, preparation of or planning a terrorist act and disseminating terrorist publications."

ISP snooping gaining support

2006-04-14T14:29:00.000-04:00

"The explosive idea of forcing Internet providers to record their customers' online activities for future police access is gaining ground in state capitols and in Washington, D.C."

"Top Bush administration officials have endorsed the concept, and some members of the U.S. Congress have said federal legislation is needed to aid law enforcement investigations into child pornography. A bill is already pending in the Colorado State Senate."

"Mandatory data retention requirements worry privacy advocates because they permit police to obtain records of e-mail chatter, Web browsing or chat-room activity that normally would have been discarded after a few months. And some proposals would require providers to retain data that ordinarily never would have been kept at all."

America's war on the web

2006-04-14T09:40:00.000-04:00

"While the US remains committed to hunting down al-Qaeda operatives, it is now taking the battle to new fronts. Deep within the Pentagon, technologies are being deployed to wage the war on terror on the internet, in newspapers and even through mobile phones. Investigations editor Neil Mackay reports."

"Imagine a world where wars are fought over the internet; where TV broadcasts and newspaper reports are designed by the military to confuse the population; and where a foreign armed power can shut down your computer, phone, radio or TV at will.

"In 2006, we are just about to enter such a world. This is the age of information warfare, and details of how this new military doctrine will affect everyone on the planet are contained in a report, entitled The Information Operations Roadmap (pdf), commissioned and approved by US secretary of defence Donald Rumsfeld and seen by the Sunday Herald."

(alternative link)

Free Talk Live radio

2006-04-14T00:55:00.000-04:00

"Free Talk Live is talk radio unlike any other. In an industry where shows are either pro-republican or pro-democrat, Free Talk Live is unabashedly pro-FREEDOM."

"Another hallmark of typical talk radio is heavy call screening. Certain hosts are afraid of certain issues. Free Talk Live is not. We call the show Free Talk Live because listeners are Free to call in and Talk about anything from the political to the personal. We're also Live 6 days per week."

"Free Talk Live is an open forum. If you don't like the topics or would like to hear others, it's on YOU to call."

"Check out some of the archives on the FTL Main Page to get an idea of what this all means."

Shows available through dialup and broadband streams, local U.S. radio stations, and podcast downloads.

The Rise of Fascism in America

2006-04-13T22:21:00.000-04:00

"Since the 1970’s, American businesses have grown larger and more monopolistic, helped along by deregulation, the repeal of anti-trust laws, and a steady transformation from manufacturing to capital management (dare I say, "capital manipulation"?). As Paul Bigioni puts it in his excellent essay entitled "The Real Threat of Fascism": "If we are to protect ourselves from the growing political influence of Big Business, then our antitrust laws must be reconceived in a way which recognizes the political danger of monopolistic conditions."

"Bigioni continues by emphasizing that “Antitrust laws do not just protect the marketplace, they protect democracy.” It is well to remember that conditions like these led to fascism in both Germany and Italy in the 1930’s, and Bigioni points out that the transformation toward fascism occurred in both countries while they were still liberal democracies. In America, since at least 1971, the rich have gotten much, much richer and the poor have become poorer and far more numerous, largely because our government now sees its primary function as serving the interests of Big Business and its Big Money."

The Century of the Self

2006-04-13T16:25:00.000-04:00

Part 1 (rv)

Happiness Machines

"Adam Curtis, The Century of the Self tells the untold and sometimes controversial story of the growth of the mass-consumer society in Britain and the United States. How was the all-consuming self created, by whom, and in whose interests?"

"Freud provided useful tools for understanding the secret desires of the masses. Unwittingly, his work served as the precursor to a world full of political spin doctors, marketing moguls, and society's belief that the pursuit of satisfaction and happiness is man's ultimate goal."

Part 2 (wmv)

The Engineering of Consent

"Politicians and planners came to believe Freud's underlying premise - that deep within all human beings were dangerous and irrational desires and fears. They were convinced that it was the unleashing of these instincts that had led to the barbarism of Nazi Germany."

"Sigmund Freud's daughter, Anna, and his nephew, Edward Bernays, provided the centrepiece philosophy. The US government, big business, and the CIA used their ideas to develop techniques to manage and control the minds of the American people."

Part 3 (wmv)

The Me Generation

"American corporations realised that self was not a threat but their greatest opportunity. It was in their interest to encourage people to feel they were unique individuals and then sell them ways to express that individuality. To do this they turned to techniques developed by Freudian psychoanalysts to read the inner desires of the new self."

Part 4 (wmv)

Eight People Sipping Wine in Kettering

"This episode explains how politicians on the left, in both Britain and America, turned to the techniques developed by business to read and fulfil the inner desires of the self."

"Both New Labour, under Tony Blair, and the Democrats, led by Bill Clinton, used the focus group, which had been invented by psychoanalysts, in order to regain power. They set out to mould their policies to people's inner desires and feelings, just as capitalism had learnt to do with products."

"The politicians believed they were creating a new and better form of democracy, one that truly responded to the inner feelings of individual. But what they didn't realise was that the aim of those who had originally created these techniques had not been to liberate the people but to develop a new way of controlling them."

AT&T asks judge to order documents alleging wiretaps returned

2006-04-13T15:28:00.000-04:00

"Attorneys for AT&T have asked a federal judge to order a San Francisco civil liberties group to return ``highly confidential'' documents that allegedly show that the telecommunications giant provided detailed records of millions of its customers to a government intelligence agency."

"In documents filed on Monday, AT&T's attorneys also asked Judge Vaughn Walker to order the Electronic Frontier Foundation to refrain from referencing the documents in its lawsuit."

"The EFF filed a lawsuit against AT&T in January alleging that AT&T had collaborated with the National Security Agency in a ``massive and illegal program to wiretap and data-mine Americans' communications.''"

"Last week, the group filed additional documents to the federal court in San Francisco totaling more than 140 pages. The documents purportedly provide evidence of the technology that AT&T had used to conduct surveillance for the NSA."

"The documents, which included a sworn declaration from retired AT&T technician Mark Klein and confidential company documents, were voluntarily placed under seal by the group pending a decision by the judge to make them public."

The Al Qaeda Myth

2006-04-13T14:39:00.000-04:00

"We now know that Al Qaeda had nothing to do with the London bombings in July 2005. This is the conclusion of the British government's official inquiry report leaked to the British press on April 9."

"We now also know that the U.S. military is deliberately misleading Iraqis, Americans and the rest of the world about the extent of Al Qaeda's involvement in the Iraqi insurgency. This was reported in The Washington Post on April 10, on the basis of internal military documents seen by that newspaper."

"What do these revelations tell us about the arguments of President George W. Bush and Prime Minister Blair that in Al Qaeda the "Free World" faces a threat comparable to that of the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany, a world-wide terrorist network which seeks to build a radical Islamist empire over half the world?"

"That they are threadbare, to say the least. But also that they are cynical, misleading and self serving."

"The London bombings, it turns out, were the work of four alienated British Muslims, with no links to "international terrorist networks", who had learned how to make bombs by trawling the Internet. They had been radicalized and motivated, according to the report, by British foreign policies in the Muslim world—a view Tony Blair has consistently sought to undermine and discredit."

"The role of the alleged "Al Qaeda mastermind in Iraq," Abu Musab Al Zarqawi, we are now told, was cynically misrepresented and exaggerated by the U.S. military's propaganda units in an effort to discredit and divide the Iraqi insurgency and to provide a retrospective justification for the Iraq war by suggesting a link between Iraq and 9/11."

The revolt against Donald Rumsfeld

2006-04-13T14:10:00.000-04:00

"It's an odd thought, but a military coup in this country right now would probably have a moderating influence. Not that an actual coup is pending; still less is one desirable. But we are witnessing the rumblings of an officers' revolt, and things could get ugly if it were to take hold and roar."

"The revolt is a reluctant one, aimed specifically at the personage of Donald Rumsfeld and the way he is conducting the war in Iraq."

"It is startling to hear, in private conversations, how widely and deeply the U.S. officer corps despises this secretary of defense. The joke in some Pentagon circles is that if Rumsfeld were meeting with the service chiefs and commanders and a group of terrorists barged into the room and kidnapped him, not a single general would lift a finger to help him."

CNN is Committing Treason

2006-04-13T10:46:00.000-04:00

"It is no exaggeration to describe George Bush as America's enemy. He and his cohorts stand foursquare against every principle America is proud of, from 'open, honest government' to 'freedom of speech', from 'innocent until proven guilty' to 'liberty and justice for all'. American troops are at war in two nations without any sane reason, and the Bush-Cheney administration is leading the nation toward a third war..."

"And the news is nowhere to be found at CNN. It is obvious that CNN and other American news media have betrayed any trust Americans' once had for journalism."

"If you have the time and internet savvy to seek out alternative and foreign news sources, then you know that America is in grave peril. We have a President who has never told Americans the truth about anything, who has exercised abysmal judgment about remarkably important matters, who breaks the law with impunity and announces it plainly and often. The Bush-Cheney administration has committed dozens of impeachable offenses, but it's impeach-proof, because Bush's Republican Party controls Congress, and allows no oversight of the White House."

"But if you don't have the time or don't know where to look beyond bland American mainstream news, chances are you don't know much of the above."

A Culture of Corruption - by Bill Moyers

2006-04-13T09:38:00.000-04:00

"Money is choking our democracy to death. Our elections are bought out from under us and our public officials are doing the bidding of mercenaries. So powerful is the hold of wealth on politics that we cannot say America is working for all Americans. The majority may support such broad social goals as affordable medical coverage for all, decent wages for working people, safe working conditions, a secure retirement, and clean air and water, but there is no government "of, by, and for the people" to deliver on those aspirations."

"Our system of privately financed campaigns has shut regular people out of any meaningful participation in democracy. Less than one-half of one percent of all Americans made a political contribution of $200 or more to a federal candidate in 2004. When the average cost of winning a seat in the House of Representatives has topped $1 million, we can no longer refer to that chamber as "The People's House." Congress belongs to the highest bidder."

"At the same time that the cost of getting elected is exploding beyond the reach of ordinary people, the business of influencing our elected representatives has become a growth industry. Since President Bush was elected the number of registered lobbyists in Washington has more than doubled. That's 16,342 lobbyists in 2000 and 34,785 last year: 65 lobbyists for every member of Congress. The total spent per month by special interests wining, dining, and seducing federal officials is now nearly $200 million. Per month."

AT&T forwards all Internet traffic into NSA

2006-04-13T09:32:00.000-04:00

"The evidence that we are filing supports our claim that AT&T is diverting Internet traffic into the hands of the NSA wholesale, in violation of federal wiretapping laws and the Fourth Amendment," said EFF Staff Attorney Kevin Bankston.

"More than just threatening individuals' privacy, AT&T's apparent choice to give the government secret, direct access to millions of ordinary Americans' Internet communications is a threat to the Constitution itself. We are asking the Court to put a stop to it now," said Bankston.

Hey! Anyone still out there?

2006-04-13T08:15:00.000-04:00

Sorry folks, I've had some medical problems that have kept me from posting all this time. I'm still too weak to make my normal kinds of posts, but I'm getting stronger and should be back to normal soon. In the mean time, I'll post stories that are of interest to me, just without my comments.

I probably would've tried to post this message earlier, but an interesting thing took place just prior to my disappearance. Begining with my encounter with militarys' propaganda machine, damn near every single reader I'd built up, ran away. Why, I don't know. I guess many didn't want to be associated with a "determined dissenter". Whatever.

Anyway, just wanted to let anyone who still checks in, to know I haven't been "renditioned" to Algeria or some place, for re-education. I can't wait to get back to my old self. I've missed out on a lot, since a lot's happened. I've saved a few stories that aren't time-sensitive, so I'll post some of those first (unfortunately, without comment).

Be back soon!

Bush shuns Patriot Act requirement

2006-03-25T17:58:00.000-05:00

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

Well who didn't see that coming. I'd like to know if there's any law at all that he does feel obligated to obey. Don't bother answering that, we already know.

I can't believe how easily we're giving way to dictatorship. A lot can happen between now and the next Presidential election, and one of those things could be a convenient terrorist attack here at home. Convenient because it would cause everyone who's afraid of their own shadow to cower under their beds again and insist that their Fearless Leader protect them at all costs from the bad guys, just like they did after 9/11. If the timing is right, and it happens close enough to the election, it could prompt Bush to force a suspension of the election, because of a state of national emergency. He could insist that the emegency is so severe that the elections must be postponed indefinately, thereby officially making himself dictator.

Think that far-fetched? Well what do you think would happen if a WMD gets set off somewhere in the U.S. sometime in late summer or early fall of 2008? (actually, any time between then and inauguration day would be good) Martial Law could be initiated, not just in the area of the incident, but for the whole nation because it could be argued that it could be the begining of a series of such attacks, and extrordinary measures must be taken. Do you really think that anybody in government would be interested in taking time out to campaign?? Do you think we'd let them? It would be hard to crawl out from under the bed to get out and vote, when we'd be told that wasting time with an election would be too distracting for the government and that the process would help "the terrorists".

Yeah I know, I've gone quite a ways from Bush chosing to ignore certain legal obligations of the Patriot Act, all the way to the suspension of the Constitution and Bill of Rights, and assuming permanent dictitorial powers. But with a President who's already above the law, and the prospect of another terrorist attack, that's just the sort of combination that leads to dictatorships, and since there are still unanswered questions about events on 9/11, I will not be surprised if something horrific takes place before the next Presidential election.

Stay Tuned For The Same Old Republican Lies

2006-03-25T15:10:00.000-05:00

Coming soon to a media market near you:

"The GOP (Grand Old Prevaricators), who brought you the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth in 2004, have been test-marketing another TV ad campaign."

"The fabrication this time: the war in Iraq. The target: any Democratic candidate who speaks out against the U.S. mission during the mid-term elections. The venue for the test is Minnesota."

"Two ads have run so far. Both have caused a furor."

They go on to describe the ads, and it looks like the Republicans are going to continue to promote the same lies that have been continuously refuted from the time they began telling them. They're still claiming the war in Iraq is about fighting the Al-Qaeda terrorists.

How many times does this have to be proven to be the deliberate lie that it is? You would think by now that it would be easy to exploit the Republican and administration lie about the non-existant connection between Iraq and "the terrorists", as being made be people who obviously have no intention of ever speaking the truth to the American people, about anything. It should be easy to show that even in the face of facts to the contrary, they continue to take us for fools, filling their speech with fanciful tales that only die-hard fanatics could possibly conceive as being anything close to reality.

If this is to be the tactic of the upcoming elections, it must be continuously and relentlessly countered with the truth. We cannot allow the media to continue to play along by repeating these lies unchallenged. We must write, email, and call our local media as well as national, to insist they stop accepting the proven lies as fact, and not challenging them at all. They must be made aware that we know what the truth is, and insist that our media give it as much if not more exposure than they're giving to the lies. To carry it further, we should seek out the sponsors of all the media outlets who promote the lies, and warn them that their bottom lines could suffer if they continue sponsoring news shows that are purposely deceiving the public by repeating previously exposed lies.

The liars depend on the media to get their message out, and the media must also be used by those promoting the truth. We should not wait until the campaigns are in full swing, we must start now.

The Pentagon's TALON Program

2006-03-24T23:39:00.000-05:00

"In May 2003, Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz initiated a new program designed to assemble and share "non-validated domestic threat information among intelligence, counterintelligence, law enforcement, security, and force protection entities."

"Grown out of the Air Force neighborhood watch program Eagle Eyes, the new reporting scheme was named TALON, Threat and Local Observation Notice. While the program is designed to record potential terrorist pre-attack activity, media reports over the past few months show that the Pentagon has been monitoring anti-war and anti-military activity, potentially overstepping the bounds of legitimate homeland security efforts. CIFA, the Counterintelligence Field Activity, oversees TALON, as part of its mission to "deliver actionable information to Defense Department decision-makers."

This is from the PBS series NOW, that aired this week. The main focus was on how this program is being used to monitor political activists, and anyone else who merely gets "tattled" on by a nosey neighbor. The program is supposed to be collecting potentially useful information that could lead to terrorist activity, but while watching the episode, I had a flashback to when the Communist East German government fell, and the public finally gained access to the State Security (STASI) headquarters and revealed tons and tons of highly detailed, yet mostly irrelevent information on virtually every single East German citizen. They had more information on their own people, than the Soviets had on theirs. Now, we'll put them all to shame with all the domestic spies we now have in every government agency from local through federal, civilian and military, all collecting information on all of us, that will have absolutely nothing to do with subversive or terrorist activity.

What gets me, is that all the spying programs are justified by saying that if they had been in place prior to 9/11, 9/11 most likely would not have succeeded. People keep buying that nonsense even after we knew the government already had information that could've stopped it, but they weren't sharing with other agencies. The CIA wasn't talking to the FBI about terrorist they knew to be in the country. 9/11 didn't happen because there wasn't enough domestic spying, it happened because of inter-agency rivalry and jealousy, and all branches of the government, along with all major news outlets, along with any of the general public who paid attention at the time, know full well that the fault did not lay in the lack of domestic spying, so that justification is pure bullshit.

This TALON program, just like what appears to me to be about 90% of all other anti-terror measures, seems less to do with catching radical Middle Eastern Islamic terrorists, than setting up the apparatus to tightly monitor, control, and manipulate 300 million suckers who live in a delusional world believing they live in a now mythical "free" country.

The End Of Civilization

2006-03-24T17:45:00.000-05:00

"I had a mild epiphany the other day: it’s not President Bush who’s living in a fantasy world, it’s most of his critics who are. I’m no apologist for Bush – I neither like nor dislike him. He’s no more significant to me than a fly buzzing around outside my window. So permit me to explain my reasoning."

"People look at Bush’s invasion of Iraq and see a miserable failure. But a failure to do what? Democratize Iraq? Eliminate Iraq’s WMD arsenal? Reduce global terrorism? If those were, in fact, the reasons for invading Iraq, then the invasion would have to be classified as a failure. But what if the real reason was to secure Iraq’s oil supplies, perhaps not for immediate use, and perhaps not even for use by the United States? Then the invasion of Iraq would have to be judged a success, a “mission accomplished,” so to speak."

"Or take Bush’s seemingly irresponsible handling of the domestic economy. How can any sane person fail to understand that cutting revenue while increasing spending will produce deficits, and that those deficits cannot increase in perpetuity? Sooner or later that accumulated debt has got to have consequences. Bush appears to be acting as if there were no tomorrow. But what if there really were no tomorrow, financially speaking? In that case, the reckless economic policies of today would not only be irrelevant, but might actually be shrewd. I mean, if one knows that he is not going to have to pay back his debts tomorrow, then why not borrow money like crazy today? In fact, if civilization is coming to an end, then why not use all that borrowed money to stock up on guns and vital resources, such as oil?"

This is a long and interesting piece that accurately, in my opinion, details the problems we're going to encounter when oil gets scarce. We don't really know for certain when the time will come, but it's inevitable that long before oil runs out completely, there's going to be hell on earth for most of the people on the planet.

Much of what this guys says, I've brought up in the past, such as believing that our wars, contrary to the way they appear, are preceeding exactly as our leaders originally intended. The belief that the government and the media are in collusion to keep the masses distracted by stupid nonsense, while so much important information is getting little exposure. Much of what he thinks may come to pass as a result of the lack of oil, I also believe.

I really think everyone should read this because time's running out and the river of oil will eventually dry up taking most of us with it. It doesn't matter whether the real trouble will break out in 10, or 50 years, the point is, that the course of human events are about to be dramatically altered by a lack of everything that depends on oil, and everyone needs to begin to prepare. This is no longer about "if", it's about "when", and "when" gets closer each day. People need to start thinking about how to survive without the use of any petroleum based products, including food and energy. Waiting for government or industry to lead the way, to educate, and prepare you, just isn't going to happen, you're on you own, whether you like it or not.

Depleted Uranium For Dummies

2006-03-24T00:47:00.000-05:00

"Everything you need to know about depleted uranium. Every day our troops remain in Iraq increases the chances that they will come home sick, produce children with birth defects, and die prematurely."

"Under the direction of Secretary of Defense Cheney, the 1991 Gulf War began with a "shock and awe" bombing campaign that destroyed large biological laboratories, chemical plants, and nuclear enrichment facilities, most of them around Baghdad. Many sites were illegally supplied by the Reagan-Bush administration, in which both Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld served, so the United States government knew their locations."

"Biological, chemical and nuclear weapons damage the bodies of soldiers in distinct ways. The first employs deadly bacteria and viruses to cause known illnesses. The second uses poisonous, or toxic, substances to attack the body's chemistry. Nuclear weapons, such as depleted uranium (D.U.), were unimaginable before World War II. They attack the body with invisible radioactive energy that, as you will soon read, produces a wider variety of symptoms that develop over a longer period of time. Radioactive heavy metal particles embedded in the body are both radioactive and toxic."

"Biological, chemical and nuclear weapons can potentially "blow back." Once they are released, they can kill and maim civilians as well as enemy soldiers. Hence all three have been banned by international treaties which the United States signed."

That last sentence means that every time we knowingly target and destroy those types of facilities, we are, as far as I'm concerned, committing a war crime. Every time we drop a depleted uranium bomb, we're also committing a war crime. I've brought up those depeted uranium weapons before, noting how little we ever hear about them in the media. I said before that we were subjecting our own troops to exposure from those nuclear weapons, and make no mistake, that's what they are, nuclear weapons.

Do you remember back during the Reagan administration, when there was a big debate about the proposed production of a new type of nuclear weapon called a "neutron bomb"? These weapons were supposed to be nuclear bombs, without the mess. They were to be used for the sole purpose of destroying living organisms (humans), while leaving structures intact. Well, the whole world reeled at the thought of such a weapon, because by it being less desructing to property, it was thought to be much more likely to be used. A bomb that wipes out people, but leaves their cities intact (the same result as chemical and bio weapons), was unthinkable to the general public, and helped gain more momentum for the growing anti-nuclear movement that was popular during the Reagan years. Well these DU weapons we've been using extensively since the first Gulf War, are nothing less than small versions of the neutron bomb.

The use of these weapons will cause health problems for people in the region as well as our own troops, for many decades to come. This is the reality of how our government "supports the troops". Those hypocritical bastards demean anyone who speaks ill of the war, saying it demoralizes the troops, and that everyone should "support the troops" by not questioning the government, and thinking happy thoughts. Meanwhile, the bastards are exposing those same troops that they pretend to be so concerned about, to nuclear radiation and other toxic substances. That, in addition to their other acts of supporting our troops that includes keeping them undermanned, underprotected, mismanaged, and let's not forget, forcing them to become torturers and murderers, are all to secure energy sources before the wells run dry.

I won't carry on any longer on this because the article itself is rather long and informative. But the worst part of the whole article, is that its' topic is non-existent in the mainstream media. Those lap dogs share the guilt for all the deaths and suffering caused by our use of these weapons, because they remain so silent on this.

Causes of Poverty - Global Issues

2006-03-23T18:09:00.000-05:00

"Poverty is the state for the majority of the world’s people and nations. Why is this? Is it enough to blame poor people for their own predicament? Have they been lazy, made poor decisions, and been solely responsible for their plight? What about their government? Have they pursued policies that actually harm successful development? Such causes of poverty and inequality are no doubt real. But often less discussed are deeper and more global causes of poverty."

"Behind the increasing interconnectedness promised by globalization, are global decisions, policies, and practices. These are typically influenced, driven, or formulated by the rich and powerful. These can be leaders of rich countries or other global actors such as multinational corporations, institutions, and influential people."

"In the face of such enormous external influence, the governments of poor nations and their people are often powerless. As a result, in the global context, a few get wealthy while the majority struggle."

In this section of the Global Issues website, you can come to a better understanding of why you can't just assume that the poverty stricken, be they individuals or nations, are entirely responsible for their lot in life. We all should already know that those with the money hold all the power, and when those without it, are in need, they're at the mercy of the powerful who exact a high price for their illusion of "help".

The "have" countries, who are usually responsible for creating poor countries, through past colonial empires and wars of conquest, pretend to extend a helping hand to poorer nations, but are in reality, imposing conditions on the "help" that will ensure the impossibility of the poor countries ever getting out of debt. Those countries are forced into economic and political servitude that keeps them weak and vulnerable to external exploitation and manipulation. It is to the advantage of the rich and powerful that a sizable underclass is perpetually maintained. When people and nations are empowered and self reliant, they're very hard to take advantage of.

This site goes much deeper into detail than my little ramblings, and will be a good education for the uninformed.

Video - The Road To Guantánamo

2006-03-22T21:12:00.000-05:00

"The Road To Guantánamo opens with archive footage of George W Bush, flanked by a stern-faced Tony Blair, declaring his certain knowledge that all the detainees held in Guantánamo are "bad people". Everything that follows is designed to turn these words inside out, as three young British Muslims tell the story of how they came to be in US custody at Guantánamo for over two years, and discuss the Kafkaesque horrors that awaited them there, until finally they were released without charge or apology."

Here's another embedded video report from Britain. The page says that "this video will only be online until March 25th", so don't put off watching this. Better still, they've provided a download link to the 65mb RealVideo file you can save and share. I'm not sure whether they mean it simply won't be available as a stream after that date, but still accessible for download, or it won't be available at all. Either way, grab it if you're interested.

[UPDATE: March 24 '06]

Video availibility has been extended one more day till March 26th.

Video - The Aftermath Of A Massacre

2006-03-22T20:36:00.000-05:00

"Have American troops been killing unarmed civilians in Iraq?"

This is an embedded video news report from the BBC, on the recent allegations of more U.S. atrocities in Iraq. The relevant part of the broadcast lasts only about 15 minutes, then continues on with other news, so if you're only interested in the Iraq segment, you can stop the video at that point.

The true purpose of torture

2006-03-22T14:37:00.000-05:00

'Obviously, intelligence agents have an incentive to hide the use of unlawful methods," says Jameel Jaffer of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). "On the other hand, when they use rendition and torture as a threat, it's undeniable that they benefit, in some sense, from the fact that people know that intelligence agents are willing to act unlawfully. They benefit from the fact that people understand the threat and believe it to be credible."

"And the threats have been received. In an affidavit filed with an ACLU court challenge to section 215 of the Patriot Act, Nazih Hassan, president of the Muslim Community Association of Ann Arbor in Michigan, describes this new climate. Membership and attendance are down, donations are way down, board members have resigned - Hassan says his members avoid doing anything that could get their names on lists. One member testified anonymously that he has "stopped speaking out on political and social issues" because he doesn't want to draw attention to himself."

"This is torture's true purpose: to terrorise - not only the people in Guantánamo's cages and Syria's isolation cells but also, and more importantly, the broader community that hears about these abuses. Torture is a machine designed to break the will to resist - the individual prisoner's will and the collective will."

This isn't a new article, in fact it's almost a year old. I'm throwing it out there simply because the word "torture" has died down in the media and the Congress. It's been a little while since those last photos and videos were released, so I guess I'm just kicking up a little dust, just as a reminder that all the torturing and abuse is still going on, and countless people are still being "renditioned".

This article simply states the obvious. The "obvious" being that absolutely everyone in U.S. should already know through our own history, that torture, as a means of getting the truth (or at least a confession) from a suspect, just doesn't work. We've outlawed it here precisly because it was proven to be almost completely unreliable. The article doesn't really make a point of that fact, but rather steps over it, to get to the point that tortures' real purpose is to terrorize and intimidate the general population.

If you've listened to the justifications for it's use, by our leaders, you may have heard a few examples that claimed the information derived from torture actually prevented a few terrorist acts. I suppose if you torture thousands, you'd inevitably trip over something usefull, but the people who've made those claims, are themselves, habitual liars. As far as we know, no useful information has been gathered to prevent anything. There's no way to know for sure, because all the people saying it, have lied to us before, many times.

But still, let's give them the benefit of the doubt and say that they indeed have arm-twisted a few usefull tidbits from the countless thousands who've been rounded up in sweeps, or kidnapped and shipped to someone elses' dungeon. Does of few, literally a few, successes justify torturing thousands and thousands of people whose guilt was never established in the first place?

We hear those faux "patriots" (average citizens and Bush apologists) foaming at the mouth with fiendish delight, at the thought of punishing those terrorists for what they did to us on 9/11. The trouble is that we've already exacted retribution for 9/11. We lost three thousand people that day, and since then, we in turn, have killed many thousands more, at the rising cost of well over two thousand of our service personel. We've maimed and tortured many more thousands. At what point will our blood-thurst be satisfied? Our leaders have their own agenda, but I'm asking about the average person who blindly believes in the excuses given for torturing thousands of innocent people, along with all the not-so-innocent, who are too low-level to know anything useful. When will you finally say "enough is enough'. Why waste time on little people? Because they help spread the fear, the true purpose of torture.

This article is a reminder that in this modern world, we should know better than to accept anyones' arguement that torture is necessary for finding out information. It's sole purpose is intimidating everyone who knows about it. It also makes hypocrites out of any of us who condone it, just because it's us who's doing it this time.

I'd like to point out to anyone who thinks we're justified in indiscriminate torture and abuse. It may be directed at someone else today, but because you allow it to continue, it will be directed at someone else tomorrow, then someone else the day after, and so on, until they finally get to you. By then, it will be so overtly institutionalized that no one will say a word as you're being dragged away, never to be heard from again. Not a prediction, nor a threat, just a historically inevitable reality, if this course doesn't change. It's all up to you; SPEAK UP....or...be silent....

Senators Monitoring FCC on New Media Ownership Rules

2006-03-22T10:51:00.000-05:00

As the Federal Communications Commission gears up to rewrite the media ownership rules, a bipartisan group of Senators - key members of the Senate Commerce Committee - on March 16 sent a letter to FCC Chairman Kevin Martin asking for a comprehensive and public process.

"These Senators are sending a strong signal to the FCC that they will be watching the agency as it tries, once again, to craft new media ownership rules," said Common Cause President Chellie Pingree. "Their bipartisan letter demonstrates that the Senate continues to be concerned about the impact of media consolidation on our democracy. If only a few companies own all our media outlets, it will be difficult for average Americans to access the diverse viewpoints and information that we need to govern ourselves."

The only reason for their concern is because 3 million people raised hell about it the last time. Hopefully lots will be watching this time too, and can make a real difference. If it were up to me, no company would be allowed to own more than one media outlet per market. Period.

GM Contamination Register

2006-03-21T16:38:00.000-05:00

"This GM contamination register is the first of its kind in the world. Although GM crops were grown on over 80 million hectares in 2004, there is no global monitoring system. Because of this failure of national and international agencies, GeneWatch UK and Greenpeace International have launched this joint initiative to record all incidents of contamination arising from the intentional or accidental release of genetically modified (GM) organisms (which are also known as genetically engineered (GE) organisms). It also includes illegal plantings of GM crops and the negative agricultural side-effects that have been reported."

"Only those incidents which have been publically documented are recorded here. There may be others that are, as yet, undetected."

"This site is intended to be a resource for individuals, public interest groups and governments. The register can be searched to see where, when and how contamination has taken place. It includes information about, and links to, sources and the GeneWatch UK and Greenpeace web sites as well as other useful sites."

Here's a place to bookmark and keep track of what's happening to our food source, that you're not supposed to know. What drew my attention to this site was a report it published, that I saw mentioned on another site. The report can be found on this page, with a more complete description (and map) than the bit I've quoted below:

Contamination register report.PDF

"GeneWatch UK and Greenpeace have prepared a report of all the incidents which have been included on the register up to the end of 2005. There were 113 incidents included in the register to the end of 2005: 88 cases of contamination, 17 illegal releases and eight reports of negative agricultural side-effects. For 2005, this includes seven cases of contamination, eight illegal releases and three cases of negative agricultural side-effects. A total of 39 countries on five continents are known to have been affected by an incident of GM contamination, illegal planting or adverse agricultural side-effect since 1996. This is almost twice the number of countries that grow GM crops."

Here's one of the conclusions they've drawn from the information in the report;

"Potentially dangerous genes could be introduced into the food chain and the environment as a result of the poor controls and lack of information because of claims to commercial confidentiality."

What? Don't think "potentially" and "could be" are anything to worry about? Well how about this;

"The economic costs of contamination and other incidents have been, and are likely to continue to be, high in the future. Health, environmental and social costs are potentially immense."

Yeah, it's affecting your wallet. There are a few other conclusions and recommendations at the end of the report, but like so many other issues today, it'll probably take more than a few watchdog groups, it'll take the people who are affected; "us", to make more noise. To rattle cages. To bug the living shit out of our leaders till they force corporations to stop screwing us over, just so they can add more zeros to their precious bottom lines. Yeah, I know, wishful thinking.

I have my own distrust of GM, but it doesn't involve contamination, accidental or intentional. I'll save that for another time.

I'm trying to be patient......but

2006-03-21T13:02:00.000-05:00

...for over two weeks now I've been experiencing extreme slowness, outages, errors, inability to post, and it's starting to drive me up the #&*!%!$ wall. You wouldn't believe how long it took to send that last post, and I'm dreading sending this one, but I need to let you guys know I'm trying.

Just 'cause I'm pissed at 'em, I'll propose that the trouble I and other blogspot bloggers have been having recently, may have something to do with the fact that Google owns this place. The same Google that's been so helpful to the Chinese government in censoring content to it's people. With Google at the helm, and our own government here "engaging" those they consider "determined detractors", I just feel it's one hell of a coincidence that after having been "engaged" myself, which took place not long after I taunted the NSA following one of their quiet visits, that now I'm having way too much trouble posting, which btw, isn't a problem for all blogspoters.

It's all probably just coincidence and completely innocent.....but, but....what if it isn't.............[cue dramatic theme music]

LOL, well, if it isn't, I know a few tricks. One way of another, my piece will speak.

Basic Statistics for United States Imperialism

2006-03-21T11:36:00.000-05:00

Contents:

1—list of interventions for “regime change”

2—list of air warfare campaigns

3—list of client states

4—list of states held by debt-leverage imperialism

5—list of foreign base hosts

6—list of murder toll

7—list of unsavory rightists supported

8—list of perverted international bodies

9—list of interventions for opposing liberation

10—list of interventions pre-1941

11—list of covert operations

12—list of front organizations

13—list of low intensity conflicts

14—list of proxy wars

15—list of foreign policy doctrines

16—list of propaganda campaigns

If you've ever wanted a quick reference list of U.S. dirty deeds, here it is. "Basic" is indeed a perfect word for it, still, it's looks to be very thorough, covering events all the way back to 1776. I'd consider it a good starting point for further research. Unfortunately a number of their reference links at the bottom of the page are dead, but the live ones are still worth trudging through all the carcasses to get to.

US Want Full Access to Bulgarian Military Bases

2006-03-17T09:40:00.000-05:00

"The United States demand that Bulgaria grants them unlimited access to Bulgaria's military bases and equipment, and Bulgaria does not agree."

"Negotiations concerning US military bases here still haven't been concluded, Angel Naydenov, head of the Parliamentary Defence Committee explained for private Nova television. Three negotiation stages have been so far completed since October 2005, and Bulgaria is currently very close to the finish, he said."

"However, major disagreements arise around the conditions of access to the bases. While Bulgaria wants guarantees that these facilities would not be used without its consent, the US demand full access. They also want to apply their own jurisdiction and laws when an American violates the law on Bulgarian territory. Bulgarians do not agree on that point and this has stalled the negotiations for a while, the MP added."

More strong arming in the effort to achieve "full spectrum dominance" through force or intimidation. What right do we have insisting that the laws of sovereign nations should not apply to any of our people, while dictating that our own jurisdiction spans the globe. We're supposed to be immune from braking anyone elses' laws, but the world must comply to ours. Is this the kind of behavior of "good guys"? Is this an example of freedom and democracy we're supposed to be promoting throughout the world?

This is the classic behavior of conquerers, so let's cut the bullshit and call a spade a spade. Conquerers don't always need to attack, just threatening economic or political war, can often achieve the same goal.

Testing, Testing. (damn Blogspot)

2006-03-17T06:38:00.000-05:00

This is just a test to see if I can post again. The people that run this */#@!!%# operation can't seem to keep Blogger from screwing up at least once a week now. I've been trying to post since my last post, but keep getting errors. Others are getting it too when they try to publish. I was finally able to post to my other blog, in spite of getting different errors, but they've still got work to do. Apparently some elective surgery they performed yesterday, left the system screwed. Oddly enough, things have gotten a lot worse around here since many bloggers have been visited by certain government agencies. Ok, maybe it's just coincidence. Maybe it's a consequence of being run by an ever-growing Google. I don't know, but if this keeps up, I'm going to have to look for a new home.

Iraq: Permanent US Colony

2006-03-16T06:51:00.000-05:00

"Why does the Bush Administration refuse to discuss withdrawing occupation forces from Iraq? Why is Halliburton, who landed the no-bid contracts to construct and maintain US military bases in Iraq, posting higher profits than ever before in its 86-year history?"

"Why do these bases in Iraq resemble self-contained cities as much as military outposts?"

At the end of this article, the author answers this question with one word; "Empire". Well that's to be sure, but everything else in between those initial questions, and their short answer, you'll find an interesting description of the permanent bases and embasy we're building there. You'll have to read it for yourself to believe. The scale of not only the bases, but especially our new embasy, is staggering. There's just no way these bases were ever meant to be turned over to the Iraqis.

The article also goes into the lies being told about our progress in training Iraqi troops. If you recall, late last year it was said that there was only one Iraqi battalion, and it was lacking in equipment, much more so than our own troops. Well apparently, in the span of just six months, a miracle has occured in Iraq that should be the top headline of every newspaper, and every lead story on TV, in the world. We're being told that the Iraqis now have over one hundred battalions in the field. Isn't that an amazing feat? Or more obviously, just another of a never-ending stream of lies.

More British Memos

2006-03-14T22:29:00.000-05:00

"Senior British diplomatic and military staff gave Tony Blair explicit warnings three years ago that the US was disastrously mishandling the occupation of Iraq, according to leaked memos."

"John Sawers, Mr Blair's envoy in Baghdad in the aftermath of the invasion, sent a series of confidential memos to Downing Street in May and June 2003 cataloguing US failures. With unusual frankness, he described the US postwar administration, led by the retired general Jay Garner, as "an unbelievable mess" and said "Garner and his top team of 60-year-old retired generals" were "well-meaning but out of their depth"."

These memos point to the fact that the Bush administration was warned that their lack of post invasion troop strength was inadequate. It shows that neither our military nor our government had any interest in dealing with Iraq properly, after the invasion.

This adds to the belief that our leaders are clueless when it comes to conducting war and its' aftermath, or, I believe, they knew exactly what they were, and are doing, in the handling of Iraq. They knew that by not only maintaining too small a force themselves, but also disbanding Iraqs' military and police, that there would be the problems we see there today. I also believe we're deeply involved in causing the violence by much more than just being there. I think we allowed and incited radical elements to grow strong and cause violence, to suit our purpose of maintaining a permanent military presence in Iraq to use as a staging ground to strike at other countries in the region. We never had any intention of leaving. As long as the violence continues, we're justified in staying, which is why the President keeps insisting that any withdawl will be determined by "conditions on the groud". Whenever things do calm down, if ever, little if anything will be said about our permanent bases, after we make a big deal about the majority of our troops coming home. That's what happened in Saudi Arabia after we "defended" it from Saddam in the first Gulf War, we're still there. The big difference was we didn't have to "regime change" them first, to get bases there.

We don't want a strong, democratic and independant Iraq. It's far too strategically importatant to leave to the Iraqis. It's essential that their government be obedient puppets, totally dependant on us. One look at a map shows just how important it is in seizing control through force and intimidation, all the oil in the region.

And by the way, we're never going to leave Afghanistan either. We're planning on protecting oil pipelines there.

Feingold Draws Little Support for Censure

2006-03-13T19:06:00.000-05:00

"Democrats distanced themselves Monday from Wisconsin Sen. Russell Feingold's effort to censure President Bush over domestic spying, maneuvering to prevent a vote that could alienate swing voters. Republicans dared Democrats to vote for the proposal."

"Some Democrats in Congress have decided the president is the enemy," Vice President Dick Cheney told a Republican audience in Feingold's home state."

Well there you have it, the chickenshit Democrats are showing their lack of backbone once again. See why I say not to expect anything from them? This is why people need to jump on the backs of all the politicians, and ride them into the ground until we get our country back. The Republicans have no real opposition party to contend with, and their only issues are in covering their own asses from all the scandals they've created for themselves, because the Democrats refuse to take advantage of them. We have to stop waiting for someone else to take the lead, and step up ourselves. If we can do that, it won't matter what party rules. They're supposed to work for us, and they must be reminded of that.

Feingold Proposes Bush Censure Over Spying

2006-03-12T23:22:00.000-05:00

"A liberal Democrat and potential White House contender is proposing censuring President Bush for authorizing domestic eavesdropping, saying the White House misled Americans about its legality."

"The president has broken the law and, in some way, he must be held accountable," Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., told The Associated Press in an interview."

It's about time for them to at least go through the motions of trying to bring some law and order back into the Whitehouse, even if it goes nowhere, which it probably won't. I doubt it will get much further than the proposed censure of Bush and Cheney for lying about Iraq. We can only hope that this time there will be much more public discussion that builds momentum that forces appropriate action. Time will tell.

Here's another site with an embedded video and transcript of an interview Feingold gave this morning. It also has the PDF version of the censure resolution:

Feingold TV Interview

Also, here's a good page to bookmark and keep up on all the other censure talk:

AfterDowningStreet.orgs' Censure Page

Tal Afar: Al Qaeda's Town

2006-03-12T21:45:00.000-05:00

"This is a story about an entire city that was taken over by al Qaeda. It's called Tal Afar and about 200,000 people who live there became prisoners in their own homes when terrorists took control and turned it into their town."

"They used Tal Afar as a base to train insurgents and launch attacks around Iraq. Last September, U.S. and Iraqi forces set out to recapture Tal Afar, and as Lara Logan reports, the Bush administration is pointing to that operation as a model for how to fight and win the rest of the war."

Here's a story that lends further credence to the idea that the violence Iraq is being allowed to happen. This is from one of the segments on the TV news magazine 60 Minutes, that I just watched.

The story in a nutshell, is about a city in Iraq that was taken over by Al Qaeda, who apparently had an easy time crosing back and forth across the border with Syria. Here comes the cavalry. U.S. troops went in and cleaned out the town, but then left only a handfull of troops to guard the place, and, you guessed it, Al Qaeda just walked right back in and picked up where they left off. That was in 2004. Last year, U.S. and Iraqi troops went back and cleaned it out again, this time sticking around and training a police force. Success!!

Well now you just know there's more to the story than that. First thing you notice is that there was absolutely no one in that entire city of 200,000 people, to protect them. The second problem was that when we finally did go in, we did just like we did in Vietnam; take a village, then leave it for the enemy to go right back in. And the third and most interesting part, was when troops went back for the second time. They surrounded the city and had completely encircled the terrorists' headquarters ready for final battle to wipe them out, when they were ordered to wait two days to let the civilians get out first. After that, they were ordered to wait another three days, supposedly to let more civilians get to safetly. Ok, time for the assault, but guess what, there was nobody there to fight. Yep, they all got away.

Now I don't know about you, but it looks to me like the delay was meant as much to allow for the terrorist to get away, as the innocent. Of course, no one's going to admit that, and they don't seem to have even bothered checking the people that were leaving at all. Here at home, we can't get on a damned airplane without taking off our shoes, walking through metal detectors, forfeiting "dangerous" personal property like nail files, and being man-handled, or denied simply because we have a name on some watch list, but in Iraq, terrorist are intentionally allowed to fight another day. The soldiers are doing the best they can, but those in charge seem to constantly treat "the terrorists" just like allies.

Even after allowing an unkown number of terrorists to escape, the administration calls the operation a model for success in Iraq. This whole story stinks with the smell of neocon colonialism. It stands as an example for why there's so much violence there, and it's to getting worse. But, that's the plan.

Iraqi Civil War Planned?

2006-03-12T08:55:00.000-05:00

"One of the abiding myths about the War on Iraq is that the neocons were too stupid to realize that they would confront an unrelenting, indigenous resistance to their occupation of Iraq. Unwittingly, the story line goes, they led the U.S. into a conflict which has now produced a civil war. But this simply does not fit the facts. The neocons clearly anticipated such an outcome before they launched their war as Stephen Zunes documents in Antiwar.com:

"Top analysts in the CIA and State Department, as well as large numbers of Middle East experts, warned that a U.S. invasion of Iraq could result in a violent ethnic and sectarian conflict. Even some of the war's intellectual architects acknowledged as much: In a 1997 paper, prior to becoming major figures in the Bush foreign policy team, David Wurmser, Richard Perle, and Douglas Feith predicted that a post-Saddam Iraq would likely be "ripped apart" by sectarianism and other cleavages but called on the United States to "expedite" such a collapse anyway."

I've wondered about that from the start of the war. It seemed as though our war plans were purposely inadequate, simply because those inadequacies were never corrected. True, it wouldn't and didn't take a large force to conquer Iraq, but keeping the peace and rebuilding just seemed so screwed up that it seemed another part of the overall plan. There was no excuse for having too little troop numbers to stabilize the country, especially after disbanding the Iraqi military, which in itself, seems to have been designed to release well trained Iraqi soldiers into the general population so they would be available for any forthcoming insurgencies.

The lack of a sufficiant post-war force could lead to nothing other than exactly what is taking place now. Questions about Iraqi death squads being under the supervision of the coalition, if true, does fit perfectly into a plan to keep Iraq weak, divided, and fighting amongst themselves, so we can claim that we must stay for years to come.

Only the blind can believe that there's no way we could've stabilized the country by now, if we really wanted to. If we had succeeded in calming the country down and re-establishing a degree of normalcy in the lives of the Iraqis, we would not be shipping home so many bodybags. We would've shown people in the region that it was actually the regime that was the target, and not it's citizens. We would've been more convincing in quelling the belief that we are on a crusade against the Muslum world. But that just would'nt have fit into the neocon plans for the region that involve total domination of the oil production through the use of puppet governments, and a divided opposition. We want unrest in the region, and we want the people there to think we're on a religious crusade, because it causes exactly the conditions we need, to give us more reason to step up our aggression against oil rich regions, that in turn, incites terrorist acts that justify totalitarian control at home, to prevent domestic opposition.

As it stands now, there's only one group of people in the world who can still put a stop to these insane plans, and that's the American people. Until we wake up, get off our complacent asses, and take back our government, "we the people" will become as despised in history, as the Germans who sat quietly while their government ran amuck.

Audio - O'Connor Decries Republican Attacks on Courts

2006-03-12T06:08:00.000-05:00

"Newly retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor took on conservative Republican critics of the courts in a speech Thursday. She told an audience at Georgetown University that Republican proposals, and their sometimes uncivil tone, pose a danger to the independence of the judiciary, and the freedoms of all Americans."

Unfortunately we don't get to hear O'Conner herself, but this is an audio of an NPR reporter who was there.

O'Conner warns that political interference with the court by Congress could result in a slide to dictatorship, if they make judicial reforms based on retaliation for what politicians view to be bad decisions. It's a very short report, just over 3 minutes, but we can only hope that a majority of current justices feel the same way.

Here's another site with the embedded audio, as well as the transcript: O'Conner

Stand with Congressman Conyers

2006-03-11T18:28:00.000-05:00

"I am taking steps against the Bush Administration’s handling of the Iraq War and its warrantless wiretapping. I am going to need you to stand with me in fighting for accountability."

"I have sought answers from the administration to questions arising from the Downing Street Minutes, the Valerie Plame leak, and scores of other abominable abuses of power that pervade the activities of this White House. 121 Members of Congress and many citizens like you have joined me in asking these questions of the President."

"I recently completed a thorough review of this administration’s misconduct and have produced a 250-page report that provides evidence suggesting further steps to be taken. [A copy of the report may be found at Raw Story.com and also at CensureBush.org where additional action items may be found.]"

"It is time to take bolder measures in our pursuit of justice. This White House has responded to questions about its conduct with misleading statements, obfuscation, and vicious attacks against their critics. We must take the next step towards restoring accountability in our federal government."

This is the website of the Congressman who created the Iraq Report that I've thrown in your face several times. You can get the report at his site.

Though he's doing what he can, which is a hell of a lot more than others, being a Democrat means he's got no power to push this to the point where action is actually taken, because the ruling Republicans are still protecting their Fearless Leader and his cohorts.

Along with the people at....

ImpeachPAC

"ImpeachPAC supports Democratic candidates for Congress who support the immediate and simultaneous impeachment of George Bush and Dick Cheney for their Iraq War lies."

....Conyers and others are still placing their hopes in getting the Democrats back in power before they can do anything. I suppose they think waiting it out is a good strategy, by I don't. They're hoping that voters are tired of the corruption and lies coming from the Republicans, and so, will vote Democrat. But unless they start capitalizing "publically" on the misdeeds of the other party. I don't see them having much of a chance come election time. Congressional elections are this year, yet what is their strategy? They should be campaigning right now, by pointing out every reason not to vote Republican, and exactly what they can do to set things right again. If they don't start making some real noise and rattling cages right now, they can forget it.

As for those of us who know better than to vote a straight party ticket, we have to demand, from whoever currently represents us, Dem or Rep, they'll loss their jobs if they don't start taking action against the administration now, not after elections. Screw waiting. The people have to get to those already in office, because there's no guarantee there'll be a shift in power later this year.

Interview With Former Labour MP Tony Benn

2006-03-11T17:36:00.000-05:00

"We have an extended conversation with Tony Benn, one of Britain’s most distinguished politicians and the longest serving MP in the history of the Labour party. Benn discusses the new revelations the British government helped Israel build the atom bomb. Benn also speaks about U.S. and U.K. relations, extraordinary rendition, Guantanamo Bay, torture, religion, and the state of the media."

This is from the last of a series of broadcasts from Britain by Democracy Now. This transcript (and of course the audio and video) covers a lot of ground, as the above quote suggests. The main topic, Britians' assistance to Israel, is new, and goes to show just how selective the "good guys" are when it comes to nuclear proliferation. The rest of the interview covers old ground for regular readers here, but still, these messages need to get out and spread, because you won't hear these perspectives being promoted in the main media. And who knows how long blogs and websites will be able to push the truth, now that we're monitored so intensely.

The New World Order Story

2006-03-11T10:50:00.000-05:00

Normally I post a quote from articles first, then proceed to speak my piece, but this is one exception. I figured that when you read the title of this article, you might run for cover without bothering to read further. I wouldn't blame you. Though I've always suspected something just wasn't right about the official version of the events surrounding 9/11, most of what I was running into in the realm of "conspiracy theories", just didn't seem to be supported by any facts that could stand the light of day. Most just seemed to be based on a few discrepancies in the official account, followed by theories that seemed just as wild as alien abductions, the Hollow Earth theory, and faked moon landings.

But I must admit to not spending much time on it, as I'd mainly focused my attention on the aftermath, that has resulted in our increased aggression abroad, and deterioration of civil liberties at home. I'd always intended to look deeper into the alleged "plot" that is supposed to involve our own government in the events of 9/11. I've been spending some time recently doing just that, and have discovered that in addition to unanswered questions, there appears to have been at least a conspiracy by our government to hide certain facts. Little by little I've been seeing that almost all of the official story can be refuted, not by wild theories, but by facts that came out, and are still coming out, since that fateful day.

That brings me to this article. It'll take a while to read and soak in, but regular readers of this blog will recognize many of the points made in it, as points I've made in the past. This piece does not simply begin and end on that one day, it puts a sociological and historical perspective to the "story" that makes it easy to understand the motivations that would lead the power structure to conceive and implement such an atrocity as intentionally sacrificing thousands of it's own citizens in the pursuit of wealth, power, and glory. It puts the events of that day in a much wider perspective. The author also sprinkles the article with plenty of source material, giving names, books, articles, and websites, to show his thought process.

What I liked most about this, was that the author doesn't claim to have any definitive "proof" or "smoking gun", but rather points you in the direction of the discrepancies, and shows you why the official account is strongly lacking in explanations of the governments own so-called "facts", that just don't fit the evidence. The author doesn't waste time on nonsense, but sticks with known facts that raise questions that must be answered, understood, and corrected, before the flame of this Democratic Republic goes out for good. This is a "here's what I have, you make the call" type of essay, and I stongly suggest reading this, regardless of whether or not you have doubts about what is supposed to have happened on 9/11, or events surrounding it.

"As we struggle to put the events of and following 9-11-2001 into the most complete perspective, we’re hampered by having to find a way through the minefields of "conspiracy theory" accusations. There are so many parts to consider, it’s almost impossible to argue from any one event. If we argue that the Bush administration was complicit in the attacks of 9-11 — that they intentionally murdered 3,000 Americans in order to further their imperialistic agenda abroad and their transformation of America into a command-and-control plutocracy here at home — a hundred others will pick holes in individual pieces of the 9-11 conspiracy theory, and derail the argument rather than clarifying or advancing it. It’s like trying to pick up Jell-O without the bowl."

"Nor can this ever be a merely intellectual game. Suggesting that our own leaders orchestrated the murders of 9-11 — while proposing Arab Muslims as perhaps no more than the fictional enemy toward which they hope to direct American scorn and fury — this idea evokes deep and powerful resentment and resistance, whether it is true or not."

I'll also take this opportunity to present another website that I'd planned on posting in the future. In the above article, the author goes into questions involving the collapse of the Trade Center Towers, and the website I'm presenting below gives explicit details pointing to those towers being intentionally demolished, and not collapsing due to fire, as claimed by the official account. The information there isn't given by "conspiracy enthusiasts", but rather by scientists and others knowledgible enough to question and dispute the governments' claims. I highly recommend this site as well:

Scholars for 9/11 Truth

"Scholars for 9/11 Truth" (S9/11T) is a non-partisan association of faculty, students, and scholars, in fields as diverse as history, science, military affairs, psychology, and philosophy, dedicated to exposing falsehoods and to revealing truths behind 9/11."

"The members of S9/11T are encouraged to take an active role by devoting themselves to reporting the results of research on 9/11 to the nation and the world by means of lectures, articles, and other venues."

"S9/11T members are convinced their research proves the current administration has been dishonest about what happened in New York and Washington, D.C."

"These experts contend that books and articles by members and other associates have established that the World Trade Center was almost certainly brought down by controlled demolitions and that the available relevant evidence casts grave doubt on the government's official story about the attack on the Pentagon."

Has the New York Times Violated the Espionage Act?

2006-03-10T22:05:00.000-05:00

"Bush Lets U.S. Spy on Callers Without Courts." Thus ran the headline of a front-page news story whose repercussions have roiled American politics ever since its publication last December 16 in the New York Times. The article, signed by James Risen and Eric Lichtblau, was adapted from Risen’s then-forthcoming book, State of War.1 In it, the Times reported that shortly after September 11, 2001, President Bush had "authorized the National Security Agency [NSA] to eavesdrop on Americans and others inside the United States . . . without the court-approved warrants ordinarily required for domestic spying."

So far, so good, but everything after that, becomes an argument in favor of the prosecution of the Times for letting the cat out of the bag. The author tries to make a case for it by citing the Espionage Act of 1917, as well as similar cases in history. He also points to alleged successes resulting from the spying. The whole trouble with his argument, is that it's based on the Presidents' authorisation of the NSAs' spying operation, being legal. If the President did not have the legal authority to initiate the spying, then it's no crime to reveal a crime. The President has said that his authorisation from Congress to go to war in Afganistan, is what gave him the right, but nothing in it gave him the right to bypass existing law (ie; FISA) to spy at home. He says he'll use every tool at his disposal to fight the terrorists, but if the "tools" are illegal, and not his tools to use, then he's authorized the commission of a crime.

The author points out that certain members of Congress were briefed and continually updated throughout the operation, and thus argues that if it were illegal, they would've put a stop to it. I say that's bullshit, because no one has yet pointed to any specific statute that would make it legal. And even with certain members of Congress knowing about it, and not stopping it, it still does not automatically mean that it's legal. It's no mystery that the President cannot act alone. The Executive branch cannot run this country on its' own, and everything Bush has managed to do so far, has been with the complicity of his fellow party members, and weak-willed Democrates. Their "going along" with his actions, in no way magically transforms everything he does into becoming legal. The government has to operate within the bounderies of law, and if there's no legal authority for it to take a certain action, then it's committing an illegal act. It makes no difference whether the action was successful or not.

So before they start trying to shot the messenger, they'd better first show they have a legal leg to stand on.

Crackdown on Civil Liberties in the UK

2006-03-10T11:34:00.000-05:00

"I don't destroy civil liberties, I protect them" - that's the title of an article by British Prime Minister Tony Blair published last month in the Observer newspaper. In it, Blair suggests that critics of recently-passed anti-terror measures do not understand the nature of crimes in the modern world. Blair writes "The question is not one of individual liberty versus the state but of which approach best guarantees most liberty for the largest number of people."

Thus begins another segment of yesterdays' Democracy Now broadcast. They're broadcasting from Britain this week, and this show gets into civil liberties issues going on there, and this is the transcript.

It's an interesting interview, as it covers the same types of issues we in America are facing, in regards to a steady loss of rights and privacy, that don't really have much to do with catching any terrorists. They, like ourselves, have been experiencing a steady progression towards tighter social controls by the government, that began long before the current terrorist threats gave them the excuse to make sweeping changes in governmental powers.

Both the U.S. and U.K. seem to be on an accelerated course to liberate those governments from the constraints of democracy. While they both continue to make claims of defending democracy and freedom, their actions betray their true intent. They despise democracy, yet they wish to maintain it's facade to placate the people, and give them the illusion of freedom. The "freedom" they actually speak of, is their own freedom to take whatever actions they please to enrich themselves with wealth and power, while treating the rest of us like serfs and peasant.

If the people allow this trend to continue, it won't be long before it'll be too late to restore our democracies, and have our governments work for us, instead of the other way around. Time's running out.

Iraqi Novelist Speaks Out

2006-03-10T10:47:00.000-05:00

"Today we are going to look at the targeting of one group that has received little attention -- hundreds of Iraqi academics and scientists have been assassinated since the 2003 US invasion of Iraq. The exact figure of deaths is unknown; estimates range from about 300 to more than 1,000. Iraqi novelist Haifa Zangana wrote in the Guardian last month that Baghdad universities alone have lost 80 members of their staffs. These figures do not include those who have survived assassination attempts."

"Zangana writes there is a systematic campaign to assassinate Iraqis who speak out against the occupation."

This is a transcript of an interview from yesterdays' Democracy Now broadcast. You can stream the show if you want. In it, they discuss something I hadn't heard happening before; assasinations of intellectuals. I find it interesting that not only did these assasinations begin to occur at the start of the occupation, they first involved scientists. There's an implication that these scientists may have been those who had at one time been working on Saddams' WMD. While that's yet to be determined, it could mean that many of them could have had something to say about WMDs that someone didn't want revealed. According to the author, there's been no investigations into those killings by either the Iraq government or occupation forces. Now it's escalated to include other intellectuals. There's a mystery here that needs to be solved. At this point it's not known whether these assasinations are taking place because they know something about past projects, or that they could become involved in the future. With no formal inquiries, it's anyones' guess as to the motive, other than it appears to be unrelated to the "normal" situation involving kidnappings and murders.

The author disputes the widely reported "sectarian violence", saying that the labeling of individuals and groups as Sunni or Shia, is a recently manufactured phenomenon brought about as a result of the occupation. She claims that before the invasion, nobody cared what faction someone belonged to. She says that they've never had civil war before, and the idea that they will have one now, based along sectarian lines, is invalid. She believes that the widespread violence is based on individual animosity towards other individuals, and has nothing to do with what group a person belongs to.

I don't know how true any of that is, it's only the opinion of one person no longer living in Iraq. She implies that the assasinations of academics and the propagation of the notion of "sectarian" violence, is by the occupation forces' design. If true, it doesn't take much imagination to see that it would be to our advantage to make them academically weak, so as to make them technically dependant on "assistance" for the foreseeable future. It would also be worthwhile to create a constant state of mistrust between Iraqis so they will become, and remain, devided. Remember the saying; "united we stand, divided we fall"? If we keep them divided, it's much easier to manipulate them for our geopolitical and corporate designs.

Iran: The Next War

2006-03-09T21:35:00.000-05:00

"Has Tony Blair, our minuscule Caesar, finally crossed his Rubicon? Having subverted the laws of the civilized world and brought carnage to a defenseless people and bloodshed to his own, having lied and lied and used the death of a hundredth British soldier in Iraq to indulge his profane self-pity, is he about to collude in one more crime before he goes?"

Listen to Blair in the House of Commons: "It's important we send a signal of strength" against a regime that has "forsaken diplomacy" and is "exporting terrorism" and "flouting its international obligations." Coming from one who has exported terrorism to Iran's neighbor, scandalously reneged on Britain's most sacred international obligations and forsaken diplomacy for brute force, these are Alice-through-the-looking-glass words."

Sent to me by one of my readers, this article is another reminder that we will be going into another war, this time against Iran. It points out again how Iran has yet to be found in violation of anything, despite claims to the contrary.

It also points out the hypocracy of our acceptance of India, Pakistan, and Israels' nuclear programs, that were all conceived in violation of internation law. But those were our friends, so it was ok. There's also a paragraph recalling that the U.S. and U.K. subverted the democratic process in Iran back in '53, which is what directly contributed to the Iranian revolution in '79, that in turn, led to the government there today. That's what's called "blowback", when actions come back and blow up in your face. There's no denying that the current government there now, is all our doing. Our installation and support of the Shah created such intolerable conditions that that Iranians had to overthow their own government. It must have been a sad day in the lives of the neocons when they realize that President Carter wasn't going to lift a finger to reinstate our puppet.

Well now's the time to put things the way certain people feel they should be; an entire region of governments that are completely compliant to our energy needs, and loving neighbors of Irael. The trouble is, it's going to cost hundreds of thousands of lives (at minimum) before that task is complete. It's going to create countless war crimes and atrocities, committed by the good guys. It's going to create more terrorism, which will serve as an excuse to eliminate all the freedoms the so-called free world has enjoyed for so long, to insure that the puppet masters and their corporate sponsors stay in power, unopposed.

Nothing about what's being said of Iran should be taken at face value. Too many did that prior to our invasion of Iraq, and it's since been proven that everything they said then was a lie, and so far, they've gotten away with it. Anyone that's read even a little of this Iraq Report knows, the intelligence the Bush administration got about Iraq, was all true. The truth was that Iraq didn't have WMD, was no threat to anyone, and had absolutely nothing to do with "the terrorists". That was what all the worlds intelligence agencies, as well as our own, said before, and after 9/11, but that wasn't what Bush wanted to hear. His plan long before 9/11 was to invade Iraq, and 9/11 provided the excuse, as that report states. It also makes very clear that those Downing Street Memos prove beyond doubt that both Bush and Blair knew there were no legitimate reasons to go into Iraq, so they had to manufactured some; WMD and terrorism. That report points out that it was Bush and Cheney that insisted the intel community go back an come up with evidence that Iraq had WMD, and was involved with 9/11, AFTER being told the exact opposite. Bush conspired with Blair, and Blair had his intel "readjusted" properly, back in Britain. Later, Bush would make a half-assed appology about being responsible for going into Iraq because he relied on faulty intelligence. That was lie. He forced them to intentionally give him information that they knew was bad, and the administration knew was bad, but it would be good enough to convince people of an imminent threat, that didn't exist.

Well, that's the truth of the current war, and now those same characters are playing the same song in order to get at Irans' oil fields. And if you're concerned at all about the tough talk coming out of Iran these days, just remind yourself of all the tough talk that came out of Iraq before the invasion. We know now that Saddam was all bluff, and both the U.S. and U.K. governments knew it at the time. So did France, Germany, Russia, and others, who never participated or supported the invasion.

It was learned years ago that those neocons have felt the need to take control, by force, of middle eastern countries for their oil, and to eliminate any threats to Israel. Iraq was to be delt with first, then Iran, Syria, and any other country whose government stands in their way. What I find amazing is that they're using the exact same methods to go after Iran, except this time they've been preparing us for the possible use of nuclear weapons to deal with Iran. That makes sense when you remember just how bad off our military is, with their desperate recuiting tactics. Our military is overstreched, and can't invade a country like Iran without using nukes.

Fear worked before, and apparently it's working again, as the article of this previous post shows: In U.S. Public's Eyes, Iran Biggest Foreign Menace. Once they're confident they've built up enough lies and fear, they'll strike. There's talk that Israel may make the first move, by launching an air strike at a "suspected" nuclear facility, just as they did with Iraq years ago. If that happens, then, it won't matter whether Iran tries to retaliate or not, because we'll step in and insist Isreal's in immediate danger, and we'll be "forced" to act fast and come to it's aide. It won't matter if Israel strikes first, we'd defend their air strike stronger than we did the last time. That scenario may not be necessary as long as enough fear is generated in the U.S., and in it's faithful side-kick the U.K.

Some guess that whatever is going to happen, will happen near the end of this month. If they're correct, it's going to be another bloody springtime.

Video - Hollywood's dirty little secret

2006-03-08T06:31:00.000-05:00

[embedded video]

"Well, we've known the rules. We've known them since Errol Flynn liberated Burma without any help from British, Australian or New Zealand forces. Churchill and a few Diggers may have been upset, but the fact is when it comes to Hollywood only the good guys win and, since we're playing with their toys, those good guys must inevitably be Americans. Never let the absurdities of history get in the way of a box-office blockbuster."

This is a little story that I would think unnecessary. I've taken this for granted, since it isn't really so much a secret, as it's simply underreported, and downplayed. I've heard of this for years, but nobody's ever made a big issue of it.

While it's no news to me, I often get the impression that many actually believe that "Based on a True Story" movies are historically accurate, and don't really know that war movies that get military help, must comply with military script review.

Even though this Real Video deals mainly with movies, TV programs should also be recognized as doing the same. Whenever you see in the credits that there was a military "adviser" to the production, then you can know that the movie or TV series was first approved by the military. It also applies to police shows that get "advice" from local police departments.

The point of this piece is simply to remind people that movies are just that; movies, entertainment. They should never be viewed as accurate, but rather carefully scripted to make lots of money, and whenever shows use outside help, you can rest assured that your mind is being molded to make authority the good guys, no matter the cost to the actual truth.

Twilight's Last Gleaming - Who will speak up for America?

2006-03-06T23:23:00.000-05:00

"Who are these people? These people who line their pockets with the lives of our loved ones? These gray men who lurk in shadows and kill the sunshine of democracy? These people who wear morality like a cheap suit pilfered from the collection plate of decency? Who are these people who have turned America into their own personal ATM machine? These are the people of the lie - Republicans."

"Who are these people? These people who sit in spineless silence unable to speak in defense of America? These people who mime the words of our founders, afraid to act with independence? Who utter the words "We concede," instead of "We the People?" These are the people who lie down - Democrats.

"Newspapers no longer serve the public, only their corporate masters. They have wedged themselves firmly between the cheeks of power, a tissue to sanitize the bullshit. The media has finally achieved the ultimate self-delusion; broadcasting sitcom politics, and talking points of the throne, it has become the court jester with tinkling bells and curly pointed shoes: useless, untrustworthy, and fused in falsehoods and facades."

"This is twilight's last gleaming. Attention must be paid. Democracy is dying."

That's right, attention must be paid. It must be paid by us, all of us. As the author stated, and I've spoken my piece about several times, neither party is going to set things right again. And the media, owned by just a few of the largest corporations in the world, see no reason to expose the very people who are in a position to create, alter, or eliminate legislation in a way that's very profitable to corporations, and detrimental to the people.

Our leaders, and our watch dogs, have abandoned us in favor of untold wealth and power. Everything they've done in the past 30 years, with both legal and economic decisions, has led up to the conditions we live in today with our losses in liberties, and no economic security whatsoever. 9/11 isn't to blame, it only served as a convienient smokescreen to eccelerate a process begun several years before.

At this point, we're on our own. The articles' author asks the question "Who will speak up for America?", well, it must be Americans. It must be us, pressuring the government, and not just wait for things to get better, because they won't, not without our insistence. Strong insistence.

Diebold and Corrupt Elections

2006-03-06T19:00:00.000-05:00

"Two weeks ago, an obscure, unelected, Republican-appointed official in California decided the future of the world. That future -- at least for the next several years -- will be an accelerating nightmare of war, corruption, repression, atrocity and terror. That's because the loyal apparatchik has, with the stroke of a pen, guaranteed the perpetuation of the Bush faction in power in 2008 and beyond."

Thus begins an article from the Moscow Times, that explains how Califonia, a crucial state in national elections, is now subject to the will of whoever controls those completely insecure Diebold voting machines. The people controlling them are the Republicans, who've been pushing their use throughout the country, even though they've never proved to be anything less than a tool for anyone to falsify elections. It means no votes counted on these machines can ever be trusted.

"After Diebold's machines failed miserably in a battery of tests last year, McPherson vowed to put their certification on hold until his own hand-picked panel of experts had fine-combed the system to a fare-thee-well, blogger Brad Friedman reports. The panel delivered their conclusions last month -- and the results were staggering, far beyond the worst fears of the most hard-core "conspiracy theorist." The panel found that Diebold's machines were riddled with curious built-in glitches that effectively "ceded complete control of the system" to hackers who could "change vote totals, modify reports, change the names of candidates and change the races being voted on."

"What's more, "hackers wouldn't need to know passwords or cryptographic keys, or have access to any other part of the system to do their dirty work," the Los Angeles Times notes. "Voters, candidates and election monitors wouldn't necessarily know they'd been rooked." A more perfect vehicle for fixing an election can hardly be imagined. And it would require nothing more than a handful of high-tech zealots, not a vast conspiracy."

The damnedest thing is that this isn't new information. We've known since they first appeared that those machines were hackable, yet they've still been pushed into use. It looks to me like our election system is now nothing more than an illusion that will continue to exist, only as a pretext to legitimacy. With these machines, it will no longer matter who gets the majority of votes, since those already in power will just rig the machines to give pre-defined results.

Terrorist growth overtakes U.S. efforts

2006-03-06T13:22:00.000-05:00

"Thirty new terrorist organizations have emerged since the September 11, 2001, attacks, outpacing U.S. efforts to crush the threat, said Brig. Gen. Robert L. Caslen, the Pentagon's deputy director for the war on terrorism."
"We are not killing them faster than they are being created," Gen. Caslen told a gathering at the Woodrow Wilson Center yesterday, warning that the war could take decades to resolve."

Anybody recognize the absurd part in that statement? Not that it could take years, but the implication that it could ever be won. As long as we use a sledgehammer, we're going to create more hostility than we can ever hope to succeed against. Killing, indefinately detaining, and torturing innocent people, will only cause more resentment that grows to hostility, then to violent actions.

It's no mystery why terrorist have multiplied. The question is whether we continue on the same failing course, or work to regain our former standing and trust with the people of the world. Just concentrating on support of friendly governments, or twisting the arms of those who aren't, leaves the people of the world, caught in the middle, suffering.

To be sure, we've captured some terrorists, but the majority of detainees don't appear to be any more than people caught up in roundups. People just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Even those actively fighting our forces are not "the terrorist", but people doing exactly what we'd be doing under foreign occupation.

We've captured countless people, and even with torture, haven't lowered the number of combatants in the slightest. We just don't seem to be catching the "right" people, if they're still recruiting numbers we can't deal with.

Another quote from the article....

"The ideology is not popular among most, even Muslims," he said. "We need to undermine support by amplifying the moderate forces and undermining the enemy's repressive and corrupt behavior."

...says exactly what we need to do, but first we need to stop our own "repressive and corrupt behavior", otherwise we'll accomplish nothing but more terrorism. We can't "amplify" moderates, while cause them to be "collateral damage" at the same time.

Pentagon recruiting sharks

2006-03-06T12:35:00.000-05:00

"Now it emerges the Pentagon is funding research with the ultimate hope of turning real sharks into "stealth spies" capable of gliding undetected through the ocean. It involves placing neural implants in the fish, to transmit their controllers' bidding."

"The research, to be reported in the UK's New Scientist this week, builds on experimental work to control animals by implanting tiny electrodes in their brain, which are stimulated to induce a behavioural response."

"The Pentagon hopes to exploit sharks' natural ability to glide quietly through the water, sense delicate electrical gradients and follow chemical trails," says the report. "By remotely guiding the sharks' movements they hope to transform them into stealth spies, perhaps capable of following vessels without being spotted."

"The project is being funded by the Pentagon's Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency, which pioneered the internet as a platform for robust communications."

I remember reading somewhere (and I think 60 Minutes did a report as well) on a program they had back around the Vietnam era, where they were training dolphins to kill. This, on the other hand, has much greater potential. If they succeed in controlling creatures with brain implants, there's no reason they won't do the same with humans.

Imagine if they could implant soldiers with implants that limit fear, or stimulate or supress other natural responses, what that would mean in the battlefield. There are countless possibilities that come to mind that would be too good to pass up. The more science learns about brain functions, the more potential to control animals and humans, to do things against their will. Intelligence agencies would consider it a dream come true. No more having to convince or forceful persuade people in other countries to commit treason for our purposes. No more having to tolerate "incorrigibles" here at home. A simple implant, slipped in during a normal operation without the patient being aware, could produce an army of "moles" in hostile organisations and nations where infiltration by agents is extremely difficult. Think of the potential if we could implant world leaders or their subordinates, to cause confidence or fear, during times of critical decisions, all to our advantage.

Fantasy? Perhaps, but the potential benefits will certainly move current research in that direction. Whether such a future is possible, is only limited to our current understanding of brain functions, and that knowledge grows daily.

I've Been "Engaged" (I feel so special)

2006-03-05T09:08:00.000-05:00

Ha Ha Ha, boy they sure work fast. It didn't take long at all for them to find me, though I'm sure by now I'm on quite a few "special lists". It made my day to wake up and find my "engagement" letter waiting for me. I couldn't stop laughing.

By my visitor stats, they came by 2 hrs after my CENTCOM post, and spent about 5 min, then immediately sent off their letter. They simply Googled their name to find me. I saw their hit last night, and used their own search string to find myself and others. I visited a few of the other results, and could see they aren't simply sending out identical form letters.

Ha Ha, the least they could've done was to say a little bit more about what they thought of my blog, I mean, I did put a little time into giving them some free advertisement in that post. Does this mean they didn't find any "inaccuracies"? No "errors", or "incomplete" information in my post? I guess not.

I don't exactly see myself as the ultimate truthsayer on anything I post about, which is only my humble(?) opinion anyway, but I do try to be accurate, and at least as fair as my allergic reaction to bullshit allows. Anyway, here's what they had to say:

Hi, Jack:

You didn't state in your post if you had visited our website yourself (http://www.centcom.mil), but if not, it's got news, photos, audio and video from Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom. Hopefully, as you said, it'll prove to be a helpful resource as you and your readers are doing research about the Global War on Terrorism.

You're welcome to use any materials you find on our site, and if you'd like to be signed up for the weekly electronic newsletter and monthly Coalition Bulletin, just ask. If you could add a link to CENTCOM, it'd be appreciated (I'm trying to spread the word about our site).

Thanks.

SPC C. Flowers
CENTCOM Public Affairs

Though my letter isn't exactly the same as others, here's one that's close, from the Psycotic Patriot (visit his homepage to see a couple other posts about it), and another from Culture of Life Breaking News.

Check out the other search results, you might find some other blogs you'd like to read.

I agree with the Psychotic Patriot when he says that he'll post a link to them on his page, if they link to him on their site. Unlike him though, I did leave their link in their letter to me above, but they need not expect to me to include it in my sidebar. I wouldn't think they're that hard to find anyway, and my main purpose here has come to be mainly pointing out "inaccuracies" and outright lies in theirs, and others' public statements. The mainstream media already serves as their main cheering section, not to mention all the pro government blogs, websites, rightwing radio talkshow hosts and commentators, and let's not forget all those hateful war mongering Pat Robertson-type not-so-Christian leaders.

So, the real purpose is to pull in the last of the holdouts, the freethinkers, and those that just refuse to blindly play follow the leader, and get us to get with the program and stop influencing others to think for themselves, shedding light in all those dark little corners, parasites like to hang out in.

Anyway, like I said before, go visit the CENTCOM site, as well as all other government and corporate websites to get their official side of things, but then go out and find the truth, it's out there, and dying to be heard.

‘Frauds-R-Us’ - The Bush Family Saga

2006-03-04T23:26:00.000-05:00

"The other really important question to ask is how can one family which has so many skeletons in the family closet, get away with such dirty dealings and over such a long period of time without being called to task? It’s as if the mass media goes deaf, dumb and blind when the name Bush comes up. For no matter what your politics are, left, right or indifferent, a family which has its fingers in so many dirty dealings has surely got to get you thinking about exactly what kind of country it is you live in (if you’re an American) and what kind of world is it that’s dominated by a country with a media (not to mention a legal system) that’s quite content not to challenge its president or his lying, thiefing family and their tenticular network of associations which includes: the Mafia, the Chinese Communist Party, Japanese Triads, the Vatican, Central American drug smugglers and gun runners, international arms dealers, the Ayotollah Khomeini (RIP), Cuban-American terrorists, money laundering, illegal arms sales, countless conflicts of interests, nepotism, coverups, tax avoidance, SEC fiddles and banking scams? A veritable ‘school for scoundrels’."

Wow, that's a mouthful. This is a tale that belongs in a Tom Clancy novel, but happens to be real. This guy's done quite a bit of work to put all this together. A number of the families' connections, I was aware of, but others surprised me. As the author states, this really isn't that unusual. It's just a look into one family history, that is but one part of the small percentage of people who really control what goes on in this world. With such a family history, it's no surprise that Junior turned out to be the bastard that he is.

I might as well link you to a previous post, in case you missed it, leading to a free online version of Bush seniors' biography:

George Bush Sr. - Unauthorized Biography

CENTCOM Team Engages 'Bloggers'

2006-03-04T21:27:00.000-05:00

"Blogs sometimes include information -- accurate and otherwise -- about the U.S. military's global war on terror. U.S. Central Command officials here took notice and created a team to engage these writers and their electronic information forums."

"The main interest is to drive their readers to our site," Army Reserve Maj. Richard J. McNorton said. McNorton is CENTCOM's chief of engagement operations."

"Anyone who wants a virtual voice can create a blog and share information with the online world. The ease with which bloggers spread information is what public affairs officials at CENTCOM saw when they created the blog team."

This is from the Defense Department. This is part of their effort to put a positive spin on the things they do. They claim they're not policing, just trying to correct inaccuracies, and driving readers to their site to get "very factual" and "positive" information.

Well, that's what they'd like everyone to believe, but since I wasn't born yesterday, and have spent years learning of the lies they put out, I think I'll rely on a wee bit more than just their positive propaganda. Besides, we hear their side all the time in mainstream media.

They claim to identify themselves when addressing bloggers, while at the same time, secretly planting "positive" information in the foreign press. You remember the stories about their paying the Iraqi press to put themselves in a good light, without the readers being told the articles were written by the military. We know Bush cronies paid U.S. journalists to promote the administrations' agenda, so would it really be a stretch to assume the military has done the same with our own press? Their budget for propaganda has increased enormously in recent years.

For years they lied about the affects of Agent Orange on Vietnam veterans. For years they lied about the affects of what's been called the Gulf War Syndrome, and I'm sure that any health problems resulting from the current wars will also be lied about in the coming years.

They've lied about many things in the past, and it continues today. They learned from Vietnam, not to let reporters roam free and get stories for themselves, so today we have "embedded" reporters, so the military can see to it that a limited number of reporters only get access to certain areas and people, that will insure favorable reports get out, and bad press limited. Fortunately, there are reporters from other parts of the world that manage to get in a get unsupervised access to the other sides of the stories.

They lie about the abuse of prisoners. They would have us believe that the exposed abuses were committed by just a few bad apples, when in fact, some of the techniques used by these few bad apples, just happened to be standard CIA psychological torture procedures. Just an incredible coincidence, I guess. And make no mistake, psychological torture leaves much more damaging affects than physical torture. When they try and make the case that screwing with someones' mind, isn't really torture, compared to beatings, they're lying.

While I certainly believe in getting information from as close to the source as possible, that doesn't necessarily mean the original source is telling the truth. So yes, go to their site and get their official side of the story, but keep in mind that because of the contract of their service, military personel are not allowed the same freedoms to tell the truth, as those not in the service, and those at the very top that issue the orders, are themselves following orders that demand their loyalty and obedience to their Commander in Chief, who has proven himself to be an extremely secretive, and compulsive liar. So it only stands to reason that if he doesn't want bad publicity (ie; the truth) to get out about his military campaigns, his subordinates will dutifully obey. But even then, some do speak out. More than a few commanders have openly (or speaking off the record) disputed the "official" line.

On the off chance that my humble little blog causes me to be "engaged", they might as well check these other posts for their "accuracy" as well:

They conspire to hide the truth:
Defense Department Refuses to Turn Over Abuse Photographs

The history of their particpation in secret wars:
Instruments of Statecraft: U.S. Guerilla Warfare, Counterinsurgency, and Counterterrorism, 1940-1990

They can't control them, so the ban them from Iraq:
The War on Al Jazeera

Bush tries to pretend he didn't authorize the propaganda:
Bush concern at Iraq 'propaganda'

They secretly subvert the Iraqi press:
U.S. military propaganda for Iraqis

They secretly subvert the rest of the worlds press:
Pentagon rolls out stealth PR

How they really treat bloggers:
Letter From a Military Mom

The faces of their collateral damage:
The "Shock and Awe" Gallery

Just wondering what abuses they've committed here:
A Growing Afghan Prison Rivals Bleak Guantánamo

Their positive spin fails:
Fallujah - The Hidden Massacre

And fails again:
Al Jazeera Reporters Give Bloody First Hand Account of April ’04 U.S. Siege of Fallujah

They poison the people and the environment with their munitions:
UK radiation jump blamed on Iraq shells

Their manuals show torture has been commonplace:
Prisoner Abuse: Patterns from the Past

They've used willing, and unwilling human guinea pigs:
Hidden history of US germ testing

A comparison between CIA torture techniques and the militarys' abused prisoners:
History of CIA Interrogation

More pictures:
Abu Ghraib - Real Video

More of the same:
More Abu Ghraib Photos

I've already posted a link to their Ministry of Propaganda:
The Pentagon Channel

So, spin away, but the truth has a way of revealing itself regardless.

CAFTA's Assult On Democracy

2006-03-03T20:16:00.000-05:00

"What does tightening intellectual property laws have to do with "free" trade? That's the question many people in Central American and the Dominican Republic are asking as the United States trade representative continues to insist on dramatic changes to constitutional laws in the six countries involved in the US-Central America-Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement (otherwise known as CAFTA)."

"As if the agreement itself weren't bad enough for the region—critics say CAFTA will hurt small farmers, worsen workers rights, and lead to environmental degradation, among other negative effects—the US is manipulating the implementation process to demand even further concessions by the six countries involved."

This little article describes a few of the things we're doing to force this not-so-free trade agreement on Central Americans. It points out that many of the governments involved are acting exactly like U.S. puppets are supposed to act, in spite of local opposition.

For those unfamiliar with this latest corporate crusade, here are a few links to bring you up to speed:

What is CAFTA?

CAFTA-DR Final Text

Multimedia Information on CAFTA

STOP CAFTA

Experts Debate Including All Americans in DNA Database

2006-03-03T18:17:00.000-05:00

"As DNA databases expand, experts wonder if it is only a matter of time before all Americans will be included."

"National Academies, which advises the country on science issues, those experts debated the benefits and risks of such a database. A larger database could help solve crimes more quickly, a proponent argued, but it would also violate civil liberties, an opponent claimed."

There's nothing to debate here. The issue is clear. Should we consider ourselves guilty until proven innocent, or innocent until proven guilty? Well as Americans, we long ago chose the latter, with all it's obvious consequences, summed up simply as; "it's better to let a guilty man go free, than convict the innocent". So the issue is clear, if you're a real American, then you should insist on retaining the innocent until proven guilty principle. Period.

The problem is that the state, along with their media promoters have established such a state of fear of crime in the citizens, that many choose to give up basic American principles, just to keep them safe. You've heard these people, they all chant the same song; "if you have nothing to hide, then why should you object". That's about as unAmerican as you can get, because it promotes the idea that we should all be treated as guilty of something, and that the state should monitor our every move, so that they can try to anticipate a crime before it happens, which in theory, should ultimately keep us all safe. That should not be the attitude of anyone who claims to live in a free country.

The problem that this attitude creates, is one in which allowed....no, insisted, that police setup random checkpoints, in order to catch drunk drivers. But wait, isn't that a good thing? Look at all the traffic deaths that have occurred as a result of drunks behind the wheels. They always catch at least a few drunks before they cause an accident, so it's worth it, right? Well, actually, no, it's not worth it. It means that all drivers in a certain area are considered criminals until they prove themselves sober, and thus innocent. It means a reversal of the innocent until proven guilty concept. And just so you know, I've lost relatives to drunk drivers myself, and I still hold those checks to be anti-American.

The problem is, that after setting such a precedent, there's no real reason to stop there, after all, those sobriety checkpoints have the endorsement of the Supreme Court. Why not carry it further. We know that there are a certain number of murders committed in this country every day, so let's have the police setup random checks of everyone to determine if they're carrying any weapons on the way to murder someone. Also to check if they possess any evidence that the crime has already been committed. We know there are a number of robberies and burglaries taking place, so let the police check everyone for the criminal tools-of-the-trade for those crimes, as well as checking for stolen property. We know a number of children are kidnapped and/or molested, so everyone seen with a child should be stopped to determine if those crimes are in progress.

Do you see what I'm getting at? Yes, it's the old slippery slope arguement. Don't think it's valid? Then why the hell is there any kind of debate going on about collecting DNA from everyone? The "attitude" is there, and real, and intends to take away every aspect of what it means to live in a free society as an American. If you are not guilty of any crime, and there is no eveidence that points to you as a suspect, then you should not be expected to have to defend yourself in any way, shape, or form. That means you should not have to submit to giving any evidence of yourself, in the form of DNA (or any bio-samples), for the purpose of prosecuting some future crime.

Innocent until proven guilty, is not as easy in practice as it sounds. The hardest part is living with the consequences, but that's the principle this nation was built upon, and it's a defeatist that claims it's an outdated concept. In fact, it's a coward that believes that we should all be guilty until proven innocent. A coward who lives in fear of, not their own shadow, but the shadow of others, and needs the comforting embrace of state authority to give them a false feeling of security, and above all, to "make them safe".

Are We Ready for the Next 9/11?

2006-03-02T20:02:00.000-05:00

"What do gym memberships, the Fourteen Mile Bridge in Mobile, Alabama, and a promotional campaign for a child pornography tip-line have in common? Answer: They all were funded with your homeland security dollars."

"Since September 11, Congress has appropriated nearly $180 billion to protect Americans from terrorism. Total spending on homeland security in 2006 will be at least $50 billion—roughly $450 per American household. But far from making us more secure, the money is being allocated like so much pork. States and cities are spending federal homeland security grants on pet projects that have nothing to do with homeland security; state and local officials fight over who will get the biggest share of the money, regardless of whether they have a legitimate claim to it. And when Congress isn’t doling out cash indiscriminately, it’s overreacting to yesterday’s attacks instead of concentrating on cost-effective defenses against the most likely current threats. The result is an edifice that, far from preventing terrorist assaults, actually makes us more vulnerable by diverting resources from worthier projects."

This is how seriously our politicians are about this farce we call the War on Terror. Business as usual. We'll never be ready for another 9/11, and there's no way we ever could be, even without the nonsense mentioned in the article. It's impossible to prepare for all possible events, so anyone dreaming that anyone can ever "make you safe", is just fooling themselves. As we can see, the politicians aren't taking it seriously, they're having fun with the windfall from HS grants, and couldn't care less about your safety.

There is something we can prepare for though. We should prepare to be hit again, and not fall to pieces like the last time. We can prepare ourselves not to act like sniveling little wussies, begging for mommy and daddy government to protect us at all cost. We can prepare to be told that because of the latest attack, the Constitution and Bill of Rights will be suspended indefinately, to "keep you safe", at which time, we should all be prepared to say, in a very clear and loud voice: "Screw You". We should be prepared to tell them we will not sacrifice any more of our liberties under the pretense of safeguarding them. We should be prepared to reject any lies about our attackers trying to destroy our freedoms, because that particular threat, comes directly from those claiming to defend them.

V.A. Nurse Accused of Sedition After Criticizing Bush

2006-03-02T18:27:00.000-05:00

"A Veterans Affairs nurse in Albuquerque, New Mexico, was investigated for sedition after she wrote a letter to a local newspaper criticizing the Bush administration's handling of Hurricane Katrina and the Iraq war. In her first broadcast interview, we speak with Laura Berg, as well as an attorney with the New Mexico chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union."

Well now, speaking of Freedom of Speech. What a coincidence. This is pure political harassment of opponents to the government. Let's see, 'sedition'; Conduct or language inciting rebellion against the authority of a state. Hmmm, I guess this means I should certainly qualify as well, since I've openly called for an end to the bullshit coming from this government. I've certainly called for our politicians to get up off their sorry asses and abide by the Constitution, and should they fail to do their duty, it then falls upon the citizenry to force them to act.

And to be perfectly clear, the following words should be known, by heart, by every single American citizen, as well as every single U.S. government employee, including the President, who in fact, work for every single American citizen:

"When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation."

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the consent of the governed, -- That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new guards for their future security -- Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. -- The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world."

Those words, written over two hundred years ago, are still valid reason for opposition to tyranny. For my non-American audience (since all Americans should already know it by heart), you can read the rest of our Declaration of Independence here.

As for the original article, go to the page and read the interview of what happened to the nurse who dared exercise her Constitutional right to speak out against the government. Some people just don't get the fact that it's the DUTY of EVERY citizen to speak out whenever they perceive injustice, whenever they see signs of corruption, whenever they see their government acting in a tyrannical manner. It is the sworn DUTY of every public servant, including the President, to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States, and if any or all of them cannot, or refuses to, they must be removed from their posititions of power.

If that be seditious, then damn it, so be it.

To the National Security Agency:

2006-03-02T14:15:00.000-05:00

This post is directed specifically at my recent visitors from the National Security Agency.

I hope you people at the National Security Agency have enjoyed reading my posts about your activities and those of your crime boss Bush. I'm aware that you have driven certain other bloggers off the 'net, but I'm not going anywhere. I know that you're engaged in activities here at home that have nothing whatever to do with catching any terrorists. You really didn't expect to find any here either, did you? You people at the National Security Agency should stick to the business of protecting the nation against actual threats, and not against political dissenters of that little dictator boss of yours, or his corporate comrades in crime.

Targeting anyone who dares mention the National Security Agency, does absolutely nothing to secure this nation. If people like me, who believe in the Constitution and Freedom of Speech, make you paranoid and nervous, GOOD!! If people like me can stir up enough stink so that those chicken-shit politicians will be forced to put your leash back on, then that's the whole point.

Come back soon now, I'm sure I'll be able to entertain you people at the National Security Agency. And say Hi to your buddies at the Central Intelligence Agency, and the Defense Department too, they've also been by in the past.

And BTW, subscribe to my feed so you won't miss a damn thing.

The "Shock and Awe" Gallery

2006-03-02T06:32:00.000-05:00

"The March For Justice is dedicating its "Shock and Awe Gallery" as an authentic historical documentation and evidence of the U.S./British Crime of the Century. As attacks on freedom and the free have become characteristic of contemporary America, we advise and encourage all those who support Truth and Justice, to save our material and to make the utmost use of it, as its intended objective is revealing facts and reality. Should our voice be silenced, we pray that our efforts will contribute to the awakening of the human conscience, yearning for a world of Justice and Peace. To all of the heroes who visited our site, who responded with disagreement or with agreement*, and who care for truth and a world without killing, tyranny or oppression, we remain eternally grateful, for they are the hope for all of us and a sign of good things to come."

Here's a photogallery that some of you with delicate constitutions might not want to visit. It's a compilation of photos depicting the realities of war in general, and our war, in particular. It's not a pretty sight, but it must be seen and realized, that this is what war's all about, and not the glorious crusade that war mongers like to portray it as. This puts faces on the euphemism; "collateral damage".

Tape: Bush, Chertoff Warned Before Katrina

2006-03-02T06:00:00.000-05:00

"On the eve of Hurricane Katrina's fateful landfall, President Bush was confident. His homeland security chief appeared relaxed. And warnings of the coming destruction breached or overrun levees, deaths at the New Orleans Superdome and overwhelming needs for post-storm rescues were delivered in dramatic terms to all involved. All of it was captured on videotape."

"The Associated Press obtained the confidential government video and made it public Wednesday, offering Americans their own inside glimpse into the government's fateful final Katrina preparations after months of fingerpointing and political recriminations."

I just watched this report on TV this morning. It shows that, contrary to the Presidents' own words that nobody could anticipate the damage that would be caused by Katrina, he, and others, got plenty of info telling them about what could happen at landfall. It's being said there's no smoking gun, nothing new here, but it plainly proves that in spite of the warnings, the government took no firm action ahead of time, made no real effort immediately afterwords, then proceeded to lie their asses off about what the knew, and when they knew it.

However, when you think about it, there really isn't anything new, because we already know it's just too impossible to believe that none of them, or their aides and assistants, were paying any attention to any of the constant media coverage, before, during, and after the storm. While apologists are saying the tape proves nothing, it clearly shows another example of administration lies.

TIA Lives On

2006-03-02T04:52:00.000-05:00

"A controversial counter-terrorism program, which lawmakers halted more than two years ago amid outcries from privacy advocates, was stopped in name only and has quietly continued within the intelligence agency now fending off charges that it has violated the privacy of U.S. citizens."

"Research under the Defense Department's Total Information Awareness program -- which developed technologies to predict terrorist attacks by mining government databases and the personal records of people in the United States -- was moved from the Pentagon's research-and-development agency to another group, which builds technologies primarily for the National Security Agency, according to documents obtained by National Journal and to intelligence sources familiar with the move. The names of key projects were changed, apparently to conceal their identities, but their funding remained intact, often under the same contracts."

Remember this one? Those sneaky bastards just couldn't let a good thing (for them) get by. Again, proving that they care nothing for the will of the people. They care nothing for the rule of law.

What's been the response? Well this article is one week old, and I've heard nothing, have you? Again, a revelation of total disregard for the law, and the silence is deafening. You know, if it wasn't for the internet, it would be hard as hell to learn a fraction of what's been going on in the last few years.

These are the continuing chronicles of an organized crime organization known as the U.S. government. Again, it would be easy to blame the little dictator, but the fact is that the whole government is complicit, as they quietly allow these crimes to continue by simply ignoring them. And don't expect the Democrats to come to the rescue either. At whatever point in the future they eventually get voted back into power, they will have conveniently forgotten all these crimes, in a pursuit to establish their own, and take no action towards punishing these criminals, or rolling back all the anti-American legislations of this New American Century.

The Case for Impeachment

2006-03-01T19:03:00.000-05:00

"On December 18 of last year, Congressman John Conyers Jr. (D., Mich.) introduced into the House of Representatives a resolution inviting it to form "a select committee to investigate the Administration's intent to go to war before congressional authorization, manipulation of pre-war intelligence, encouraging and countenancing torture, retaliating against critics, and to make recommendations regarding grounds for possible impeachment." Although buttressed two days previously by the news of the National Security Agency's illegal surveillance of the American citizenry, the request attracted little or no attention in the press—nothing on television or in the major papers, some scattered applause from the left-wing blogs, heavy sarcasm on the websites flying the flags of the militant right. The nearly complete silence raised the question as to what it was the congressman had in mind, and to whom did he think he was speaking?"

Indeed, who in fact was even listening? The silence on this report, and total lack of any calls for action aside from bloggers, is truely shameful. As regular readers here know, I've tossed around the link to that report a number of times myself, frustrated at never hearing it mentioned in Congress or the mainstream media. When I first posted Rep. Conyers' Iraq Report, a few days after release, I hadn't read it yet, so I made no comment. The post I made just prior to it, was on CensureBush.org , a website created in response to legislation by the same Congressman Conyers, calling for censure of both Bush and Cheney for their failure to come clean on the Downing Street Memos. That too has faded into a great big nothing. Ater reading major parts of the Iraq report, I posted Revisiting Congressman Conyers' Iraq Report where I was really pissed at the silence.

Since then I've posted those links a number of times, and regardless of any mention of it on the web, it still remains a subject that appears to be completely non-existent in the mainstream. I had no love at all for Clinton, but it was amazing how much effort went into his impeachment for doing as little as cheating on his wife. All the Congressional attention and all the media attention that went into his infidelities, something that should never have wasted so much of our time, was an example of just how petty our politicians can be. as well as how much they can accomplish if they put their minds to it. Yet, when evidence arises as to what I consider, treasonous offenses by the Whitehouse, not a damn thing comes of it. A man who screws around on his wife gets dealt with, but a man who continually breaks his oath to defend and protect the Constitution, because he considers it's just a goddamn piece of paper, gets to subvert everything the people once believed in, and get away with it unscathed. Even with his low approval ratings, which is a clear sign the public would support action against a runaway Presidency, they still take no action because we're currently under one-party rule. If both parties held relatively equal power, Bush would've been out on his ass before he could even try to run for a second term. In fact, I doubt he would've been awarded his first term.

The danger here is all the precedents his administration has set. With no legitimate attempts to put a stop to any of his lies and manipulations, they will stand, and be built upon by every future President, no matter the party. Once an authority gains a power, it can only be removed forcibly. And for the good of the nation and the world, it should be removed by political force, otherwise......well let's just hope the politicians do their duty, before citizens are forced to act.

Yes, the silence still pisses me, but I will tell you exactly why nothing's been done. I blame the lack of action on this, not on those in the majority party who are blocking all attempts at regaining Constitutional rule by law, but directly on the doorstep of Conyers himself. That's right, the guy who gathered the goods. Remember the date of the reports' release, it was December 18, right at the end of the year when all the others were hurrying to settle all the issues they'd put off till the last minute, before going on holiday vacation. It was the wrong time to bring out such a report. Had he waited just one month later and introduced it after the holiday, it would've gotten far more attention. Though I was glad to see it at the time, I knew the timing was wrong. Politicians who were interested, would be distracted by the mad rush to push through all their pet pork projects and nonsense legislations that they love to sneak through when nobody's looking. The media were already distracted by that bullshit War on Christmas, and the rest of us were distracted by holiday cheer.

So, yes, here it is again, the Iraq Report. One of these days, someone just might do something about it.

A Growing Afghan Prison Rivals Bleak Guantánamo

2006-02-26T16:27:00.000-05:00

"While an international debate rages over the future of the American detention center at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, the military has quietly expanded another, less-visible prison in Afghanistan, where it now holds some 500 terror suspects in more primitive conditions, indefinitely and without charges."

"While Guantánamo offers carefully scripted tours for members of Congress and journalists, Bagram has operated in rigorous secrecy since it opened in 2002. It bars outside visitors except for the International Red Cross and refuses to make public the names of those held there. The prison may not be photographed, even from a distance."

This 4 page New York Times article on an Afghan prison camp puts a little light on a situtation that's probably worse than in Cuba and Iraq because so little information about it has come out. While much of the spotlight has been on treatment at Abu Ghraib and Guantánamo, we hear little about treatment of prisoners in Afghanistan. Without a spotlight, who knows what's been going on there regarding abuses. What we need are some leaked photos. We occasionally hear of the released prisoners' complaints, but without any revelations leaked by our own people, there's nothing to prevent the sickening abuses we've read so much about elsewhere from taking place there too. And let's be real, those other abuses/tortures were not anomalies.

Ford sued over Argentine abuses

2006-02-26T12:37:00.000-05:00

"Former workers of an Argentine Ford factory are suing the firm over what they say were serious abuses during the military rule of the 1970s and 80s."

"They say local managers conspired with the security forces to have union members taken to a detention centre on the premises, where they were tortured."

"Ford has in the past denied torture took place on its property."

"Several foreign firms have been probed by the Truth Commission, which said abductions of union members did occur."

Another example of the history of corporate complicity in crimes committed against the people of South America. It should come as no surprise, since the "Dirty War" in Argentina was endorsed by our own government:

U.S. OK'd ' dirty war' in Argentina

"At the height of the Argentine military junta's bloody ''dirty war'' against leftists in the 1970s, then-Secretary of State Henry Kissinger told the Argentine foreign minister that ''we would like you to succeed,'' a newly declassified U.S. document reveals."

"The transcript of the meeting between Kissinger and Navy Adm. César Augusto Guzzetti in New York on Oct. 7, 1976, is the first documentary evidence that the Gerald Ford administration approved of the junta's harsh tactics, which led to the deaths or ''disappearance'' of some 30,000 people from 1975 to 1983."

This is just a reminder of the pattern exhibited by our government and corporations that have led to so much misery and suffering around the world, perpetrated by our "allies" on their own people. It shows how any excuse about human rights violations is never the real reason we may decide to use political or military force on another country. In fact, it's never been a consideration. The pattern existed long before and long after Argentinas' "Dirty War", which shows how ridiculous our governments' "concern" for the people of Iraq under their former ruler is, whenever we're told it was one of the reasons we went to war. It all just depends on whether or not a government complies with our geopolitical and corporate goals. As long as they support us in our political and economic strategies, we care nothing about how they treat their own. It renders mute, any insulting claims that anyone hates us just for our Freedoms. If they hate us, it's because they know how big a hand we've had in eliminating their freedoms.

The War On Hype

2006-02-25T10:04:00.000-05:00

This is a series of opinion articles from a San Francisco papers' website, by different authors. They all take on the excessive amount of publicity that keeps us (meaning you, not me) in a constant state of fear of everything from terrorists to plagues. The purpose is to put a little perspective back in your lives, and try to snap you out of the politically motivated trap that causes people to demand more and more protections just to "make us safe". I try to stress that point whenever I can, because I know that's a fruitless pursuit. No one can ever make you safe. It's always to the benefit of the power structure that you be made to fear anything and everything since those in power want nothing more than to create more power for themselves, and less for you.

Here in America, this is not a new phenomenon, it's a natural part of any society whose leaders (in government, business, religion, media) succumb to the taste of power. Power is a force unto itself, and consumes everything and everyone in it's wake. No matter how benevolent it is at birth, it always grows, if allowed, into an unstoppable entity that will sooner or later become intolerable to even the most meek and tolerant. Some societies are created by force, to overcome a previous force, and retain that ideology of force. Others, like ours, used force to overthrow colonial governance, and replaced it with governance by consent.

The problem today is one that grew throughout the last century. It grew from a desire to act outside of the wishes of the governed. Because dictitorial force was considered anti-American, a method other than pure force was used; manipulation. Our society has fallen victim to mass propaganda efforts designed to allow authority to take greater and greater power over every aspect of our lives, by convincing us that "it's for our own good". It's done subtly through the media, government, and the pulpit. It's done through marketing campaigns that gauge your current opinions, and devise ways of altering it to serve the purposes of others. Leaders learned that if you can be easily manipulated into buying a certain brand of food, car, or household product, you can be manipulated into accepting anything. If a marketing campaign can be established to convince you that you can't live without a new product that you never needed before, and could still do without, you're putty in their hands. All they have to do is market fear.

The only protection is awareness, and to that end, I submit these articles:

Risk to U.S. of withering terrorist hit is overblown

"Conventional wisdom says that none of us is safe from terrorism. The truth is that almost all of us are."

"The conventional belief is that in response to terrorism, the federal government has spent huge sums on homeland security. The fact is the increased federal spending on homeland security since Sept. 11 pales in comparison to increases in the U.S. defense budget. But homeland security has costs beyond spending, costs that conventional thinking rarely considers. U.S. homeland security policy conjures up a flawless enemy that could strike at any moment, in any place. That policy institutionalizes the fears terrorists created and harms liberal values."

America's fleecing in the name of security

"Rest easy, America. As a response to the Sept. 11 attacks, the Princeton, N.J., Fire Department now owns Nautilus exercise equipment, free weights and a Bowflex machine. The police dogs of Columbus, Ohio, are protected by Kevlar vests, thank God. Mason County, Wash., is the proud owner of a half-dozen state-of-the-art emergency radios (never mind that they are incompatible with existing county radios)."

"All of these crucial purchases -- and many more like them -- were paid for with homeland security grants."

The deadly terror lurking around the corner may not be such a big, ominous threat after all

"Americans receive a steady stream of warnings and alarms about new and horrific perils that await them. Pandemics, dirty bombs, cyber attacks, bioterror and other exotic threats are always on the verge of being unleashed onto a shamefully unprepared republic. Yet, judging from statistics on life expectancy, violent deaths and war, we live in much less perilous times than any generation before us."

Democracy in the Balance

2006-02-25T08:37:00.000-05:00

"How do we nurture the healing side of religion over the killing side? How do we protect the soul of democracy against bad theology in service of an imperial state?"

This is a 2004 speech given by one of my favorite journalists and speakers, Bill Moyers. It was two years ago, but still just as relevant.

Voting machine tampering found in 2004 election logs ?

2006-02-24T19:21:00.000-05:00

"The internal logs of at least 40 Sequoia touch-screen voting machines reveal that votes were time and date-stamped as cast two weeks before the election, sometimes in the middle of the night."

"Black Box Voting successfully sued former Palm Beach County (FL) Supervisor of Elections Theresa LePore to get the audit records for the 2004 presidential election."

Oh, well, with all the machines used across the country, there's bound to be a few glitches somewhere. There must be more to it......

"The evidence indicates that someone accessed the computers after the L&A (Logic & Accuracy tests) and before the election, and that this access caused a change in the machine's reporting functions, at least for date and time. Such access would take a high degree of inside access. It is not known whether any other changes were introduced into the voting machines at this time. As learned in the Hursti experiments, it is possible for an insider to access the machines and leave no trace, but sometimes a hasty or clumsy access (such as forgetting to enter a correct date/time value when altering a record) will leave telltale tracks."

You know, this is just one of the counties that used voting machines. As close as that race was in most states (in spite of the lies claiming Bush won by a "landslide"), it's real handy to have a voting system that can be so easily corrupted. Was this tampering, or just clumsy maintenance? Who knows, who can tell for sure? Well that's the crux of the voting machine debate, isn't it. If you can't accurately and reliably depend on the system used for exercising democratic decisions, then what's the point? If those that control the machines can make whatever changes they want, and do so to influence the outcome of elections, as all the voting machines are capable of doing, then real voting in American has officially ended, and only the pretense remains.

Unmarked Graves Across the U.S. Border

2006-02-24T14:49:00.000-05:00

"More than 3,800 people have died in the U.S.-Mexican border region since 1993. Some 1,000 of them are buried in unmarked graves."

"Thousands of people from Latin America and the Caribbean die in the attempt to reach the United States or other destinations by the most varied means imaginable and trying to outwit ever stricter border controls. Some get lost or die of exposure in inhospitable desert areas, others are shipwrecked on the high seas, murdered, or suffocate in shipping containers, boxcars or trucks."

"Nobody knows for sure how many deaths there have been, but the numbers continue to mount."

Yes, many anonymous dead bodies, and who cares, really? Everyone's concerned about the porous nature of our borders and wants all intruders shot, or they're in favor of bringing in migrants because they help the economy and take jobs Americans won't take (but don't get me started on that friggin lie).

The issue always centers around whether we should let them in or not, instead of ending the reasons for their desperate need to come here in the first place. We all know they come here because they're poor. We all "should" know why they're so poor they're willing to spend life savings, and risking death, just to find work here. We all "should" know that, in spite of our callous disregard for, or blind ignorance of, the behaviour of our government, our corporations, and our influence over international developement agencies, it is they that have treated everything south of our border like their own private playground, keeping the vast majority poor, and the select few in power. We "should" know all that, but if we did, wouldn't we be trying to eliminate the the reasons for people to leave their own countries for work, especially since we're responsible? Should we be acting so selfishly in pretending our only concern should rest at our border? The world to our south is exactly how our leaders designed it, and it's time we owned up to it, and stop allowing it.

Fallujah - The Hidden Massacre

2006-02-24T00:35:00.000-05:00

Right on the heels of the previous Fallujah post, I suggest you watch this video documentary. It does show dead and wounded, so you may not want to actually look at the whole thing, but do try to listen.

80,000+ red-flagged on "No Fly" Lists

2006-02-23T20:56:00.000-05:00

"The latest figures that I have seen are that at least 80,000 Americans are now on FBI and Homeland Security's red-flagged "no fly" lists with another 325,000 on yellow-flagged "watch lists" (the latter being subject to body and luggage searches). Hundreds more names are added every week."

"The criteria for being put in these lists is secret, and there is no official procedure for getting off a list."

"Government propaganda for these lists implies that only "known terrorists" and terror "suspects" are on the lists, but the reality is far different."

Those are interesting numbers, and I wish he'd provided a source for them. Assuming those numbers are accurate, then either we're literally crawling with terrorists, or, like everything else in government, something is ridiculously wrong. Only known terrorists are supposed to be on the list, but at 405,000+ names, something's not right.

The article is very short (it actually qualifies as a "memo"), and it only makes the point that the lists real purpose is to monitor and control us, implying that they will be used against government opponants. I suppose it's possible, and those numbers are just too damn high to be only "known" and "suspected" terrorists, all American. I wonder how large the non-American list is?

Anyway, I haven't seen those figures anywhere other than that page, but earlier this month there was a Senate Committee Hearing on the subject you might be interested in:

TSA's Secure Flight and Registered Traveler Programs

Thursday, February 9 2006

"Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) and Co-Chairman Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) have scheduled a Full Committee oversight hearing on commercial aviation security for Thursday, February 9, 2006, at 10:00 a.m. in Room 562 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building. The Committee expects to examine two of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA)'s aviation passenger screening programs, Secure Flight and Registered Traveler, to discuss the issues that have prevented these programs from being launched, and to determine their future."

If you're interested, you can watch the video stream (1hr 53min) of the Hearing, or click on the names of any of the speakers and you'll be taken to a page to download that individuals' testimony as a PDF.