ring of power [Archive] - Beastie Boys Message Board

ericg

10-12-2007, 05:26 PM

This was sent in a bulletin via myspace.

These days it seems like everyone's always trying to be famous, so it's interesting how hard the most powerful people in the world have worked to keep their power a secret. Of course they have a damn good reason: if everyone knew who they were and what they were doing, they would be torn down immediately. Fortunately for them, they have mastered social control by dominating our media and educational systems, so keeping people in the dark has hardly been challenging. Based on my research, they have infiltrated every section of society: economic, social, political, and criminal.

Economic:
The fed reserve is their own private bank, allowing them to run our economy by controlling currency and interest rates. Also, by illegally creating the federal income tax, the IRS, they have been stealing our money for almost 100 years.

Social:
through ownership as well as the sheer power of money, they control the media and dept. of education, allowing them to dicate public opinion and manipulate the fuck out of us (eg, war on terror= total hoax to go steal oil and curtail individual rights)

Political:
They essentially choose who will be the lead contenders, cabinet appointeees, etc... Anyone who's payed any attention whatsoever to our "democracy" knows that it's no longer representative of the people. This is why.

Criminal:
The bankers have long worked closely with the mafia and other criminal elements of society. All that heroin and weed and coke pouring into our country is no accident- the powers that be are making a huge profit off of it while at the same time keeping us in a confused daze.

Why isn't the CFR in the History Books?

Hardly one person in 1000 ever heard of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR).

The Council on Foreign Relations was formally established in Paris in 1919 along with its British Counterpart the Royal Institute of International Affairs. The Council on Foreign Relations and Royal Institute of International Affairs can trace their roots back to a secret organization founded and funded by Cecil Rhodes, who became fabulously wealthy by exploiting the people of South Africa. Rhodes is the father of Apartheid.

The Council on Foreign Relations was founded by a group of American and British imperialists and racists intent on ruling the world. Many of the American members were American intelligence officers that belonged to the first American Intelligence Agency -- THE INQUIRY. Many of the British members were British Intelligence Agents. THE INQUIRY and its members, who included such notable Americans as Col. Edward Mandel House, Walter Lippmann, Isaiah Bowman, and James Shotwell, wrote most of Woodrow Wilson's 14 points.

The CFR/RIIA method of operation is simple -- they control public opinion. They keep the identity of their group secret. They learn the likes and dislikes of influential people. They surround and manipulate them into acting in the best interest of the CFR/RIIA.

The Council on Foreign Relations, and the Royal Institute of International Affairs are adept at using the media to create massive psycho-political operations used to manipulate public opinion. The psycho-political operations are often designed to create tensions between different groups of people. The object is to keep the world in a state of perpetual tension and warfare to maximize profits from CFR/RIIA munition, medicine, media, energy, and food businesses.

The CFR has only 3000 members yet they control over three-quarters of the nations wealth. The CFR runs the State Department and the CIA. The CFR has placed 100 CFR members in every Presidential Administration since Woodrow Wilson. They work together to misinform and disinform the President to act in the best interest of the CFR not the best interest of the American People. At least five Presidents (Eisenhower, Ford, Carter, Bush, and Clinton) have been members of the CFR. The CFR has packed every Supreme court with CFR insiders. Three CFR members (Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsberg, and Sandra Day O'Connor) sit on the supreme court. The CFR's British Counterpart is the Royal Institute of International Affairs. The members of these groups profit by creating tension and hate. Their targets include British and American citizens.

The 100 CFR members that surround the president are "the Secret Team." The "Secret Team" help carry out psycho-political operations scripted by CFR members in the state department and the Intelligence Organizations. The psycho-political operations are coordinated by a group of Council on Foreign Relations members called the Special Group. The Special Group evolved from the Psychological Strategy Board.

President Truman issued an executive order establishing the Psychological Strategy Board. The Board was run by CFR members Gordon Gray and Henry Kissinger. The PSB has close ties to the State Department and Intelligence Organizations. The purpose of the PSB was to co-ordinate psycho-political operations. Many of those operations were focused at Americans. The people became wary of the Psychological Strategy Board. Eisenhower issued an executive order changing its name to the Operations Coordination Board. The OCB was a bigger more powerful PSB. Gray and Kissinger ran the OCB too. President Kennedy abolished the OCB. It became an ad hoc committee called the "Special Group," which exists today. The PSB/OCB/Special Group always has CFR members running and sitting on it. Since the Special Group was not formed by Executive Order it cannot be abolished.

If you want to learn about the CFR, I recommend these two books:

1. How the world REALLY works, by Alan Jones
2. Shadows of Power, by James Perloff

tell your friends,
:P

ps. A while back I posted that extremely long list of people that have mysteriously died after various connections to the Bush family. Well here now is the Clinton's list. Hell, if you control the media and have a vast supply of criminals at your disposal, why not kill off all challengers?

Just a quick refresher course lest we forget what
has happened to many "friends" of the Clintons

1-James McDougal - Clinton 's convicted Whitewater partner died of an apparent heart attack, while in solitary confinement. He was a key witness in Ken Starr's investigation.

2 -Mary Mahoney - A former White House intern was murdered July 1997 at a Starbucks Coffee Shop in Georgetown . The murder happened just after she was to go public with her story of sexual harassment in the White House.

3- Vince Foster - Former White House counselor and colleague of Hillary Clinton at Little Rock 's Rose Law firm. Died of a gunshot wound to the head, ruled a suicide.

4- Ron Brown - Secretary of Commerce and former DNC Chairman. Reported to have died by impact in a plane crash. A pathologist close to the investigation reported that there was a hole in the top of Brown's skull resembling a gunshot wound. At the time of his death Brown was being investigated, and spoke publicly of his willingness to cut a deal with prosecutors. The rest of the people on the plane also died. A few days later the air Traffic controller committed suicide.

5- C. Victor Raiser II- Raiser, a major player in the Clinton fund raising organization died in a private plane crash in July 1992

6-Paul Tulley - Democratic National Committee Political Director found dead in a hotel room in Little Rock , September 1992. Described by Clinton as a "Dear friend and trusted advisor".

7-Ed Willey - Clinton fund raiser, found dead November 1993 deep in the woods in VA of a gunshot wound to the head. Ruled a suicide. Ed Willey died on the same day his wife Kathleen Willey claimed Bill Clinton groped her in the oval office in the White House. Ed Willey was involved in several Clinton fund raising events.

8-Jerry Parks -Head of Clinton's gubernatorial security team in Little Rock . Gunned down in his car at a deserted intersection outside Little Rock . Park's son said his father was building a dossier on Clinton . He allegedly threatened to reveal this information. After he died the files were mysteriously removed from his house.

9-James Bunch - Died from a gunshot suicide. It was reported that he had a "Black Book" of people which contained names of influential people who visited prostitutes in Texas and Arkansas

10-James Wilson - Was found dead in May 1993 from an apparent hanging suicide. He was reported to have ties to Whitewater.

11-Kathy Ferguson- Ex-wife of Arkansas Trooper Danny Ferguson, was found dead in May 1994, in her living room with a gunshot to her head. It was ruled a suicide even though there were several packed suitcases, as if she were going somewhere. Danny Ferguson was a co-defendant along with Bill Clinton in the Paula Jones lawsuit. Kathy Ferguson was a possible corroborating witness for Paula Jones.

12-Bill Shelton - Arkansas State Trooper and fiance of Kathy Ferguson. Critical of the suicide ruling of his fiance, he was found dead in June, 1994 of a gunshot wound also ruled a suicide at the grave site of his fiance.

13-Gandy Baugh - Attorney for Clinton 's friend Dan Lassater, died by jumping out a window of a tall building January, 1994. His client was a convicted drug distributor.

14-Florence Martin - Accountant & sub-contractor for the CIA, was related to the Barry Seal Mena Airport drug smuggling case. He died of three gunshot wounds.

15- Suzanne Coleman - Reportedly had an affair with Clinton when he was Arkansas Attorney General. Died of a gunshot wound to the back of the head, ruled a suicide. Was pregnant at the time of her death.

16-Paula Grober - Clinton 's speech interpreter for the deaf from 1978 until her death December 9, 1992. She died in a one car accident.

17-Danny Casolaro - Investigative reporter. Investigating Mena Airport and Arkansas Development Finance Authority. He slit his wrists, apparently, in the middle of his investigation.

18- Paul Wilcher - Attorney investigating corruption at Mena Airport with Casolaro and the 1980 "October Surprise" was found dead on a toilet June 22, 1993 in his Washington DC apartment. Had delivered a report to Janet Reno 3 weeks before his death.

19-Jon Parnell Walker - Whitewater investigator for Resolution Trust Corp. Jumped to his death from his Arlington , Virginia apartment balcony August 15, 1993. He was investigating the Morgan Guaranty scandal.

20-Barbara Wise - Commerce Department staffer. Worked closely with Ron Brown and John Huang. Cause of death unknown. Died November 29, 1996. Her bruised, nude body was found locked in her office at the Department of Commerce.

21-Charles Meissner -Assistant Secretary of Commerce who gave John Huang special security clearance, died shortly thereafter in a small plane crash.

22-Dr. Stanley Heard - Chairman of the National Chiropractic Health Care Advisory Committee died with his attorney Steve Dickson in a small plane crash. Dr. Heard, in addition to serving on Clinton 's advisory council personally treated Clinton 's mother, stepfather and brother.

23-Barry Seal -Drug running pilot out of Mena Arkansas , death was no accident.

24-Johnny Lawhorn Jr. - Mechanic, found a check made out to Bill Clinton in the trunk of a car left at his repair shop. He was found dead after his car had hit a utility pole.
25-Stanley Huggins - Investigated Madison Guaranty. His death was a purported suicide and his report was never released.

26- Hershell Friday - Attorney and Clinton fund raiser died March 1, 1994 when his plane exploded.

27-Kevin Ives & Don Henry - Known as "The boys on the track" case. Reports say the boys may have stumbled upon the Mena Arkansas airport drug operation. A controversial case, the initial report of death said, due to falling asleep on railroad tracks. Later reports claim the 2 boys had been slain before being placed on the tracks. Many linked to the case died before their testimony could come before a Grand Jury.

THE FOLLOWING PERSONS HAD INFORMATION ON THE IVES/HENRY CASE:

28-Keith Coney - Died when his motorcycle slammed into the back of a truck, 7/88.

29-Keith McMaskle - Died stabbed 113 times, Nov, 1988

30-Gregory Collins - Died from a gunshot wound January 1989.

31-Jeff Rhodes - He was shot, mutilated and found burned in a trash dump in April 1989.

33-James Milan - Found decapitated. However, the Coroner ruled his death was due to "natural causes".

34-Jordan Kettleson - Was found shot to death in the front seat of his pickup truck in June 1990.

35-Richard Winters - A suspect in the Ives / Henry deaths. He was killed in a set-up robbery July 1989.

THE FOLLOWING CLINTON BODYGUARDS ARE DEAD:

36 -Major William S. Barkley Jr.

37-Captain Scott J . Reynolds

38-Sgt. Brian Hanley

39-Sgt. Tim Sabel

40-Major General William Robertson

41-Col. William Densberger

42-Col. Robert Kelly

43-Spec. Gary Rhodes

44-Steve Willis

45-Robert Williams

46-Conway LeBleu

47-Todd McKeehan

Bob

10-12-2007, 05:28 PM

ericg

10-12-2007, 05:44 PM

www.freedomtofascism.com - rip aaron russo.

ericg

10-12-2007, 05:49 PM

It is getting quite difficult to imagine a world without mobile communications. Wireless internet access is set to blanket the planet, just like cell phone networks already do. There has been an explosive development - practically all during the last three decades - that brought mobile to the farthest corners of the earth. But the technology is not without danger. The microwaves that carry bits and packets of data also carry a germ of destruction. Some people - as many as 120,000 Californians - and by implication 1 million Americans - are actually unable to work as they suffer from the incapacitating influence that this cacophony in the ether has on them.

We might say they are the unlucky ones who have to suffer for progress to continue - but have you ever heard of canaries in the mines? They were the first ones to die when a potentially deadly but otherwise undetectable accumulation of "mine gas" threatened the lives of the miners working underground. What if those 120.000 Californians and the one million Americans and by extension tens of millions of people world wide are in a very real sense our equivalent of deep-mine canaries? Are we not ignoring their plight at our own very imminent peril?

Arthur Firstenberg, himself a sufferer of what the Russians call "microwave sickness" has put together the salient facts about the largest biological experiment ever, in a very readable article published in the Eldorado Sun.

We cannot call ourselves informed in the wireless debate unless we start looking at its dark side as well as all the positive aspects. Firstenberg's article is as good as any to get us going in this direction ...

The Largest Biological Experiment Ever
by Arthur Firstenberg
(original in Eldorado Sun)

In 2002, Gro Harlem Brundtland, then head of the World Health Organization, told a Norwegian journalist that cell phones were banned from her office in Geneva because she personally becomes ill if a cell phone is brought within about four meters (13 feet) of her. Mrs. Brundtland is a medical doctor and former Prime Minister of Norway. This sensational news, published March 9, 2002 in Dagbladet, was ignored by every other newspaper in the world. The following week Michael Repacholi, her subordinate in charge of the International EMF (electromagnetic field) Project, responded with a public statement belittling his boss’s concerns. Five months later, for reasons that many suspect were related to these circumstances, Mrs. Brundtland announced she would step down from her leadership post at the WHO after just one term.

Nothing could better illustrate our collective schizophrenia when it comes to thinking about electromagnetic radiation. We respond to those who are worried about its dangers — hence the International EMF Project — but we ignore and marginalize those, like Mrs. Brundtland, who have already succumbed to its effects.

As a consultant on the health effects of wireless technology, I receive calls that can be broadly divided into two main groups: those from people who are merely worried, whom I will call A, and those from people who are already sick, whom I will call B. I sometimes wish I could arrange a large conference call and have the two groups talk to each other — there needs to be more mutual understanding so that we are all trying to solve the same problems. Caller A, worried, commonly asks what kind of shield to buy for his cell phone or what kind of headset to wear with it. Sometimes he wants to know what is a safe distance to live from a cell tower. Caller B, sick, wants to know what kind of shielding to put on her house, what kind of medical treatment to get, or, increasingly often, what part of the country she could move to to escape the radiation to save her life.

The following is designed as a sort of a primer: first, to help everybody get more or less on the same page, and second, to clear up some of the confusions so that we can make rational decisions toward a healthier world.

Fundamentals

The most basic fact about cell phones and cell towers is that they emit microwave radiation; so do Wi-Fi (wireless Internet) antennas, wireless computers, cordless (portable) phones and their base units, and all other wireless devices. If it’s a communication device and it’s not attached to the wall by a wire, it’s emitting radiation. Most Wi-Fi systems and some cordless phones operate at the exact same frequency as a microwave oven, while other devices use a different frequency. Wi-Fi is always on and always radiating. The base units of most cordless phones are always radiating, even when no one is using the phone. A cell phone that is on but not in use is also radiating. And, needless to say, cell towers are always radiating.

Why is this a problem, you might ask? Scientists usually divide the electromagnetic spectrum into “ionizing” and “non-ionizing.” Ionizing radiation, which includes x-rays and atomic radiation, causes cancer. Non-ionizing radiation, which includes microwave radiation, is supposed to be safe. This distinction always reminded me of the propaganda in George Orwell’s Animal Farm: “Four legs good, two legs bad.” “Non-ionizing good, ionizing bad” is as little to be trusted.

An astronomer once quipped that if Neil Armstrong had taken a cell phone to the Moon in 1969, it would have appeared to be the third most powerful source of microwave radiation in the universe, next only to the Sun and the Milky Way. He was right. Life evolved with negligible levels of microwave radiation. An increasing number of scientists speculate that our own cells, in fact, use the microwave spectrum to communicate with one another, like children whispering in the dark, and that cell phones, like jackhammers, interfere with their signaling. In any case, it is a fact that we are all being bombarded, day in and day out, whether we use a cell phone or not, by an amount of microwave radiation that is some ten million times as strong as the average natural background. And it is also a fact that most of this radiation is due to technology that has been developed since the 1970s.

As far as cell phones themselves are concerned, if you put one up to your head you are damaging your brain in a number of different ways. First, think of a microwave oven. A cell phone, like a microwave oven and unlike a hot shower, heats you from the inside out, not from the outside in. And there are no sensory nerve endings in the brain to warn you of a rise in temperature because we did not evolve with microwave radiation, and this never happens in nature. Worse, the structure of the head and brain is so complex and non-uniform that “hot spots” are produced, where heating can be tens or hundreds of times what it is nearby. Hot spots can occur both close to the surface of the skull and deep within the brain, and also on a molecular level.

Cell phones are regulated by the Federal Communications Commission, and you can find, in the packaging of most new phones, a number called the Specific Absorption Rate, or SAR, which is supposed to indicate the rate at which energy is absorbed by the brain from that particular model. One problem, however, is the arbitrary assumption, upon which the FCC’s regulations are based, that the brain can safely dissipate added heat at a rate of up to 1 degree C per hour. Compounding this is the scandalous procedure used to demonstrate compliance with these limits and give each cell phone its SAR rating. The standard way to measure SAR is on a “phantom” consisting, incredibly, of a homogenous fluid encased in Plexiglas in the shape of a head. Presto, no hot spots! But in reality, people who use cell phones for hours per day are chronically heating places in their brain. The FCC’s safety standard, by the way, was developed by electrical engineers, not doctors.

The Blood-Brain Barrier

The second effect that I want to focus on, which has been proven in the laboratory, should by itself have been enough to shut down this industry and should be enough to scare away anyone from ever using a cell phone again. I call it the “smoking gun” of cell phone experiments. Like most biological effects of microwave radiation, this has nothing to do with heating.

The brain is protected by tight junctions between adjacent cells of capillary walls, the so-called blood-brain barrier, which, like a border patrol, lets nutrients pass through from the blood to the brain, but keeps toxic substances out. Since 1988, researchers in the laboratory of a Swedish neurosurgeon, Leif Salford, have been running variations on this simple experiment: they expose young laboratory rats to either a cell phone or other source of microwave radiation, and later they sacrifice the animals and look for albumin in their brain tissue. Albumin is a protein that is a normal component of blood but that does not normally cross the blood-brain barrier. The presence of albumin in brain tissue is always a sign that blood vessels have been damaged and that the brain has lost some of its protection.

Here is what these researchers have found, consistently for 18 years: Microwave radiation, at doses equal to a cell phone’s emissions, causes albumin to be found in brain tissue. A one-time exposure to an ordinary cell phone for just two minutes causes albumin to leak into the brain. In one set of experiments, reducing the exposure level by a factor of 1,000 actually increased the damage to the blood-brain barrier, showing that this is not a dose-response effect and that reducing the power will not make wireless technology safer. And finally, in research published in June 2003, a single two-hour exposure to a cell phone, just once during its lifetime, permanently damaged the blood-brain barrier and, on autopsy 50 days later, was found to have damaged or destroyed up to 2 percent of an animal’s brain cells, including cells in areas of the brain concerned with learning, memory and movement.1 Reducing the exposure level by a factor of 10 or 100, thereby duplicating the effect of wearing a headset, moving a cell phone further from your body, or standing next to somebody else’s phone, did not appreciably change the results! Even at the lowest exposure, half the animals had a moderate to high number of damaged neurons.

The implications for us? Two minutes on a cell phone disrupts the blood-brain barrier, two hours on a cell phone causes permanent brain damage, and secondhand radiation may be almost as bad. The blood-brain barrier is the same in a rat and a human being.

These results caused enough of a commotion in Europe that in November 2003 a conference was held, sponsored by the European Union, titled “The Blood-Brain Barrier — Can It Be Influenced by RF [radio frequency]-Field Interactions?” as if to reassure the public: “See, we are doing something about this.” But, predictably, nothing was done about it, as nothing has been done about it for 30 years.

America’s Allan Frey, during the 1970s, was the first of many to demonstrate that low-level microwave radiation damages the blood-brain barrier.2 Similar mechanisms protect the eye (the blood-vitreous barrier) and the fetus (the placental barrier), and the work of Frey and others indicates that microwave radiation damages those barriers also.3 The implication:
No pregnant woman should ever be using a cell phone.

Dr. Salford is quite outspoken about his work. He has called the use of handheld
cell phones “the largest human biological experiment ever.” And he has publicly warned that a whole generation of cell-phone-using teenagers may suffer from mental deficits or Alzheimer’s disease by the time they reach middle age.

Radio-Wave Sickness

Unfortunately, cell phone users are not the only ones being injured, nor should we be worried only about the brain. The following brief summary is distilled from a vast scientific literature on the effects of radio waves (a larger spectrum which includes microwaves), together with the experiences of scientists and doctors all over the world with whom I am in contact.

Organs that have been shown to be especially susceptible to radio waves include the lungs, nervous system, heart, eyes, testes and thyroid gland. Diseases that have increased remarkably in the last couple of decades, and that there is good reason to connect with the massive increase in radiation in our environment, include asthma, sleep disorders, anxiety disorders, attention deficit disorder, autism, multiple sclerosis, ALS, Alzheimer’s disease, epilepsy, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, cataracts, hypothyroidism, diabetes, malignant melanoma, testicular cancer, and heart attacks and strokes in young people. Radiation from microwave towers has also been associated with forest die-off, reproductive failure and population decline in many species of birds, and ill health and birth deformities in farm animals. The literature showing biological effects of microwave radiation is truly enormous, running to tens of thousands of documents, and I am amazed that industry spokespersons are getting away with saying that wireless technology has been proved safe or — just as ridiculous — that there is no evidence of harm.

I have omitted one disease from the above list: the illness that Caller B has, and that I have. A short history is in order here. In the 1950s and 1960s workers who built, tested and repaired radar equipment came down with this disease in large numbers. So did operators of industrial microwave heaters and sealers. The Soviets named it, appropriately, radio wave sickness, and studied it extensively. In the West its existence was denied totally, but workers came down with it anyway. Witness congressional hearings held in 1981, chaired by then Representative Al Gore, on the health effects of radio-frequency heaters and sealers, another episode in “See, we are doing something about this,” while nothing is done.

Today, with the mass proliferation of radio towers and personal transmitters, the disease has spread like a plague into the general population. Estimates of its prevalence range up to one-third of the population, but it is rarely recognized for what it is until it has so disabled a person that he or she can no longer participate in society. You may recognize some of its common symptoms: insomnia, dizziness, nausea, headaches, fatigue, memory loss, inability to concentrate, depression, chest discomfort, ringing in the ears. Patients may also develop medical problems such as chronic respiratory infections, heart arrhythmias, sudden fluctuations in blood pressure, uncontrolled blood sugar, dehydration, and even seizures and internal bleeding.

What makes this disease so difficult to accept, and even more difficult to cope with, is that no treatment is likely to succeed unless one can also avoid exposure to its cause — and its cause is now everywhere. A 1998 survey by the California Department of Health Services indicated that at that time 120,000 Californians — and by implication 1 million Americans — were unable to work due to electromagnetic pollution.4 The ranks of these so-called electrically sensitive are swelling in almost every country in the world, marginalized, stigmatized and ignored. With the level of radiation everywhere today, they almost never recover and sometimes take their own lives.

“They are acting as a warning for all of us,” says Dr. Olle Johansson of people with this illness. “It could be a major mistake to subject the entire world’s population to whole-body irradiation, 24 hours a day.” A neuroscientist at the famous Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Dr. Johansson heads a research team that is documenting a significant and permanent worsening of the public health that began precisely when the second-generation, 1800 MHz cell phones were introduced into Sweden in late l997.5,6 After a decade-long decline, the number of Swedish workers on sick leave began to rise in late 1997 and more than doubled during the next five years. During the same period of time, sales of antidepressant drugs also doubled. The number of traffic accidents, after declining for years, began to climb again in 1997. The number of deaths from Alzheimer’s disease, after declining for several years, rose sharply in 1999 and had nearly doubled by 2001. This two-year delay is understandable when one considers that Alzheimer’s disease requires some time to develop.

Uncontrolled Proliferation

If cell phones and cell towers are really deadly, have the radio and TV towers that we have been living with for a century been safe? In 2002 Örjan Hallberg and Olle Johansson coauthored a paper titled “Cancer Trends During the 20th Century,” which examined one aspect of that question.7 They found, in the United States, Sweden and dozens of other countries, that mortality rates for skin melanoma and for bladder, prostate, colon, breast and lung cancers closely paralleled the degree of public exposure to radio waves during the past hundred years. When radio broadcasting increased in a given location, so did those forms of cancer; when it decreased, so did those forms of cancer. And, a sensational finding: country by country — and county by county in Sweden — they found, statistically, that exposure to radio waves appears to be as big a factor in causing lung cancer as cigarette smoking!

Which brings me to address a widespread misconception. The biggest difference between the cell towers of today and the radio towers of the past is not their safety, but their numbers. The number of ordinary radio stations in the United States today is still less than 14,000. But cell towers and Wi-Fi towers number in the hundreds of thousands, and cell phones, wireless computers, cordless telephones and two-way radios number in the hundreds of millions. Radar facilities and emergency communication networks are also proliferating out of control. Since 1978, when the Environmental Protection Agency last surveyed the radio frequency environment in the United States, the average urban dweller’s exposure to radio waves has increased 1,000-fold, most of this increase occurring in just the last nine years.8 In the same period of time, radio pollution has spread from the cities to rest like a ubiquitous fog over the entire planet.

The vast human consequences of all this are being ignored. Since the late 1990s a whole new class of environmental refugees has been created right here in the United States. We have more and more people, sick, dying, seeking relief from our suffering, leaving our homes and our livelihoods, living in cars, trailers and tents in remote places. Unlike victims of hurricanes and earthquakes, we are not the subject of any relief efforts. No one is donating money to help us, to buy us a protected refuge; no one is volunteering to forego their cell phones, their wireless computers and their cordless phones so that we can once more be their neighbors and live among them.

The worried and the sick have not yet opened their hearts to each other, but they are asking questions. To answer caller A: No shield or headset will protect you from your cell or portable phone. There is no safe distance from a cell tower. If your cell phone or your wireless computer works where you live, you are being irradiated 24 hours a day.

To caller B: To effectively shield a house is difficult and rarely successful. There are only a few doctors in the United States attempting to treat radio wave sickness, and their success rate is poor — because there are few places left on Earth where one can go to escape this radiation and recover.

Yes, radiation comes down from satellites, too; they are part of the problem, not the solution. There is simply no way to make wireless technology safe.

Our society has become both socially and economically dependent, in just one short decade, upon a technology that is doing tremendous damage to the fabric of our world. The more entrenched we let ourselves become in it, the more difficult it will become to change our course. The time to extricate ourselves, both individually and collectively — difficult though it is already is — is now.

NOTES

1. Leif G. Salford et al., “Nerve Cell Damage in Mammalian Brain After Exposure to Microwaves from GSM Mobile Phones,” Environmental Health Perspectives 111, no. 7 (2003): 881–883.

2. Allan H. Frey, Sondra R. Feld and Barbara Frey, “Neural Function and Behavior,” Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 247 (1975): 433–439.

3. Allan H. Frey, “Evolution and Results
of Biological Research with Low-Intensity Nonionizing Radiation,” in Modern Bioelectricity, ed. Andrew A. Marino (New York: Dekker, 1988), 785–837, at 809–810.

4. California EMF Program, The Risk Evaluation: An Evaluation of the Possible Risks From Electric and Magnetic Fields (EMFs) From Power Lines, Internal Wiring, Electrical Occupations and Appliances (2002), app. 3.

5. Örjan Hallberg and Olle Johansson, “1997 — A Curious Year in Sweden,” European Journal of Cancer Prevention 13, no. 6 (2004): 535–538.

6. Örjan Hallberg and Olle Johansson, “Does GSM 1800 MHz Affect the Public Health in Sweden?” in Proceedings of the 3rd International Workshop “Biological Effects of EMFs,” Kos, Greece, October 4-8, 2004, 361–364.

7. Örjan Hallberg and Olle Johansson, “Cancer Trends During the 20th Century,”
Journal of Australian College of Nutritional and Environmental Medicine 21, no. 1 (2002): 3–8.

8. David E. Janes Jr., “Radiofrequency Environments in the United States,” in 15th IEEE Conference on Communication, Boston, MA, June 10–14, 1979, vol. 2, 31.4.1–31.4.5.

knew more than a decade ago...

In the spring of 1993 at the height of public concern over cell phone-brain tumor risks, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) biologists concluded that the
available data "strongly suggest" that microwaves can "accelerate the development of cancer." This assessment is in an internal agency memo recently obtained by Microwave News under the Freedom of Information Act.

"Of approximately eight chronic animal experiments known to us, five resulted in increased numbers of malignancies, accelerated progression of tumors, or
both," wrote Drs. Mays Swicord and Larry Cress of FDA's Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH) in Rockville, MD. They also pointed to other evidence from laboratory (in vitro) studies that supported a cancer risk.

Yet, in its public statements at that time, the agency played down these findings. For instance, in a Talk Paper issued in early February, the FDA stated that there was "limited evidence that suggests that lower levels [of microwaves] might cause adverse health effects."

"A few studies suggest that [microwave] levels [from cellular phones] can accelerate the development of cancer in laboratory animals," the FDA added, "but there is much uncertainty among scientists about whether these results apply to the use of cellular
phones."

.... the story continues:

But in a letter submitted to the U.S. House of Representatives four years later during May 1997, the FDA stated "Little is known about the possible health effects of repeated or long-term exposure to low levels of radiofrequency radiation (RFR) of the types emitted by wireless communications devices."

And again in February, 2000, the FDA issued a Nomination reiterating their position, stating "There is currently insufficient scientific basis for concluding either that wireless communication technologies are safe or that they pose a risk to millions of users. A significant research effort, involving large well-planned animal experiments is needed to provide the basis to assess the risk to human health of wireless communications devices."

Dr. Swicord joined Motorola after leaving the FDA and is also the Chief Editor on the editorial staff of BEMS (BioElectro-Magnetics Society).

.................................................. .................

See related:

Swimming In A Deadly Sea: Awash In Radiation
Part One

Although most of us are unaware of it, we are literally swimming in sea of radiation. Some of it is natural, like the cosmic rays that bombard our planet from space, trace amounts from elements that occur naturally in the ground, and even microwave radiation from sunspots and solar flares. But increasingly, the radiation we are subjected to comes from man-made sources, ranging from medical X-rays to leakage from appliances to cell phones. While much has been written about man-made radiation, most of us have little understanding of what it is and how it might affect us.

Swimming In A Deadly Sea: Awash In Radiation
Part Two

Over 1 in 10 Complain About Cell Sickness
By Kim Tae-gyu
The Korea Times

Mobile operators and governments have claimed cell phones don’t emit enough microwaves harm people, but sensitive Koreans are feeling their negative effects. According to a survey by Rep. Suh Hae-suk at the governing Uri Party, 10.9 percent of 1,034 respondents said that they felt physical disorders due to cell phone usage.

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Here are some links from the latest weekly newsletter of Buergerwelle Germany' Citizens Initiative Omega, compiled by Klaus Rudolph. This newsletter deals exclusively with issues of microwave and other emf-wave damage and is a good source for continuous updates.

To subscribe, you can send a blank email to:

emf-omega-news-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Cardiovascular risk in operators under radiofrequency electromagnetic radiation

Immunotropic influence of 900 MHz microwave GSM signal on human blood immune cells activated in vitro

Effects of intensive and moderate cellular phone use on hearing function

Subjective symptoms, sleeping problems, and cognitive performance in subjects living near mobile phone base stations

Other links:

Do you have Microwave Sickness?
Dr. George Carlo, who used to run a multi-million dollar research program for the cell phone industry and went public regarding the dangers posed by cell phones, uses the analogy of putting a frog in water. If you put a frog in boiling water, it will jump out. However, if you put a frog in cold water and gradually heat the water, you can cook the frog because the frog's body will adjust to the slight changes in temperature and it will not notice it is being cooked. Well, the same thing might be happening to an unsuspecting public - a public that has not been informed about the real dangers of microwave radiation from cell phones, WiFi and other high-frequency-radiation emitting devices and antennas. The truth of the matter, your cell phone and your WiFi might very well indeed be making you and those around you sick!

Drowning in a Sea of Microwaves
The increasing popularity of wi-fi comes on the heels of the explosive growth in wireless mobile telephones, and amid heightened concerns over the health hazards of saturating levels of electromagnetic radiation. Microwaves at current exposure levels are linked to brain damage, DNA damage, brain tumours, cancers, microwave sickness, impairment of cognitive functions, impairment of reproduction and fertility, affecting humans, rodents, birds, and bees.

http://www.microwavenews.com/

http://www.radiationresearch.org/

http://www.safewireless.org/

http://www.sppionline.org/

Cell phones Invisible hazards of the wireless age
Few people would be surprised to hear that cell phones are unhealthy. But how many of us actually know the degree of damage they cause, the extent of the cover-up by the industry, or that there is a viable solution? Dr. George Carlo, a mobile phone industry whistleblower, recently presented a talk in Vancouver about how electropollution from wireless technology can cause brain damage, cancer and an array of mental illnesses. I checked his facts against recent, peer-reviewed scientific papers and the results were startling. Dr. Carlo explained why the industry’s user manuals don’t warn of these health hazards: currently, there are pending class action lawsuits against them, which threaten to expose the entire industry, similar to the cases brought against “Big Tobacco”, and the asbestos and silicone breast implant industries...

Australian Research Shows Mobile Phones Affect Brain Function

The Health Implications Of Playing With Big Brother's Most Cool Tool - Pt 2
By Amy Worthington
The Idaho Observer 6-9-6

Mobile phone emissions and human brain excitability
Italian study on brain excitability by GSM mobile phone radiation. The double blind study shows that the brains of volunteers were definitely affected by exposure to the cell phone radiation.

Cell Phones - More Damning Evidence
The effects of the radiation can produce a wide range of physical symptoms. Some symptoms may take years to show up. Some of the effects can be short-term while other effects can be long-term or permanent. Opening the blood-brain barrier allows toxins into the brain that cause a wide range of ailments - many of which are currently unknown or poorly understood.

Do Microwave Technologies Cause Chronic Fatigue?

Scientists develop new terahertz material
Researchers at Los Alamos National Laboratory have created a device for manipulating terahertz (THz) radiation. The device could be the basis for novel electronics and photonics applications ranging from new imaging methods to advanced communication technologies. The THz range of the electromagnetic spectrum lies between the infrared and microwave wavelengths.

New wireless technology to be developed
"The project's goal is basically to create a small, low-power handheld device that combines a spectrum analyzer and a truly powerful communication device," said Ayazi, a Georgia Tech associate professor of electrical and computer engineering. "We are basically looking for orders-of-magnitude improvement in performance, size and cost. The ultimate goal," he added, "is to integrate Analog Spectral Processors with high-speed electronics on a single chip and bring unprecedented capabilities to the wireless world."

Health concerns over mobile phone masts prompt review
Originally promised three years ago, and then shelved, the review follows articles in The Independent on Sunday about possible effects of the radiation on children and bees. The Government will take account of new scientific and medical evidence, and consult experts and campaigners, as part of a wider review of planning guidelines which ministers send to local authorities. More than 47,000 "base stations", like masts, have already been erected in Britain to service its 50 million mobile phones, often in defiance of intense local public opposition. Successive governments have made extraordinary concessions to the companies to ensure that coverage was rolled out across the country as quickly as possible.

World's safest mobile phone on way
The Wi-Guard technology works by randomising the field so it becomes more similar to naturally occurring electromagnetic fields that the body can deal with. Lawler said the amount of radiation emitted by man-made electromagnetic fields was one billion times higher than in 1950, due predominantly to the massive rise in the number of mobile phones and wireless laptops being used over the past decade.

This is an interesting technology, as randomizing the extra low frequency pattern could indeed make the radiation from cell phones and wireless devices less harmful for biological organisms. Of course it would be more efficient to implement this concept not as a remediation effort but as a basic feature of wireless standards...

Wireless broadband Internet access is all the rage.
The noise is drowning out concerns for this technology's risks.
In 2004, the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) decided that they would not permit cell phone antennas on firehouses. The decision was made by resolution at the IAFF's annual delegate assembly. The resolution directed the IAFF to review the potential health risks from cell antennas. If the science demonstrated a risk, then the union would oppose the use of fire stations as sites for cell antennas until further science demonstrated that cell antennas are safe. The resolution was passed in August 2004. In April 2005, the union's Health and Safety Department completed the review of the science. They found more than ample evidence to conclude that the union should oppose cell antennas on fire stations. The position paper included 49 references and a bibliography of 40 citations.

New doubts raised over mobile phone safety
Prof Seger said: "The real significance of our findings is that cells are not inert to non-thermal mobile phone radiation. "We used radiation power levels that were around 1/10th of those produced by a normal mobile. The changes we observed were clearly not caused by heating."

EU watchdog calls for urgent action on Wi-Fi, mobile phone radiation
Europe's top environmental watchdog is calling for immediate action to reduce exposure to radiation from Wi-Fi, mobile phones and their masts. It suggests that delay could lead to a health crisis similar to those caused by asbestos, smoking and lead in petrol. The warning, from the EU's European Environment Agency (EEA) follows an international scientific review which concluded that safety limits set for the radiation are "thousands of times too lenient", and an official British report last week which concluded that it could not rule out the development of cancers from using mobile phones.

Related Articles

GRAVE Cell Phone Dangers Revealed...
..."public health scientist George Carlo found that rare tumors on the outside of the brain are more than doubled among cell phone callers * particularly on the right side of the head where ..phones are usually held... Here is more support for the earlier post: "Em Fields On Brain Tumor Incidence - Chemicals And Cell Phones" the evidence is so compelling and the regulatory bodies will continually get usurped by... (read more)
February 15, 2005 - Chris Gupta

The Cell Phone Experiment: Is Mobile Communication Worth The Risk?
Undoubtedly mobile phones and wireless broadband are immensely useful, but there is a persistent question: what are the risks of using these technologies? Many of us asking the "risk" question are - alas - not necessarily informed or even willing to consider the benefits of networking, and those planning the digital and mobile revolution have hardly heard about the risks. Providers are reluctant to discuss the health implications of the... (read more)
December 14, 2005 - Sepp Hasslberger

Mobile Phones Increase Tumor Risk, Study Says
Further to the post: Em Fields On Brain Tumor Incidence - Chemicals And Cell Phones Chris Gupta ---------------------- Mobile Phones Increase Tumor Risk, Study Says Thu Oct 14, 1:38 AM ET STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Ten or more years of mobile phone use increases the risk of developing acoustic neuroma, a benign tumor on the auditory nerve, according to a study released on Wednesday by Sweden's Karolinska Institute. The risk was... (read more)
November 03, 2004 - Chris Gupta

Children, cell phones and psychiatry
Now what does a psychiatrist have to do with cell phones, you may ask. Psychiatrists are the "experts" in mental health - our mental health. So they recognize when you're delusional if you should start to complain about symptoms from radiation overdosing, for example from your cell phone. Here is an exchange of messages forwarded by Jennie Gorman, about this matter. It illustrates the connection and leads us right back... (read more)
September 02, 2003 - Sepp Hasslberger

Bad News For Cell Phone Users
According to a study published in the June issue of "Environmental Health Perspectives", researchers have documented damage to nerve cells in the brains of rats they exposed to the type of radiation cell phone users get when calling their friends or family. The damaging mechanism seems to be a weakening of the blood-brain barrier, a kind of filter which protects the brain from toxic or otherwise unwanted chemicals circulated with... (read more)
October 01, 2003 - Sepp Hasslberger

Cell phones are not innocuous
There is considerable resistance by groups in affected neighbourhoods to the construction of cell-phone relay towers. Their operation close to Schools and other places where children are normally present, is prohibited in several countries. But the phones themselves? They are not as innocuous as the telecoms and the manufacturers would have you believe. Amy Worthington informs us that recent studies confirm that cell and cordless phone microwave can: *Damage nerves... (read more)
June 07, 2003 - Sepp Hasslberger

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There are now 1.9 billion cell phone users worldwide. Scientists fear we may be on the verge of a health crisis. Here are ten steps you can take to minimize dangers from cell phone radiation exposure...

10 Cell Phone Radiation Protection Tips

"The voluntary exposure of the brain to microwaves from hand-held mobile phones... [is] the largest human biological experiment ever."

~ Professor Leif Salford, Head of Research at Lund University, Sweden

There are now estimated to be 208 million cell phone users in the U.S. alone, 1.9 billion worldwide. Scientists fear we may be on the verge of a health crisis of epidemic proportions. Dr. George Carlo, former chief scientist of the cell phone industry's $28 million safety research project, predicts 500,000 new cases of brain and eye cancer each year by 2010 attributable to cell phone use (there are currently 30-50,000 cases each year).

Studies have linked cell phone radiation to health problems such as headaches, high blood pressure, brain tumors, cancer, Alzheimer's, and more. There is a latency period for most diseases and it may take years and more studies before the required weight of evidence is established. But the effects are cumulative and precautions should be taken now before it is too late.

Here are some steps you can take to minimize the effects of cell phone radiation exposure:

1. Limit use to essential calls and keep calls short. Even a two-minute call has been found to alter the natural electrical activity of the brain for up to an hour afterwards.

2. Children should be allowed to use the cell phone in cases of emergency only. Because of their developing skulls, the radiation can penetrate much more deeply.

3. Wear an airtube headset (not regular wired headset). The regular wired headset has been found to intensify radiation into the ear canal. The wire transmits not only the radiation from the cell phone but also serves as an antenna attracting EMFs (electromagnetic fields) from the surroundings

4. Don't put the cell phone in your pocket or belt while in use or while it is on. The body tissue in the lower body area has good conductivity and absorbs radiation more quickly than the head. One study shows that men who wear cell phones near their groin could have their sperm count dropped by as much as 30 percent.

5. If using the phone without a headset, wait for the call to connect before placing the phone next to the ear.

6. Do not use the cell phone in enclosed metal spaces such as vehicles or elevators, where devices may use more power to establish connection. The metal enclosure also acts as a Faraday cage that traps the radiation and reflects it back onto the occupants.

7. Do not make a call when the signal strength is one bar or less, which means the phone must work harder to establish a connection.

8. Purchase a phone with a low SAR (Specific Absorption Rate). Most phones have a SAR level listed in its instruction manual. The SAR level is a way of measuring the quantity of radiofrequency (RF) energy that is absorbed by the body. The lower the number the better. (Be aware, however, that studies with RF hundreds of times lower than current SAR limits still show biological effects.)

9. Use a scientifically validated EMF protection device. There are advanced technologies available nowadays that strengthen your bioenergy field and immune system against the effects of EMF. The EMF radiation causes a problem only when the cumulative effects due to repeated exposure weaken the body's ability to repair itself. Even when you don't use the cell phone, 'second-hand' radiation and EMFs from other devices can also cause biological stress, so these types of devices are increasingly becoming essential.

10. Take nutritional supplements, particularly anti-oxidants SOD, catalase, glutathione, and Coq10. Microwave radiation has been shown to decrease levels of these anti-oxidants in the body. These are substances the body produces to protect itself, and their levels are sensitive indicators in stress, aging, infections and various other disease states. Other supplements you may need are:

- Melatonin: a powerful anti-oxidant noted to prevent DNA breaks in brain cells. Also effective in preventing kidney damage from cell phones;

- Zinc: protects the eye from oxidative damage and helps preserve the levels of anti-oxidants in the blood;

- Gingko Biloba: an herb considered a powerful anti-oxidant which prevents oxidative damage in the brain, eye and kidney. Also helps support the production of SOD, catalase and glutathione;

- Bilberry extract: preserves vision and reduces oxidative damage to the eyes.

This list is not exhaustive but represents different layers of intervention you can do right away to protect yourself and your family. Cell phone radiation (and wireless radiation in general) poses an extreme public health risk that may take years to become fully realized. Some experts go on to say that if estimates are correct, then we are on the verge of a health crisis that could cripple our current health infrastructure. Let's not wait and find out if this proves true.

(Note: This article is provided for educational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. If you believe that you have a health problem, see your doctor or health professional immediately.)

(c) copyright Taraka Serrano

ericg

10-12-2007, 06:01 PM

ericg

10-12-2007, 06:02 PM

www.shockdoctrine.com

(self explanatory)

ericg

10-12-2007, 06:23 PM

ok, so far we've had

1: "click these two links, i don't think i need to explain them at all"

2: *link*

3: *link*

4: a bunch of shit that's not immediately clear how it's relevant and i'm definitely not going to read

why don't you just tell us what this post is about eric? in like a sentence or two

this post is about a static suckerhead who wants to bite everything because he couldn't figure it out for the life of him.

"word to your momma"

ericg

10-12-2007, 06:36 PM

Because pseudoscientists and quasihistorians also merit consideration as valid sources of factual information. They deserve to be heard!

Oh no wait, they don't and never will.

"hey fuck you"

Bob

10-12-2007, 11:09 PM

and now we've had

5: *link with no introduction*

6 *huge post that no sane person who's been following the thread so far is going to bother reading*

7 "fuck you for asking me to explain my genius to you"

8 "fuck you too"

buddy no offense but i'm not going to take you seriously and if this bothers you i think you need to step outside yourself and examine the way you communicate with people

Bob

10-12-2007, 11:19 PM

basically what i'm saying is, you have the burden of making people give a shit about anything you have to say and you're doing a terrible job of sustaining it

i can't believe you aren't a gimmick or lyndon larouche

Bob

10-12-2007, 11:21 PM

i mean you've posted 8 things in this thread and i still don't know what point you're trying to get across with it

8 posts and god knows how many thousands of words and nobody knows what you're talking about

how do you get by

Schmeltz

10-13-2007, 03:25 AM

There's only one thing to be made from all that drivel, ericg, which is that you are totally incapable of distinguishing reality from nuttery.

LOL@ Lyndon Larouche (y)

Knuckles

10-13-2007, 10:00 AM

ok. back... make of it what you will.

take a $20 (911) from the privately owned federal reserve and fold it in half length-wise with the green side out. fold both ends in the center like making an airplane. you should see the twin towers and smoke billowing from exactly where they were hit. if not do it to the other side. [there's much evidence showing 911 was conceived over a long period of time].

Do you think it's possible Andrew Jackson planned 9/11? I mean, he is on the 20 dollar bill. He also was President of the United States.

And Bob, before you even make some smartass comment like "They didn't have planes when he was alive" or "Knuckles have you been up all night sniffing glue again?" or "Almond butter is much better than peanut" or "Andrew Jackson was too busy having sex with Echewta's mom to plan such things" I want you to do a little research here (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bat_Boy).

Bob

10-13-2007, 10:22 AM

my god...i...i think you might be....

and wait, something's coming...yes, it's an idea...take a dollar bill, fold it like this, and you see that george washington's head turns into a mushroom! THE MUSHROOM MEN ARE IN CONTROL OF AMERICA!

no, wait bob, that's stupid, calm down, think rationally...i can figure this out...

mushroom...mushroom cloud...atomic bomb...atomic age...age of aquarius...signs of the zodiac...taurus! BIN LADEN IS A TAURUS!

...we're through the looking glass here, people

cosmo105

10-13-2007, 07:04 PM

Bob

10-13-2007, 07:24 PM

hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha ohh man something that people passed around when i was 16 = EVIDENCE! oh, and this

that just proves how long they've been planning it you static suckerhead!

ericg

10-13-2007, 07:25 PM

i simply posted information on this thread. i can see it's a bit much for you ... however, you can still bet your life's savings on the water-marked content. it doesn't take a 'scientist' or 'historian' to figure out (though there's many) - not to mention that you shouldn't speak ill of people that you obviously haven't a clue of whom you're speaking. they're certainly more accredited than you think - and one of the best entities you and this world have going right now. the answers can be given, but you always have to do your own homework.

i met the larouche kids in seattle and was open minded at first for a lot of good reasons, but then found them to be a bit more 'fanatical'.. and 'without direction' ... anyway, it's good to listen and appreciate what you can in any case. i don't know much about david icke, but what i do know is on the money. lizard people - i don't know. sounds silly, unless you've witnessed a 'lizard person', or have a clue as to what they're really talking about ... but that's like everything. i wouldn't be so quick to dismiss or underrate ... whether you've seen/ experienced it or not, it's never wise to play the devil's advocate ... as if you've never had an integral prop in your life.

Bob

10-13-2007, 07:29 PM

i don't know much about david icke

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_icke (for starters)

In 1999, he published The Biggest Secret, in which he wrote that the Illuminati are a race of reptilian humanoids known as the Babylonian Brotherhood, and that many prominent figures are reptilian, including George W. Bush, Queen Elizabeth II, Kris Kristofferson, and Boxcar Willie. [3][5]...In 1999, Icke wrote and published The Biggest Secret: The Book that Will Change the World, in which he identified the extraterrestrial Prison Warders as reptilians from the constellation Draco. [24]They walk erect and appear to be human, living not only on the planets they come from, but also in caverns and tunnels under the earth. They have cross-bred with humans, which has created "hybrids" who are "possessed" by the full-blooded reptilians. [25] The reptiles' hybrid reptilian-human DNA allows them to change from reptilian to human form if they consume human blood. Icke has drawn parallels with the 1980s science-fiction series V, in which the earth is taken over by reptiloid aliens disguised as humans.

According to Icke, the reptilian group includes many prominent people and practically every world leader from Britain's late Queen Mother to George H.W. Bush, Hillary Clinton, Harold Wilson, and Tony Blair. These people are either themselves reptilian, or work for the reptiles as what Icke calls slave-like victims of multiple personality disorder: "The Rothschilds, Rockefellers, the British royal family, and the ruling political and economic families of the U.S. and the rest of the world come from these SAME bloodlines. It is not because of snobbery, it is to hold as best they can a genetic structure — the reptilian-mammalian DNA combination which allows them to 'shape-shift'." [4]

Icke has since published additional books on the same theme. His latest work sees George W. Bush, also a reptilian, playing a key role in what Icke alleges is a 9/11 conspiracy. In Tales From The Time Loop and other works, Icke states that most organized religions, especially Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, are Illuminati creations designed to divide and conquer the human race through endless conflicts. In a similar vein, Icke believes racial and ethnic divisions are an illusion promoted by the reptilians, and that racism fuels the Illuminati agenda.

do your own homework.

please do

ericg

10-13-2007, 08:55 PM

so you like to disassemble and try to diffuse like the run of the mill media. no doubt you think you're a track star.
it must be tough living such a closed minded life of angles and negativity.

yes, david icke - one and the same. lizard men seems out there, but i'll tell ya - carries more weight in any context than 99% of what's going around. by the way, david icke appears for about 10 mins on secret space and speaks very intelligently on fundamental stuff. wanting to discredit his math because you don't believe in aliens is pointless ... you seem idle and hopeless - doomed to flipping channels on the degeneration network.

instead of doing that, your time would better spent getting a telescope and looking up. better yet, watch the videos and check things out. no doubt you would be interested and more informed.

Bob

10-13-2007, 09:28 PM

i suppose i'd have to, there's certainly nothing on any of them

milleson

10-13-2007, 09:35 PM

Bob's avatar is the best part of this thread.

Knuckles

10-13-2007, 10:22 PM

Bob, Kris Kristofferson might be a lizard man.

And if Kris is a lizard man then is Babs a lizard lady (http://imagecache2.allposters.com/images/pic/71/039_19723~Barbra-Streisand-Kris-Kristofferson-in-A-Star-is-Born-Posters.jpg)?

cosmo105

10-13-2007, 10:43 PM

she's always struck me as a little reptilian.

Documad

10-13-2007, 10:48 PM

hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha ohh man something that people passed around when i was 16 = EVIDENCE!

Did you ever do this one (http://www.mathematische-basteleien.de/fortune_teller.htm)? It actually predicts the future. I did it at slumber parties when I was in grade school. :)

Bob

10-13-2007, 11:32 PM

Did you ever do this one (http://www.mathematische-basteleien.de/fortune_teller.htm)? It actually predicts the future. I did it at slumber parties when I was in grade school. :)

i did those too; i once got one that said "In the City of God there will be a great thunder, Two brothers torn apart by Chaos, while the fortress endures, the great leader will succumb, The third big war will begin when the big city is burning"

then i did it again and i got "u like it up da butt" which is a lie btw

Schmeltz

10-13-2007, 11:59 PM

Bob

10-14-2007, 12:18 AM

eric it is ridiculous to lambaste people for not sacrificing their time and energy to an examination of such patently ridiculous material. The reason everybody else in this thread cannot take your information seriously is because it does not conform in any way to the standards of rational inquiry; in fact your attitude shows that you have precious little appreciation of those standards and are seemingly willing to put stock in whatever fantastic flight of fancy is forwarded in your direction. It is ludicrous enough that you take this material at face value, but to expect others to do the same, blindly, willy-nilly, on the basis that accepting any and all material presented to you is a demonstration of open-mindedness, simply goes to show that you have no idea what actual open-mindedness is.

Come back when you have some understanding of critical thinking and a little more discernment. Right now you are not blowing anyone's mind or revealing any truths or relevant ideas.

i think this might have been a little hard to understand schmeltz, let me see if i can try to put it in some better terms

MOSCOW, Oct. 13 -- With the Kremlin backsliding on democracy, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has responded with expressions of dismay over a crackdown on independent institutions, while steering clear of any direct criticism of President Vladimir Putin's possible plan to extend his hold on power by becoming prime minister next year.

On the second day of her trip here, Rice assured human rights activists and other members of Russian civil society that she supports their efforts to protect "universal values" such as freedom of expression, worship and assembly.

Opinions vary as to how much Secretary of State Rice is at fault for troubled U.S.-Russian relations.
Opinions vary as to how much Secretary of State Rice is at fault for troubled U.S.-Russian relations. (By Ivan Sekretarev -- Associated Press)
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A few hours later, however, Rice told reporters that she had not raised the issue of Putin's political future when she met with him Friday, saying the topic was not appropriate for a meeting devoted to security issues.

"There's a lot of speculation about who's going to be president, whether President Putin is going to take any number of jobs or no job at all," Rice said in an interview with reporters traveling with her. "I just think speculating on that is not going to help the situation." But she added, "I think there is too much concentration of power in the Kremlin."

Administration officials once thought that Putin's decision on his future would be a defining moment for Russia, when it would become clear whether the rule of law or the rule of one man would win out. Their careful language following Putin's recent announcement that he might become prime minister shows how cautiously Rice and other officials are now balancing concern about the Kremlin's autocratic moves with the need to enlist its cooperation on confronting Iran, missile defense and other volatile issues. It may also reflect a recognition that the United States has limited influence on Russia's decisions.

Rice is one of two old Soviet hands at the top of the Bush administration -- the other is Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, a former CIA director. Both were deeply enmeshed in Soviet affairs during the administration of George H.W. Bush, when Rice was a young National Security Council staffer. On a visit to an ice rink Saturday, Rice chatted briefly in Russian with a young figure skater, although in official meetings she spoke English, which was translated.

Given her background, the troubles in U.S.-Russian relations are all the more frustrating for U.S. and Russian experts, who diverge on how much Rice should be faulted. In Moscow, some leading commentators said Rice is viewed somewhat sympathetically, as someone officials can deal with in an administration regarded as hostile. The view appears to be less favorable in Washington, where specialists across the political spectrum see Rice as having misunderstood Putin and mishandled relations with Russia.

Sergey Rogov, head of the Institute of U.S.A. and Canada Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, said Rice was not responsible for what he called the "very poor" state of Russian-American ties, with disputes over economic relations, arms control, missile defense and regional issues.

"All of this is much broader than the portfolio of the secretary of state," he said. "In general, she is respected in Russia. It would be a mistake to blame her. Because this is the attitude of an American administration where the secretary of state is not the number one player. There are other players, first of all Dick Cheney, who is rightly considered to take a hostile position on Russia."

After meeting with Rice on Saturday morning at the U.S. ambassador's residence, Tatyana Lokshina, head of the Demos Center, a Russian human rights group, described the secTHIS IS A HUGE LINK AND I REFUSE TO INTRODUCE IT AT ALLretary of state as an "impressive and an interesting interlocutor" but said Rice and other officials had lost leverage over democracy in Russia because of Iraq and other issues.

"Whatever criticism the Russian authorities get is wasted to a large extent since the Russians say the U.S. does not have the right to criticize us because of their own record. American criticism alone, the American voice alone, cannot be effective today," she said in an interview afterward.

Lokshina said that when she challenged Rice over the U.S. detention facility for terrorism suspects at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Rice responded, "We never lost the high ground."

______________

WASHINGTON — Retired Army Lt. Gen. Ricardo S. Sanchez, who led U.S. forces in Iraq for a year after the March 2003 invasion, accused the Bush administration Friday of going to war with a "catastrophically flawed" plan and said the United States is "living a nightmare with no end in sight."

Sanchez described the current troop increase in Iraq as "a desperate attempt by the administration that has not accepted the political and economic realities of this war."

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"The administration, Congress and the entire interagency, especially the State Department, must shoulder the responsibility for this catastrophic failure, and the American people must hold them accountable," Sanchez told military reporters and editors. "There has been a glaring unfortunate display of incompetent strategic leadership within our national leaders."

Sanchez lashed out specifically at the National Security Council, calling officials there negligent and incompetent, without offering details. He also blasted war policies over the last four years, which he said had stripped senior military officers of responsibility and thrust the armed services into an "intractable position" in Iraq.

"The best we can do with this flawed approach is stave off defeat," Sanchez said in a speech to the Military Reporters and Editors' annual conference in Arlington, Va. "Without bipartisan cooperation, we are destined to fail. There is nothing going on in Washington that would give us hope."

He faulted the administration for failing to "communicate effectively that reality to the American people."

Sanchez offered little advice about fixing military problems in Iraq. Efforts generally need more resources and skill, he said. "From a catastrophically flawed, unrealistically optimistic war plan to the administration's latest surge strategy, this administration has failed to employ and synchronize its political, economic and military power," Sanchez said.

Sanchez led Combined Joint Task Force 7 in Iraq beginning on June 15, 2003. Under his command, an insurgency erupted in Iraq, and he and other top officers were slow to respond to it, in part because of the reluctance of then-Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and other Bush administration officials to recognize its existence.

Some officials thought the anti-U.S. attacks would fade away after Saddam Hussein was captured in December 2003, but the insurgency intensified, with pitched battles the next IN FACT THIS IS A SERIES OF HUGE LINKS AND I REFUSE TO EXPLAIN HOW THEY ARE RELATED OR WHY I AM POSTING THEM spring in Najaf and Fallouja. Some analysts have argued that Sanchez had little feel for strategy and permitted commanders to use tactics that helped intensify opposition to the U.S. presence in the country.

Sanchez might be remembered most as the top general in Iraq during the period when the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuses occurred and were later revealed. Photographs of Iraqi detainees being humiliated shocked many, and provoked a reevaluation of the U.S. presence in Iraq. Some enlisted troops and Army Reserve officers were charged in the scandal, but in legal proceedings and official reviews no top commanders were deemed responsible.

Sanchez retired after officials decided not to give him a fourth star; they feared a public confirmation hearing would go badly in light of Abu Ghraib. He is now a senior mentor at the military's Joint Warfighting Center.

______________________

RICHMOND, VA. -- Virginia Republicans will hold a convention instead of a primary to choose their candidate to succeed retiring U.S. Sen. John W. Warner, upsetting critics who say it makes the party appear closed off.

The state party's central committee voted 47 to 37 on Saturday in favor of a convention. No date or location was decided.

Former Gov. Jim Gilmore and U.S. Rep. Thomas M. Davis III have expressed interest in seeking the GOP nomination. Supporters of Gilmore wanted a convention, and Davis backers had argued for a primary.

Warner, 80, said in August that he would not seek a sixth consecutive Senate term next year. Two weeks later, Democrat Mark R. Warner, a former governor, who is not related to the senator, announced his candidacy for the seat.

Supporters of a convention argued that it's more economical and that the party would avoid a divisive public squabble between GOP rivals in a primary.

"Mark Warner's already got a 60% approval rating. We have to go up against that. We cannot have that and air our dirty laundry, so we have to keep it in-house," Bruce Meyer, chairman for the GOP's 2nd Congressional District, told the committee.

Other convention supporters argued that with a primary, Democrats would be free to meddle in the GOP nominatiREAD BETWEEN THE LINES BROon process because Virginia did not require party registration and opened primaries to all voters.

Advocates of a primary argued that a convention makes the party look insular when it most needs to involve hundreds of thousands of voters, not just the few thousand who can fit into a meeting hall.

A primary builds precinct-by-precinct organizations faster and prepares activists and candidates for the door-to-door campaigning required in the fall, said David Avella, GOP chairman of the 8th Congressional District.

______________________________________

http://www.abanet.org/cpr/mrpc/mrpc_toc.html

http://newbie-fitness.blogspot.com/2007/01/stripped-5x5.html

http://youtube.com/watch?v=oHg5SJYRHA0

cosmo105

10-14-2007, 12:21 AM

i did those too; i once got one that said "In the City of God there will be a great thunder, Two brothers torn apart by Chaos, while the fortress endures, the great leader will succumb, The third big war will begin when the big city is burning"

then i did it again and i got "u like it up da butt" which is a lie btw

i usually got "you will marry michael jackson" which was a COMPLETE falsehood, ewww anyways

Schmeltz

10-14-2007, 12:46 AM

Ah, thanks for the clarification, Bob. I get a bit carried away sometimes but at least you're around to ground things in relevant terms.

ericg

10-14-2007, 07:32 PM

you're taking things all wrong here.
the bush erruhh exists for people like you.
"so let us not talk falsely now"

real people/ fans don't participate here with all the static.
it's a very bad sign when this particular board is over-run with spammers who's idea of 'turning things around' is confounded/ contrived/ mixed up - confused/ degenerated.

there's so much you could be learning and getting involved in productively.

www.hempfarm.com
www.911scholars.org
www.911pressfortruth.com
www.earthship.org
www.usalone.com
www.disclosureproject.com
etc etc etc

Schmeltz

10-14-2007, 08:41 PM

Getting involved with fringe theories about the paranormal is not productive or educational. Posting links to conspiracy theory websites is not illuminating or insightful. And you are the one spamming, man - you have offered absolutely no commentary or original contribution, just a bunch of worthless copy-and-pasted crap that we're all expected to take the time to read on your say-so, even though it does not - and I will repeat myself here - does not in any way represent a rational or critical perspective of reality.

Are we just going to repeat ourselves over and over, or are you going to offer some kind of justification for your demand that we consider this bullshit worth our while?

ericg

10-14-2007, 11:07 PM

look. i don't know how to tell you this, but, you've been outmoded.
have you tried watching the videos - reading the posts - connecting the links yet? have you really anything to say here? or do you only wish to suck.. on my tip. you must see how contradictary and ridiculous your attempts to redefine, repackage and label things for your own 'misgivings' has been so far. it's only gone to be utterly obtuse and obstinate.

i know you've been here for too long thinking you can talk your shit under the auspices of the beastie boys, but you should start thinking.. about moving on. it's all self explanatory. what more do you need? i can't walk you through your crawl space. you have to figure it out yourself. simply watch and read - and respond in kind. what's the problem? and why try to make it mine? i can't be responsible for you. the only justification you will get is from yourself. i've no wish to get into a mud slinging contest because you can't find solid ground. you can't usurp the point so stop trying to get around it. a word to the wise should be sufficient. i've all the circumspection and commentary in the world, but your responses have not warranted any further conversation in much of any respect.

i won't have any more time for you if you come back without doing the required homework on this thread.

i'll keep it easy and give you some talking points:
history of the resource, hemp
history of the federal reserve
history of the council on foreign relations

peace

Schmeltz

10-15-2007, 12:06 AM

guys ive been outmoded by the transgalactic lizard man conspiracy and i must therefore leave the forum

Schmeltz

10-15-2007, 12:14 AM

Seriously though - what you don't seem to understand is that nobody is obligated to take what you have to say seriously, and you are doing a very poor job convincing anybody why they should. You come around telling people about "required homework" when you have Bob doing yours for you? It's laughable.

what's the problem?

As has been continually pointed out to you, the problem is that your material is not worthy of serious consideration. It is nothing but the far side of the lunatic fringe and it is totally devoid of rationality or even level-headedness. Do you seriously believe that folding up a bill a certain way constitutes a prophetic indicator of a grand conspiracy behind an historic event? Are you actually on board with this notion that a military base is being built on the moon to communicate better with shape-shifting lizard men from another solar system? That's lunacy, eric, and just because you found it on the internet and think it blows the lid off your own poorly formed conception of the world doesn't mean it's worth anyone's time.

Nobody's buying what your selling, man. It's all crap. Maybe you're the one who should think about moving on - at least to an explanation, in your own words (and Beastie Boys lyrics don't count either) of why anybody should bother with this garbage.

ericg

10-15-2007, 11:54 AM

"is it worth it, let me work it"

a few insufferable fools with cabal aspirations do not constitute anything with an endless smear campaign.

don't look now, but you're the only person who's mentioned, 'lizard men'. yet you continue to exploit it incredibly and hap hazardly. david icke is not the name of this thread. again, he appears for 10 mins in "secret space", which should be self evident that i put here, not so much as absolute fact, as objective and certain evidence professionals in the field, extremely more accredited than you, have reason to believe. i've responded too much now. why you're in the habit of downgrading everything to 'suit yourself' ... you have too much shit coming out the wrong end - why keep fuckin' yourself.

try again.

Schmeltz

10-15-2007, 12:02 PM

You're right when you say you've responded too much, but you're wrong to think you've responded with anything substantial.

I'll say again: nothing you've put up here has prompted anyone to investigate your "information" and all of the respondents to this thread are doing nothing but taking the piss at your expense. Keep it up though, I'm sick and I need a good laugh to get the endorphins flowing. (y)

ericg

10-15-2007, 01:56 PM

what'cha want?
a prompt?

Hate filled people wanna keep us in check
Tearin' down each other is what they expect
If you want love well hey that's a bet
We've got to give before we can get
Waiting like a batter who is on deck
When it's time to wreck shop then shop I'll wreck
So let's calibrate and check our specs
...
Why not open your mind for a sec?

Now talk about your face now don't get pissed
But I suggest you see a dermatologist
I keep that hot sauce hot not mild and weak
It's gonna burn your mouth until you wet your beak
I've got billions and billions of rhymes to flex

...

I didn't touch your hand man you know its all ball
www.whatthebleep.com

Bob

10-15-2007, 02:28 PM

hang on, i get it now

what a fool i've been

a real suckerhead. a dynamic one, even

Bob

10-15-2007, 02:39 PM

this strategy works really well in court, too. basically you just go up to the evidence table and dump a bunch of stuff on it and say to the jury "i'm not gonna connect the dots for you, you have to do your own homework, i rest my case"

those guys win a lot of cases

Schmeltz

10-15-2007, 02:41 PM

what'cha want?
a prompt?

No, eric, as I said before I want a reasoned explanation of what makes your perspective valid and your information worthwhile, one that takes into account the fact that nobody else is prepared to accept your whack internet bullshit at face value. Copy-and-pasting Beastie Boys lyrics does not constitute any such thing.

You might as well leave your posts blank for all the impact they're making, mang.

ericg

10-15-2007, 03:17 PM

http://georgewashington.blogspot.com/2007/10/outcompete-bad-guys.html

Sunday, October 14, 2007
Outcompete the Bad Guys
The bottom line about disinformation is simple: Those fighting for truth have to outcompete those fighting to supress it. It is a good old-fashioned competition.

Understanding the tactics and styles of people spreading disinformation is helpful to minimize the effectiveness of those trying to disrupt the truth movement. But even more important is our ability to simply spread more information, more persuasively, than those spreading lies. If we spend more time discussing disinfo than putting out important info ourselves, we've lost.

The good news is that those who use brute force to obtain imperial control are not very creative. They are using the same false flag terror playbook they've been using for thousands of years. They're trotting out the same old "great leader will protect us from the bad guys" script they've been recycling again and again ever since the days of Caesar.

WE'VE got truth, creativity, passion, brains and justice on our side. Plus, we are defending our own own country, our homes and our families from people who have no loyalty to America or the Constitution.

WE CAN outsmart them and out-create them.

The Web and the Street

We all know the power of the Internet to spread truth. We thought that we would have years to harness the Net for good purposes, and hopefully we will. But the powers-that-be are trying to shut it down pronto or -- at the least -- tame it into a whimpering poodle, a sitcom-level boob-tube like media toy to spoon-feed comforting mush to the sheeple.

The net is now under massive attack by the government and corporate America. For example, the BBC revealed that the U.S. military views the internet as an enemy which should be fought (see also this article for further detail). And the big telecom companies are trying to erect virtual "toll booths" on the net which would limit access to the well-to-do, and make it much more difficult for people to access content which has not been pre-approved by the media conglomerates. See this article.

So download and save all information which you absolutely must have to continue to do your truthtelling and justice-seeking work. This article explains how to do it. Save the information to your computer or CDs. That way, even if they take down the Net, you will still have the most important information for yourself and to share with others.

More importantly, redouble your efforts to take information on the Net and convert it to something physical you can use out in the world to reach people who are not as web-savvy as you. Make flyers, posters, bumper stickers, pamphlets, CDs, DVDs, etc. Put the info on your car, on the street. Paint 9/11 messages in chalk on the sidewalk, and affixed to helium balloons released indoors. Make freeway blogs. Think of new ways to spread truth.

As a well-known 9/11 activist said a year ago "We've already won on the Web ... now we have to go out and conquer the street" with truth.

Can We Win?

Its carpe diem time, folks. There really is is an "info war" being waged against people's hearts and minds. And the stakes are high. The bad guys want to suppress the truth, spread myths, and take away people's freedom, power and options.

Alot of us are very creative, smart or passionate people. Engage that passion, intelligence and creativity to implement RIGHT NOW the highest possible leverage to spread the truth. Let's all work harder and work smarter.

If we outcompete the bad guys, we will win. It won't be easy, but no one ever said it would be. This is what we were born to do. This is why we're here. This is our calling and our destiny. And when we put everything we have into winning the competition for truth, our victory will be a shining legacy we leave for future generations.

"None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free. The truth has been kept from the depth of their minds by masters who rule them with lies. They feed them on falsehoods till wrong looks like right in their eyes."
- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

"Ye shall know the truth, and the truth will make you mad."
- Aldous Huxley

"There's really five companies that control 90 percent of what we read, see and hear."
- Ted Turner

"We need a program of psychosurgery and political control of our society. The purpose is physical control of the mind. Everyone who deviates from the given norm can be surgically mutilated.... Man does not have the right to develop his own mind. This kind of liberal orientation has great appeal. We must electrically control the brain. Some day armies and generals will be controlled by electrical stimulation of the brain."
- Dr. Jose Delgado (U.S. government mind-control experimenter associated with the "MKULTRA" program who demonstrated a radio controlled bull on CNN in 1985)

"In March 1915, the J.P. Morgan interests the steel, shipbuilding, and powder interest, and their subsidiary organizations got together 12 men high up in the newspaper world and employed them to select the most influential newspapers in the United States and sufficient number of them to control generally the policy of the daily press ...They found it was only necessary to purchase the control of 25 of the greatest papers. An agreement was reached; the policy of the papers was bought, to be paid for by the month; an editor was furnished for each paper to properly supervise and edit information regarding the questions of preparedness, militarism, financial policies, and other things of national and international nature considered vital to the interests of the purchasers."
- U.S. Congressman Oscar Callaway, 1917

"There is no such thing, at this date of the world's history, in America, as an independent press. You know it and I know it. There is not one of you who dares to write your honest opinions, and if you did, you know beforehand that it would never appear in print. I am paid weekly for keeping my honest opinions out of the paper I am connected with. Others of you are paid similar salaries for similar things, and any of you who would be so foolish as to write honest opinions would be out on the streets looking for another job. If I allowed my honest opinions to appear in one issue of my paper, before twenty four hours my occupation would be gone. The business of the Journalist is to destroy truth; To lie outright; To pervert; To vilify; To fawn at the feet of mammon, and to sell his country and his race for his daily bread. You know it and I know it and what folly is this toasting an independent press? We are the tools and vassals for rich men behind the scenes. We are the jumping jacks, they pull the strings and we dance. Our talents, our possibilities and our lives are all the property of other men. We are intellectual prostitutes."
- John Swinton, the former chief of staff of the New York Times, called by his peers, "The Dean of his profession," in a speech at the New York Press Club.

"Our job is to give people not what they want, but what we decide they ought to have."
– Richard Salant, former President of CBS News

"The great masses of people will more easily fall victims to a big lie than to a small one. Especially if it is repeated over and over."
- Adolph Hitler

"The victor will never be asked if he told the truth"
- Adolph Hitler

"All propaganda has to be popular and has to adapt its spiritual level to the perception of the least intelligent of those towards whom it intends to direct itself."
- Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf

"It is the absolute right of the State to supervise the formation of public opinion."
- Dr. Joseph Goebbels, Nazi Minister of Propaganda

"If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it."
- Goebbels

"The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State."
- Goebbels

"Strange times are these in which we live when old and young are taught in falsehoods school. And the one man that dares to tell the truth is called at once a lunatic and fool"
- Plato

"The real mass media are basically trying to divert people." ... "Let everybody be crazed about professional sports or sex scandals"
– Noam Chomsky

"As long as each individual is facing the television tube alone, formal freedom poses no threat to privilege"
– Noam Chomsky

"Where once the student was taught that the unexamined life was not worth living, he is now taught that the profitably lived life is not worth examining."
– Benjamin Barber

"The conventional view serves to protect us from the painful job of thinking."
– J. K. Galbraith

"The world's press is losing its ability to keep power in check"
– Frank Vogl

"The New York Times is for us what Pravda was for the Soviets"
– Gore Vidal

"The mass media is itself part of the same power structure that plunders the planet and inflicts human rights abuses on a massive scale"
– David Cromwell

"When a well-packaged web of lies has been sold gradually to the masses over generations, the truth will seem utterly preposterous and its speaker, a raving lunatic."
- Dresden James

"The real advantage which truth has, consists in this, that when an opinion is true, it may be extinguished once, twice, or many times, but in the course of ages there will generally be found persons to rediscover it, until some one of its reappearances falls on a time when from favorable circumstances it escapes persecution until it has made such head as to withstand all subsequent attempts to suppress it."
-John Stuart Mill, On Liberty (1859)"

"They bought the politicians and the news
They've got all the weapons (which they like to use)

But they are few and we're billions strong
We are the giant ... been sleeping for too long
Time to wake up and sing our victory song"
- The Voice

yeahwho

10-15-2007, 03:20 PM

Waus

10-15-2007, 03:24 PM

My eyes have been opened.

:rolleyes:

Schmeltz

10-15-2007, 03:28 PM

Hey guys here's a bunch of crap I found on the internet now you all have to read it

(y)

ericg

10-15-2007, 03:48 PM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8KeeDqE5Xc

EN[i]GMA

10-15-2007, 03:58 PM

I saw a documentary on this "Ring of Power" one time, but at the end it was thrown into a volcano and destroyed, so I don't see what we have to worry about anymore...

:confused:

ericg

10-15-2007, 04:02 PM

www.americanfreepress.net

ericg

10-15-2007, 04:20 PM

www.sac911truth.com/stf.htm

Schmeltz

10-15-2007, 04:50 PM

www.itsbullshit.com

Bob

10-15-2007, 05:07 PM

http://youtube.com/watch?v=oHg5SJYRHA0

EN[i]GMA

10-15-2007, 05:59 PM

http://youtube.com/watch?v=oHg5SJYRHA0

Wait... you mean to tell me HE was responsible for 9/11?

EN[i]GMA

10-15-2007, 06:08 PM

Why is it that whenever these conspiracy "theories" always remind me of that scene in A Beautiful Mind when Nash is in his shed with all those magazine scraps, trying to convince people that he's really onto something?

Oh, it's because the situations are exactly parallel.

Bob

10-15-2007, 06:10 PM

GMA;1523019']Wait... you mean to tell me HE was responsible for 9/11?

well come on man, do your homework

"never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down, never gonna turn around and desert you" he's clearly referring to the reptilian conspiracy and how he's never going to give up drinking blood (i earnestly believe rick astley is a reptile masquerading as a human btw, though the whole blood drinking thing is up in the air)

ericg

10-16-2007, 09:58 AM

alert:

the anatomy of the board is infested with parasitical fools that front on being schooled in dialectic - and free mason (devil's) advocates... that can't, won't and don't stop!!!

.. suckerheads long imbedded in the board desperately trying to get a blood transfusion but couldn't find their way to the vein. when 'found', they get greedy and clot things up - mocking everything with a mocked-up, smear campaign...

the brain has been further notified and the heart is sending reinforcements.

- unclotting agent d double o.

Bob

10-16-2007, 10:49 AM

ericg

10-16-2007, 11:22 AM

etymology of physiognomy

refer to post #13.

ericg

10-16-2007, 02:48 PM

NIST Admits Total Collapse Of Twin Towers Unexplainable

The National Institute for Standards and Technology has been forced to admit that the total free-fall collapse of the twin towers cannot be explained after an exhaustive scientific study, implicitly acknowledging that controlled demolition is the only means by which the buildings could have come down.

http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/october2007/161007_nist_admits.htm

Knuckles

10-16-2007, 08:31 PM

ericg is like fucktopgirl on acid (y)

Documad

10-16-2007, 09:28 PM

alert:

the anatomy of the board is infested with parasitical fools that front on being schooled in dialectic - and free mason (devil's) advocates... that can't, won't and don't stop!!!
Oh no. I've been found out. I only come here to front for the freemasons. But before you judge me, please consider that I entered their cult when I was just 11 years old.

Yetra Flam

10-16-2007, 10:03 PM

is this ring of power like "one ring to rule them all" type shit?

ericg

10-17-2007, 10:18 AM

THIRD WORLD ELECTION FRAUD - RIGHT HERE AT HOME
By Mary Starrett
Go To Original

"Impress upon your children the truth that (voting) is a… duty of as solemn a nature as man can… perform; that a man may not innocently trifle with his vote; that every elector is a trustee as well for others as himself." --Daniel Webster, 1840

While the United States purports to be the guardian of free and fair elections the world over, here at home our elections system is utterly corrupted. From casting to counting to reporting of election results, the fix is in and we’ve allowed it to happen.

Why is the third largest political party, the Constitution Party (www.constitutionparty.com) the only party encouraging support for the National Clean Elections Lawsuit (N-CEL)? The suit, filed against ten states, New Hampshire, Iowa, Ohio, Florida, California, New York, Illinois, Oregon, South Carolina, and Texas is calling attention to US voting procedures that are so secretive and potentially corruptible you’d expect these types of systems in third world countries.

Since 1988, all but a handful of the 3,142 counties in the US have delegated the "counting" process, done in secret, to several mega companies, Diebold, ES&S, Hart and Sequioa while all 50 secretaries of state have approved these systems.

The Clean Elections lawsuit, in the process of expanding to all 50 states, charges that the use of any computer (direct-recording-electronic- or DRE) systems which obscure ballots from the people for any period of time before a count is completed and the results are announced are unconstitutional. Citizens for a Fair Vote Count (www.votefraud.org) and its plaintiffs in the Clean Elections Lawsuit are calling attention to the potential for vote fraud through electronic voting systems. According to the suit, the use of computer and machine election systems violates each citizen's right to vote, as defined at least twice by the Supreme Court of the United States. (In 1915 and 1964 the US Supreme Court ruled that a citizen's right to vote consists of two parts: 1) the right to cast a ballot; 2) the right to know that his ballot has been counted accurately.)

[To fully understand how elections are rigged with electronic voting machines, see DVD "Hacking Democracy"]

Paper ballots that remain in plain sight are the only way we can make sure our votes are cast and counted honestly.

When credentialed computer scientists from prestigious institutions such as Princeton and Stanford universities have proven time and again electronic voting systems can’t be trusted, it’s imperative we move to stop computer vote fraud immediately.

“Since ballots leave the sight of the people in the precinct before the votes are counted, breaking the chain of custody of the ballots, the illegality and unconstitutionality of electronic voting is clear,” wrote Citizens for a Fair Vote Count’s Jim Condit Jr.

To make matters worse, the private companies controlling the ballots then give the “results” of electronic voting, gathered through touch screens with no paper trail, directly to the Big TV Networks -ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, & FOX. Centralized counting and reporting has no place in a free country. While the United States government sends monitors to make sure third world countries conduct fair elections, the fox is guarding the ballot box hen house here at home.

Other political parties and all voters should support the National Clean Elections Lawsuit and demand accountability from state, county and federal elections officials. The two “big box” parties have nothing to gain and everything to lose if we clean up our elections process. Stalin was right when he said: “He who casts the vote decides nothing; he who counts the vote decides everything.” Globalists in both parties want to make sure no one muscles in on their territory and easily corrupted electronic voting is one way to hang onto the power they’ve spent decades amassing.

Bob

10-17-2007, 10:37 AM

she's crafty, she gets around
she's crafty yeah she's always down

ericg

10-18-2007, 11:53 AM

insightfull, intelligent, remarkable.
"i don't understand a word that's coming out of your mouth"

Ed Brown Gassed, Tortured In Deprivation Tank
Tax protester speaks for first time since arrest in prison phone call

Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet
Wednesday, October 17, 2007

In a disturbing audio clip, Ed Brown speaks for the first time since his arrest and relates how he was gassed by noxious fumes for three days in a detention center as well as being put in a deprivation tank for 15 hours.

Shaun of MaketheStand.com was able to call the Ohio prison that Brown has been incarcerated in and talk with him on the phone for 10 minutes.

Sensory deprivation is a form of torture and extended deprivation can result in extreme anxiety, hallucinations, bizarre thoughts, depression, and antisocial behavior.

Brown also said he had been prevented from making any phone calls or receiving mail.

For the first time, Brown reveals what happened when he was tricked and arrested by U.S. Marshals, including how he was tasered multiple times.

Brown said that he had a chance to fight back during the arrest but that he did not want to hurt anyone.

Brown said his captors were treating him with "professional cruelty" and mentioned that they had also done harrowing things to his wife following her arrest, but refused to go into detail.

"I guess Ed and Elaine Brown, the elderly couple, really rattled their cages, we must be a real terror to the federal government, the corporate structure," said Brown.

Following our article about Ed Brown supporters fearing Brown was being mistreated or tortured, U.S. Marshal Stephen Monier dismissed it, saying, "That's absolutely ludicrous."

From what Ed Brown relates in the audio clip, it's abundantly clear that he is being cruelly mistreated.

Click here to listen to the MP3.

In a related development, Elaine Brown's son David told WMUR News that he has also been prevented from speaking to his mother.

http://questforfairtrialinconcordnh.blogspot.com/

ericg

10-18-2007, 01:57 PM

Watson endorses H. Res. 333

Email your member of Congress and ask them to uphold their sworn duty to protect the Constitution by co-sponsoring H. Res. 333.

On October 13, 2007, in response to a request made by Peter Thottam, Executive Director of the Los Angeles National Impeachment Center (LANIC) during a Town Hall Q&A session, PDA Advisory Board member Rep. Diane E. Watson (33rd District, CA) agreed to immediately endorse the impeachment of both President Bush and Vice President Cheney and stated that she will sign on as an official co-sponsor for H. Res. 333. Victor Oquendo, Lyn Jensen and numerous other LANIC impeachment activists and volunteers living in Watson's district gathered more than 10,200 handwritten signatures--demonstrating overwhelming support for H. Res.333. The endorsement was repeated three times, recorded and verified by Watson's Chief District Representative, Charles Stewart, following the meeting.

With this announcement, Congresswoman Watson becomes the 22nd member of Congress to endorse H. Res. 333. The endorsement is effective immediately and will be formalized this coming week by her staff. H. Res. 333, if passed, would impeach Vice President Dick Cheney on three charges. The resolution, sponsored by Rep. Dennis Kucinich, was introduced on April 24, 2007.

(Representative Edolphus Towns became the 21st co-signer of H. Res. 333 on September 27, 2007.)
Join PDA's Impeachment Action Group; contact Matthew@COTAM.org.

Schmeltz

10-18-2007, 02:07 PM

ericg's gonna cut-and-paste these alien lizard men right the fuck outta our solar system. (y)

ericg

10-18-2007, 02:25 PM

There is a worldwide conspiracy being orchestrated by an extremely powerful and influential group of genetically-related individuals (at least at the highest echelons) which include many of the world's wealthiest people, top political leaders, and corporate elite, as well as members of the so-called Black Nobility of Europe (dominated by the British Crown) whose goal is to create a One World (fascist) Government, stripped of nationalistic and regional boundaries, that is obedient to their agenda. Their intention is to effect complete and total control over every human being on the planet and to dramatically reduce the world's population by 5.5 Billion people. While the name New World Order is a term frequently used today when referring to this group, it's more useful to identify the principal organizations, institutions, and individuals who make up this vast interlocking spiderweb of elite conspirators.

The Illuminati is the oldest term commonly used to refer to the 13 bloodline families (and their offshoots) that make up a major portion of this controlling elite. Most members of the Illuminati are also members in the highest ranks of numerous secretive and occult societies which in many cases extend straight back into the ancient world. The upper levels of the tightly compartmentalized (need-to-know-basis) Illuminati structural pyramid include planning committees and organizations that the public has little or no knowledge of. The upper levels of the Illuminati pyramid include secretive committees with names such as: the Council of 3, the Council of 5, the Council of 7, the Council of 9, the Council of 13, the Council of 33, the Grand Druid Council, the Committee of 300 (also called the "Olympians") and the Committee of 500 among others.

In 1992, Dr John Coleman published Conspirators' Hierarchy: The Story of the Committee of 300. With laudable scholarship and meticulous research, Dr Coleman identifies the players and carefully details the Illuminati agenda of worldwide domination and control. On page 161 of the Conspirators Hierarchy, Dr Coleman accurately summarizes the intent and purpose of the Committee of 300 as follows:

"A One World Government and one-unit monetary system, under permanent non-elected hereditary oligarchists who self-select from among their numbers in the form of a feudal system as it was in the Middle Ages. In this One World entity, population will be limited by restrictions on the number of children per family, diseases, wars, famines, until 1 billion people who are useful to the ruling class, in areas which will be strictly and clearly defined, remain as the total world population.

There will be no middle class, only rulers and the servants. All laws will be uniform under a legal system of world courts practicing the same unified code of laws, backed up by a One World Government police force and a One World unified military to enforce laws in all former countries where no national boundaries shall exist. The system will be on the basis of a welfare state; those who are obedient and subservient to the One World Government will be rewarded with the means to live; those who are rebellious will simple be starved to death or be declared outlaws, thus a target for anyone who wishes to kill them. Privately owned firearms or weapons of any kind will be prohibited."

The sheer magnitude and complex web of deceit surrounding the individuals and organizations involved in this conspiracy is mind boggling, even for the most astute among us. Most people react with disbelief and skepticism towards the topic, unaware that they have been conditioned (brainwashed) to react with skepticism by institutional and media influences that were created by the Mother of All mind control organizations: The Tavistock Institute of Human Relations in London. Author and de-programmer Fritz Springmeier (The Top 13 Illuminati Bloodlines ) says that most people have built in "slides" that short circuit the mind's critical examination process when it comes to certain sensitive topics. "Slides", Springmeier reports, is a CIA term for a conditioned type of response which dead ends a person's thinking and terminates debate or examination of the topic at hand. For example, the mention of the word "conspiracy" often solicits a slide response with many people. (Springmeier has co-authored three books on trauma-based programming which detail how the Illuminati employs highly tuned and extrememly sophisticated Mind Control (MC) training programs that begin the programming process while the intended victim is still within the womb. Mind Control is a much greater problem than most people realize. According to Cisco Wheeler, a former Illuminati mind control programmer, there are 10 million people who have been programmed as mind controlled slaves using trauma-based MC programs with names like Monarch and MK Ultra. The newer, non-trauma, electronic means of MC programming that grew out of the Montauk Project, may include millions more. Al Bielek, who played a principle role in the development of the Montauk Project, said that there likely 10 million victims of Montauk style mind control programming worldwide, the majority located in the USA. He also said that there are covert Montauk Programming 'Centers' in every major city in the U.S. )

What most Americans believe to be "Public Opinion" is in reality carefully crafted and scripted propaganda designed to elicit a desired behavioral response from the public. Public opinion polls are really taken with the intent of gauging the public's acceptance of the Illuminati's planned programs. A strong showing in the polls tells the Illuminati that the programing is "taking", while a poor showing tells the NWO manipulators that they have to recast or "tweak" the programming until the desired response is achieved. While the thrust and content of the propaganda is decided at Tavistock, implementation of the propaganda is executed in the United States by well over 200 'think tanks' such as the Rand Corporation and the Brookings Institute which are overseen and directed by the top NWO mind control organization in the United States, the Stanford Research Institute (SRI) in Menlo Park, California.

The NWO global conspirators manifest their agenda through the skillful manipulation of human emotions, especially fear. In the past centuries, they have repeatedly utilized a contrivance that NWO researcher and author David Icke has characterized in his latest book, The Biggest Secret, as Problem, Reaction, and Solution.

The technique is as follows: Illuminati strategists create the Problem- by funding , assembling, and training an "opposition" group to stimulate turmoil in an established political power (sovereign country, region, continent, etc.) that they wish to impinge upon and thus create opposing factions in a conflict that the Illuminati themselves maneuvered into existence. In recent decades, so called "opposition" groups are usually identified in the media as 'freedom fighters' or 'liberators' (recently the KLA-Kosovo Liberation Army).

At the same time, the leader of the established political power where the conflict is being orchestrated is demonized and, on cue, referred to as 'another Hitler' (take your pick: Saddam Hussein, Milosevic, Kadaffi, etc.). The 'freedom fighters' are not infrequently assembled from a local criminal element (i.e. KLA, drug traffickers). In the spirit of true Machiavellian deceit, the same NWO strategists are equally involved in covertly arming and advising the leader of the established power as well (the Illuminati always profits from any armed conflict by loaning money, arming, and supplying all parties involved in a war).

The conflict is drawn to the world stage by the controlled media outlets with a barrage of photos and video tape reports of horrific and bloody atrocities suffered by innocent civilians. The cry goes up "Something has to be done!" And That is the desired Reaction (note: the same technique is presently being used to bring about gun control in the United States).

The NWO puppeteers then provide the Solution by sending in UN 'Peace Keepers' (Bosnia) or a UN 'Coalition Force' (Gulf War) or NATO Bombers and then ground troops (Kosovo). Once installed, the 'peace keepers' never leave (Bosnia, Kosovo). The idea is to have NWO controlled ground troops in all major countries or strategic areas where significant resistance to the New World Order takeover is likely to be encountered.

East Timor, Indosnesia. (9/14/99) Virtually , the same strategy used to occupy Kosovo with UN/NATO troops was applied by the NWO manipulators to take military control of East Timor. Once again, the same morality play is trotted out for public consumption: the local evil and demonic Indonesian Army trained militias responsible for the slaughter of innocent civilians following the August 30 vote for Independence (from Indonesian control), must be stopped at all costs. This time, Australia (to keep up the appearance of an 'international' humantarian effort) will lead the charge with 'peacekeeping' troops. Of course, it didn't take long for Madeline Albright to announce that US 'support assets' will be part of the "UN Peacekeeping Team". In a front page story in the LA Times (9/13/99), Mike Jendrzejczyk of Human Rights Watch (an Illuminati front group) in Washington DC said that it's "crucial" that "peacekeepers have the authority to disarm militia forces and any Indonesian soldiers actively working with them". ]

The local, sovereign military force is either defeated (i.e. Yugoslavia) or, as in the case of the United States itself, replaced by foreign UN "Partnership For Peace" (PFP) troops who take over the jobs of US soldiers who have been sent overseas on 'peacekeeping' missions. In addition to being killed in ground conflicts on foreign soil, US military forces will likely be reduced in the next few years through disease induced attrition (i.e. from mandatory Anthrax Vaccinations required of all US military personnel). These vaccinations will, in all probability, eventually produce the symptoms of the so-called Gulf War Illness, which was acquired by a certain percentage of Gulf War soldiers who were given a "special" anthrax vaccine (intended by the Illuminati/CIA as a test run to ascertain how quickly (and fatally) the disease would progress with a substantial population of healthy young men and women).

The corporate portion of the NWO pyramid seems to be dominated by international bankers and the big pharmaceutical cartels, as well as other major multinational corporations. The Royal Family of England, namely Queen Elizabeth II and the House of Windsor, (who are, in fact, descendants of the German arm of European Royalty -the Saxe-Coburg-Gotha family-changed the name to Windsor in 1914 ), are high level players, along with the British oligarchy which controls the upper strata of the Illuminati. The decision making Illuminati nerve centers of this effort are in the London (especially the City of London), Basel Switzerland, and Brussels (NATO headquarters).

The United Nations, along with all the agencies working under the UN umbrella, such as the World Health Organization (WHO), are full time players in this scheme. Similarly, NATO is a military tool of the NWO.

The leaders of all major industrial countries like the United States, England, Germany, Italy, Australia, New Zealand, etc. (E.g. members of the "G7/G8" ) are active and fully cooperative participants in this conspiracy. In this century, the degree of control exerted by the Illuminati has advanced to the point that only certain hand-picked individuals, who are groomed and selected by the Illuminati are even eligible to become the prime minister or president of countries like England, Germany, or The United States. It didn't matter whether Bill Clinton or Bob Dole won the Presidency in 1996, the results would have been the same (except maybe for Zipper Gate ). Both men are playing on the same team for the same ball club. Anyone who isn't a team player is taken out: i.e.President Kennedy, Ali Bhutto (Pakistan) and Aldo Moro (Italy). More recently, Admiral Borda and William Colby were also killed because they were either unwilling to go along with the conspiracy to destroy America, weren't cooperating in some capacity, or were attempting to expose/ thwart the Takeover agenda.

Most of the major wars, political upheavals, and economic depression/recessions of the past 100 years (and earlier) were carefully planned and instigated by the machinations of these elites. They include The Spanish-American War (1898), World War I and World War II; TheGreat Depression; the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917; the Rise of Nazi Germany; the Korean War; the Vietnam War; the 1989-91"fall" of Soviet Communism, the 1991 Gulf War; and the recent War in Kosovo. Even the French Revolution was an orchestrated into existence by the Barvaian Illuminati and the House of Rothchild.

FEMA
In America, the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) was created in 1979 under Presidential Memorandum 32 authored for President Carter by Prof. Samuel P. Huntington, a Harvard professor and former FEMA Advisory Board chairman. Huntington wrote the Seminal Peace for the Trilateral Commission in the mid 70's, in which he criticized democracy and economic development as outdated ideas. As co-author of the book, Crisis in Democracy, Huntington wrote:

"We have come to recognize that there are potential desirable limits to economic growth. There are also potentially desirable limits to the indefinite extension of political democracy. A government which lacks authority will have little ability short of cataclysmic crisis to impose on its people the sacrifices which may be necessary."

Huntington's ideas were rewritten into National Security Decision Directive 47 (NSDD47), which was enacted in July 1982 by President Reagan. Treated as a passing footnote by the media, this law identified legitimate areas to be upgraded to maintain national defense, but it also laid the groundwork for Emergency Mobilization Preparedness, a plan under which existing socio/economic regulations or other legal constraints would be waived in the event of a national emergency. This plan was further strengthened in Public Law 101-647, signed by President Bush in November 1990.What it boils down to is this: in the event that the President declares a national emergency, for any reason (from major earthquakes to increased international tensions or economic /financial crisis of any stripe), FEMA can then, at their discretion, implement Executive Orders 10995 through 11005. These Executive Orders permit a takeover by FEMA of local, state, and national governments and the suspension of constitutional guarantees. FEMA will have the authority to exert any sort of control that it deems necessary upon the American public. A trained National Police Force, formally referred to by the name of Multi Jurisdictional Task Force (MJTF), wearing black uniforms and composed of:

1. specially selected US military personnel
2. foreign military units carrying United Nations ID cards, and
3. specially trained existing police groups from larger metropolitan American cities.

These members of the MJTF will implement and enforce martial law under the direction and controlof FEMA. The President and Congress are out of the loop.

FEMA is the Trojan Horse by which the New World Order will implement overt, police-state control over the American populace.

War on Drugs
The "War on Drugs" is a cruel joke. The US government, specifically the CIA, is the biggest 'drug lord' on the planet. Drug money is used to pay for innumerable 'black projects', including the construction of huge underground cities housing both humans and aliens working with the secret US government.

The instigation of a trumped-up war as a cover for amassing fortunes can be dated back to at least the 12th Century when only a core group of nine members of an Illuminati group called the Knights Templar, the military arm of an Illuminati secret society known as the Priory of Sion, kicked off the The Crusades that lasted for over a century and a half. A rift later developed between the Templars and the Priory of Sion when Jerusalem was lost to Saracen Turks in 1187. In 1307, the king of France, Philippe the Fair (a Merovingian Illuminati), coveted the wealth and was jealous of the Templars' power. The French king, being a puppet of the Priory of Sion, set out to arrest all the Templars in France on October 13. While many Templars were seized and tortured, including their Grand Master, Jacques de Molay, many other Templars (who had been tipped off) escaped. They eventually resurfaced in Portugal, in Malta (as the Knights of Malta) and later in Scotland as The Scottish Rites of Free Masonry.

The acquisition and consolidation of ever greater wealth, natural resources, total political power, and control over others are the motivating forces which drives the decisions of the Illuminati. The toll in human suffering and the loss of innocent lives are non issues for these individuals, who are aligned with very dark and malevolent 4th dimensional aliens. The dominant group of 4th dimentional malevolent aliens controlling and manipulating the human Iluminati are known as Draconians or Drakos Reptilians. Not all alien reptilians are of a negative spiritual orientation.

Mind Control
Recent revelations from deprogrammed Illuminati (government) mind controlled individuals such as Arizona Wilder (The Biggest Secret), Cisco Wheeler ( The Illuminati Formula to Create an Undetectable Total Mind Control Slave), Cathy O'Brien (Trance Formation of America), and Brice Taylor (Thanks for the Memories) leave NO DOUBT that the upper levels of the Illuminati engage in Satanic rituals which usually include the killing of young children, the drinking of human blood and the consuming of flesh and human organs.

The details of the Illuminati conspiracy are brilliantly laid out in the books of David Icke (Tales from the Time Loop, Children of the Matrix, Alice in Wonderland and the World Trace Center Disaster, The Biggest Secret, The Truth Shall Set You Free, and I am Me, I am Free; and in three books by Dr. John Coleman (Conspirators' Hierarchy: The Story of The Committee of 300; One World Order: Socialist Dictatorship; and Diplomacy by Deception

Anyone Not Believe There's a NWO/Illuminati Conspiracy?

This post are quotes that should prove to any skeptic that the NWO/Illuminati are real.

"It was not my intention to doubt that the doctrines of the Illuminati had not spread in the United States. On the contrary, no one is more fully satisfied of this fact than I am."
-George Washington, 1782

"The world is governed by very different personages from what is imagined by those who are not behind the scenes."
-Benjamin Disraeli, 1844

"Since I entered politics, I have chiefly had men's views confided to me privately. Some of the biggest men in the United States, in the Field of commerce and manufacture, are afraid of something. They know that there is a power somewhere so organized, so subtle, so watchful, so interlocked, so complete, so pervasive, that they better not speak above their breath when they speak in condemnation of it."
-Woodrow Wilson, 1913

"I am a most unhappy man. I have unwittingly ruined my country. A great industrial nation is controlled by its system of credit. Our system of credit is concentrated. The growth of the nation, therefore, and all our activities are in the hands of a few men. We have come to be one of the worst ruled, one of the most completely controlled and dominated governments in the civilized world. No longer a government by free opinion, no longer a government by conviction and the vote of the majority, but a government by the opinion and duress of a small group of dominant men."
-Woodrow Wilson, 1916

"From the days of Spartacus-Weishaupt to those of Karl Marx, to those of Trotsky, Bela Kun, Rosa Luxembourg, and Emma Goldman, this world wide conspiracy for the overthrow of civilization and for the reconstitution of society on the basis of arrested development, of envious malevolence and impossible equality, has been steadily growing. It played a definitely recognizable role in the tragedy of the French Revolution. It has been the mainspring of every subversive movement during the nineteenth century, and now at last this band of extraordinary personalities from the underworld of the great cities of Europe and America have gripped the Russian people by the hair of their heads, and have become practically the undisputed masters of that enormous empire."
-Winston Churchill, 1920

"The real menace of our Republic is the invisible government which like a giant octopus sprawls its slimy legs over our cities, states and nation. At the head is a small group of banking houses. This little coterie run our government for their own selfish ends. It operates under cover of a self-created screen, seizes our executive officers, legislative bodies, schools, courts, newspapers and every agency created for the public protection."
-N.Y. Mayor, John Hylan, 1922

"Today the path to total dictatorship in the United States can be laid by strictly legal means, unseen and unheard by the Congress, the President, or the people… outwardly we have a Constitutional government. We have operating within our government and political system, another body representing another form of government, a bureaucratic elite which believes our Constitution is outmoded and is sure that it is the winning side. All the strange developments in the foreign policy agreements may be traced to this group who are going to make us over to suit their pleasure. This political action group has its own local political support organizations, its own pressure groups, its own vested interests, its foothold within our government, and its own propaganda apparatus."
-Senator William Jenner, 1954

"The invisible Money Power is working to control and enslave mankind. It financed Communism, Fascism, Marxism, Zionism, Socialism. All of these are directed to making the United States a member of a World Government."
-American Mercury Magazine, 1957

"The most powerful clique in these (CFR) groups have one objective in common: they want to bring about the surrender of the sovereignty and the national independence of the U.S. They want to end national boundaries and racial and ethnic loyalties supposedly to increase business and ensure world peace. What they strive for would inevitably lead to dictatorship and loss of freedoms by the people. The CFR was founded for "the purpose of promoting disarmament and submergence of U.S. sovereignty and national independence into an all-powerful one-world government."
-Harpers, July l958

"The Trilateral Commission is intended to be the vehicle for multinational consolidation of the commercial and banking interests by seizing control of the political government of the United States. The Trilateral Commission represents a skillful, coordinated effort to seize control and consolidate the four centers of power political, monetary, intellectual and ecclesiastical. What the Trilateral Commission intends is to create a worldwide economic power superior to the political governments of the nationstates involved. As managers and creators of the system ,they will rule the future."
-U.S. Senator Barry Goldwater, l964

"The powers of financial capitalism had another far reaching aim, nothing less than to create a world system of financial control in private hands able to dominate the political system of each country and the economy of the world as a whole. This system was to be controlled in a feudalist fashion by the central banks of the world acting in concert, by secret agreements, arrived at in frequent private meetings and conferences. The apex of the system was the Bank for International Settlements in Basle, Switzerland, a private bank owned and controlled by the worlds' central banks which were themselves private corporations. The growth of financial capitalism made possible a centralization of world economic control and use of this power for the direct benefit of financiers and the indirect injury of all other economic groups."
-Professor Carroll Quigley, 1966

"The drive of the Rockefellers and their allies is to create a one-world government combining supercapitalism and Communism under the same tent, all under their control.... Do I mean conspiracy? Yes I do. I am convinced there is such a plot, international in scope, generations old in planning, and incredibly evil in intent."
-Congressman Larry P. McDonald, 1976, killed in the Korean Airlines 747 that was shot down by the Soviets

"George Bush has been surrounding himself with people who believe in one-world government. They believe that the Soviet system and the American system are converging. The vehicle to bring this about, is the United Nations, the majority of whose 166 member states are socialist, atheist, and anti-American."
-U.S. Ambassador David Funderburk, 1991

"We are grateful to The Washington Post, The New York Times, Time Magazine and other great publications whose directors have attended our meetings and respected their promises of discretion for almost forty years. It would have been impossible for us to develop our plan for the world if we had been subject to the bright lights of publicity during those years. But, the work is now much more sophisticated and prepared to march towards a world government. The supranational sovereignty of an intellectual elite and world bankers is surely preferable to the national auto-determination practiced in past centuries."
-David Rockefeller, 1991

"It is the sacred principles enshrined in the United Nations charter to which the American people will henceforth pledge their allegiance."
-George Bush, 1992

"[The New World Order] cannot happen without U.S. participation, as we are the most significant single component. Yes, there will be a New World Order, and it will force the United States to change it's perceptions."
-Henry Kissinger, 1994

"Some even believe we (Rockefeller family) are part of a secret cabal working against the best interests of the United States, characterizing my family and me as 'internationalists' and of conspiring with others around the world to build a more integrated global political and economic structure---one world, if you will. If that's the charge, I stand guilty, and I am proud of it."
-David Rockefeller, in 2002 autobiography

Does anyone doubt there is an Illuminati/NWO conspiracy out there?

ericg

10-18-2007, 02:27 PM

ericg's gonna cut-and-paste these alien lizard men right the fuck outta our solar system. (y)

???

"ya can't fit it, so just forget it 'cause i know you ain't with it" - on the floor at the boutique - cut & paste - fbs

Schmeltz

10-18-2007, 02:50 PM

Don't worry about it. Just keep copy-and-pasting whatever silly bullshit you happen to come across - we're all having a great time with it. (y)

Bob

10-18-2007, 02:55 PM

???

"ya can't fit it, so just forget it 'cause i know you ain't with it" - on the floor at the boutique - cut & paste - fbs

been had a little horsie called paul revere
just me and my horsie and a quart of beer

ericg

10-18-2007, 03:51 PM

democrats - the "good" natzi's

Nancy Pelosi, Public Enemy Number One
by BAR editor and senior columnist Margaret Kimberley

Go To Original

Her machinations since Democrats took over the U.S. House in January 2007 show that Speaker Nancy Pelosi isn't scared of the Republicans - "her eagerness to cooperate with the Bush regime is matched only by her incompetence in leading Congress." Pelosi and her leadership clique have never had the slightest intention of seriously opposing George Bush, since they are quite content with a status quo of endless war, half of New Orleans abandoned, true universal health care on perpetual hold, and a growing police state. Every constituency of the Democratic Party has been betrayed, with the complicity of Pelosi and her crowd. And there must be pay-back for back-stabbing.

"If they were poor and they were sleeping on my sidewalk, they would be arrested for loitering, but because they have 'Impeach Bush' across their chest, it's the First Amendment." - Nancy Pelosi

The Democratic Speaker of the House would like to arrest activists for loitering. Her Quisling like behavior has led protesters to her front door in San Francisco, but she has only herself to blame for the inconveniences she and her rich neighbors now suffer. The great unwashed masses have a right to assemble at her home, her office, or anywhere else they choose in order to exercise what is left of their right to speak freely. Her own words show her level of contempt for the democratic process.

It is clear that Nancy Pelosi's reign as Speaker has been an absolute disaster for the Democratic party and for the entire nation. Her eagerness to cooperate with the Bush regime is matched only by her incompetence in leading Congress. Under her watch, Congress gave Alberto Gonzales, on his way to riding out of town on a rail, a significant victory by expanding FISA regulations to allow warrantless surveillance of American citizens.

"Her eagerness to cooperate with the Bush regime is matched only by her incompetence in leading Congress."

The story of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act debacle has been blamed on Bush. It is true that he once again lied about a terror threat, but it is not true that Pelosi and the rest of the Democrats were innocently stampeded. The Democrats had every intention of caving from the very beginning. Pelosi and the rest of the leadership promised the ACLU and other civil liberties groups that they wouldn't pass a bill without first investigating the extent of White House law breaking and without consulting them first. They did no such thing. As an ACLU lobbyist put it, "They turned around and screwed us over - and the Constitution - all at once."

Disappointment in the Democrats, pleas to "grow a spine" miss the point entirely. Pelosi and her clique have no interest in Democracy. They go through the flimsiest pretense of opposing Bush when they have no interest in doing so. Her goal is to preserve the status quo, not to overturn it.

Nancy Pelosi now has stated publicly what she thinks of us, the citizens of this country. We are an irritant to be tolerated, not people with rights that must be respected. Pelosi is an omen, a warning that acceptance of Democrat party actions is the first step on the road to political hell. It is a lesson that must be learned now, before President Hillary Clinton takes office.

"They go through the flimsiest pretense of opposing Bush when they have no interest in doing so."

The fix is definitely in for Clinton to win the Democratic party nomination. The Democratic candidates' fundraising prowess versus Republicans is a sign that the big money political donors of both parties are all betting on the Democratic horse.

Clinton's ascension to the throne now reserved for family dynasties should not be accepted as an absolute victory. The "middle of the road" after Bush is still right wing. Triangulation this time around means more war, New Orleans destroyed and deserted, and more dirty dealings in Congress.

Pelosi, Harry Reid and the rest of what passes for Congressional leadership have perfected their criminal enterprise. Every act of treachery is followed by lame excuses for inaction. The truly spineless ones, progressives wallowing in denial, foolishly whine, asking each other what is wrong when the answer stares them in the face. The Democratic party is complicit in killing democracy.

"Civil liberties groups and antiwar groups must finally realize that they can only play a role in movement politics."

Activists must keep protesting at her house and working for her defeat in the 2008 congressional elections. They must also cease cooperating with her. The farce must end before it is too late. Pelosi, like Bush, has no loyalty to her constitutionally based responsibilities. She must no longer be treated as though she is a friend when she has proven herself to be an enemy.

Civil liberties groups and antiwar groups must stop meeting with Pelosi or her staff. They must finally realize that they can only play a role in movement politics. It is said that insanity is defined as repeating the same action over and over yet expecting a different result. Progressives have waged many righteous battles in the last seven years, but they are about to go down in history as insane actors in a badly written play.

Activists must begin making demands. They must demand impeachment, they must demand that New Orleans be rebuilt, they must demand no further funding for occupation in Iraq or for a new war in Iran. Pelosi and her co-conspirators must be called out as the back stabbers that they are. Only then will democracy have any chance of being restored.

Margaret Kimberley's Freedom Rider column appears weekly in BAR. Ms. Kimberley lives in New York City, and can be reached via e-Mail at Margaret.Kimberley(at)BlackAgandaReport.Com. Ms. Kimberley' maintains an edifying and frequently updated blog at freedomrider.blogspot.com. More of her work is also available at her Black Agenda Report archive page.

ericg

10-18-2007, 03:54 PM

www.voxfux.com/features/bush_world_class_criminal.html

ericg

10-18-2007, 09:20 PM

Don't worry about it. Just keep copy-and-pasting whatever silly bullshit you happen to come across - we're all having a great time with it. (y)

True story: I went to trim my beard this morning, and forgot to put the guard on my trimmer. So now I have to go down to at least a goatee in order to even it out.

But why stop there?

Should I go down to just the stache? Dare I make such a bold leap into the unknown and potentially terrifying?

ericg

10-18-2007, 09:33 PM

been had a little horsie called paul revere
just me and my horsie and a quart of beer

"you's better off" - outkast

GreenEarthAl

10-18-2007, 10:17 PM

Schmeltz

10-19-2007, 12:58 AM

I never did go down to the stache, you know. My beard grows too quickly for it to be worth it.

Bob

10-19-2007, 07:22 AM

*pours out a little bottle water for Blighty*

Oh for the days when the frothy ranting used to come with analysis and discourse.

*hides plastic bottle under the sofa cushion so that it will no longer exist*

you know, i was thinking the same thing. i remember him making a post or two about david icke and the reptilian conspiracy back in the day and i'll be damned if he didn't do it halfway convincingly. and i don't mean that as a burn, either, i liked that guy

Bob

10-19-2007, 07:27 AM

"you's better off" - outkast

workin' on a sex farm

ericg

10-19-2007, 06:36 PM

www.freedom-fight.net

ericg

10-21-2007, 05:33 PM

here's a more direct link to the entire movie, 'ring of power'.
initially i wanted to link a site where you could buy it so as to give props to the makers - in order to bring it to the light a little better, as opposed to left 'underground'.
http://loveforlife.com.au/node/1909

here is the same for 'secret space'.
http://nichegeek.com/10_google_documentaries_you_have_to_watch

ericg

10-21-2007, 05:41 PM

why doesn't iran just go with alternative/ benign energy?!!!
nuclear's cheap... is not a good reason. they want to have nukes like other countries to 'protect' themselves..??

the same global wargame agenda where the world's enslaved in the middle without any real clues as to why it is all the way it is.

Who Restarted the Cold War?
By Patrick J. Buchanan

"Putin's Hostile Course," the lead editorial in The Washington Times of Oct. 18, began thus:

"Russian President Vladimir Putin's invitation to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to visit Moscow is just the latest sign that, more than 16 years after the collapse of Soviet communism, Moscow is gravitating toward Cold War behavior. The old Soviet obsession – fighting American imperialism – remains undiluted. ...

"(A)t virtually every turn, Mr. Putin and the Russian leadership appear to be doing their best in ways large and small to marginalize and embarrass the United States and undercut U.S. foreign policy interests."

The Times pointed to Putin's snub of Robert Gates and Condi Rice by having them cool their heels for 40 minutes before a meeting. Then came a press briefing where Putin implied Russia may renounce the Reagan-Gorbachev INF treaty, which removed all U.S. and Soviet medium-range missiles from Europe, and threatened to pull out of the Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty, whereby Russia moved its tanks and troops far from the borders of Eastern Europe.

On and on the Times indictment went. Russia was blocking new sanctions on Iran. Russia was selling anti-aircraft missiles to Iran. Russia was selling weapons to Syria that found their way to Hezbollah and Hamas. Russia and Iran were talking up an OPEC-style natural gas cartel. All this, said the Times, calls to mind "Soviet-era behavior."

Missing from the prosecution's case, however, was the motive. Why has Putin's Russia turned hostile? Why is Putin mending fences with China, Iran and Syria? Why is Putin sending Bear bombers to the edge of American airspace? Why has Russia turned against America? For Putin's approval rating is three times that of George Bush. Who restarted the Cold War?

To answer that question, let us go back those 16 years.

What happened in 1991 and 1992?

Well, Russia let the Berlin Wall be torn down and its satellite states be voted or thrown out of power across Eastern Europe. Russia agreed to pull the Red Army all the way back inside its border. Russia agreed to let the Soviet Union dissolve into 15 nations. The Communist Party agreed to share power and let itself be voted out. Russia embraced freedom and American-style capitalism, and invited Americans in to show them how it was done.

Russia did not use its veto in the Security Council to block the U.S. war to drive Saddam Hussein, an ally, out of Kuwait. When 9-11 struck, Putin gave his blessing to U.S. troops using former republics as bases for the U.S. invasion.

What was Moscow's reward for its pro-America policy?

The United States began moving NATO into Eastern Europe and then into former Soviet republics. Six ex-Warsaw Pact nations are now NATO allies, as are three ex-republics of the Soviet Union. NATO expansionists have not given up on bringing Ukraine, united to Russia for centuries, or Georgia, Stalin's birthplace, into NATO.

In 1999, the United States bombed Serbia, which has long looked to Mother Russia for protection, for 78 days, though the Serbs' sole crime was to fight to hold their cradle province of Kosovo, as President Lincoln fought to hold onto the American South. Now America is supporting the severing of Kosovo from Serbia and creation of a new Islamic state in the Balkans, over Moscow's protest.

While Moscow removed its military bases from Cuba and all over the Third World, we have sought permanent military bases in Russia's backyard of Central Asia.

We dissolved the Nixon-Brezhnev ABM treaty and announced we would put a missile defense system in Poland and the Czech Republic.

Under presidents Clinton and Bush, the United States financed a pipeline for Caspian Sea oil to transit Azerbaijan and Georgia to the Black Sea and Turkey, cutting Russia out of the action.

With the end of the Cold War, the KGB was abolished and the Comintern disappeared. But the National Endowment for Democracy, Freedom House and other Cold War agencies, funded with tens of millions in tax-exempt and tax dollars, engineered the ouster of pro-Russian regimes in Serbia, Ukraine and Georgia, and sought the ouster of the regime in Minsk.

At the Cold War's end, the United States was given one of the great opportunities of history: to embrace Russia, largest nation on earth, as partner, friend, ally. Our mutual interests meshed almost perfectly. There was no ideological, territorial, historic or economic quarrel between us, once communist ideology was interred.

We blew it.

We moved NATO onto Russia's front porch, ignored her valid interests and concerns, and, with our "indispensable-nation" arrogance, treated her as a defeated power, as France treated Weimar Germany after Versailles.

Who restarted the Cold War? Bush and the braying hegemonists he brought with him to power. Great empires and tiny minds go ill together.

Patrick J. Buchanan is co-founder and editor of The American Conservative. He is also the author of seven books, including Where the Right Went Wrong, and A Republic Not An Empire.

From: The Weather Underground
Date: Oct 20, 2007 4:00 PM

----------------- Bulletin Message -----------------
From: Brandon
Date: 20 Oct 2007, 09:39

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20071020/wl_mideast_afp/iranmilitarypoliticsus_071020112808

----------------- Bulletin Message -----------------
Thanks: hecktor dangus, esq.
Date: Oct 20, 2007 11:33 AM

Iran warned on Saturday it would fire off 11,000 rockets at enemy bases within the space of a minute if the United States launched military action against the Islamic republic.

"In the first minute of an invasion by the enemy, 11,000 rockets and cannons would be fired at enemy bases," said a brigadier general in the elite Revolutionary Guards, Mahmoud Chaharbaghi.

"This volume and speed of firing would continue," added Chaharbaghi, who is commander of artillery and missiles of the Guards' ground forces, according to the semi-official Fars news agency.

The United States has never ruled out attacking Iran to end its defiance over the controversial Iranian nuclear programme, which the US alleges is aimed at making nuclear weapons but Iran insists is entirely peaceful.

Iran has for its part vowed never to initiate an attack but has also warned of a crushing response to any act of aggression against its soil.

"If a war breaks out in the future, it will not last long because we will rub their noses in the dirt," said Chaharbaghi.

"Now the enemy should ask themselves how many of their people they are ready to have sacrificed for their stupidity in attacking Iran," he said.

Iranian officials have repeatedly warned the military would target the bases of US forces operating in neighbouring Iraq and Afghanistan in the event of any attack and already has these sites under close surveillance.

Chaharbaghi said that the Guards would soon receive "rockets with a range of 250 kilometres (155 miles)" whereas the current range of its rockets is 150 kilometres (91 miles).

"We have identified our targets and with a close surveillance of targets, we can respond to the enemy's stupidity immediately," Chaharbaghi added.

He said that the Guards' weapons were spread out throughout the country and so would not be affected by any isolated US strikes against military facilities.

The Guards are Iran's elite ideological army and responsible for its most significant weapons such as the longer range Shahab-3 missile which has Israel and US bases in the Middle East within its range.

----------------- Bulletin Message -----------------
From: Zetetic - Seeker of Truth
Date: Oct 20, 2007 4:24 PM

I seriously cannot believe this. As most of you may know the U.S. dollar is slipping very quickly and there are talks of starting war with Iran. Yesterday there was a stock market scare and the price of oil hit an all time high. Many are saying the dollar will completely crash very soon. I find it very interesting this article was written almost 3 years ago because it is practically predicting what is going on right now as we speak. Please read this!

The Real Reasons Why Iran is the Next Target: The Emerging Euro-denominated International Oil Marker
by William Clark

The Iranians are about to commit an "offense" far greater than Saddam Hussein's conversion to the euro of Iraq’s oil exports in the fall of 2000. Numerous articles have revealed Pentagon planning for operations against Iran as early as 2005. While the publicly stated reasons will be over Iran's nuclear ambitions, there are unspoken macroeconomic drivers explaining the Real Reasons regarding the 2nd stage of petrodollar warfare - Iran's upcoming euro-based oil Bourse.

In 2005-2006, The Tehran government has a developed a plan to begin competing with New York's NYMEX and London's IPE with respect to international oil trades - using a euro-denominated international oil-trading mechanism. This means that without some form of US intervention, the euro is going to establish a firm foothold in the international oil trade. Given U.S. debt levels and the stated neoconservative project for U.S. global domination, Tehran's objective constitutes an obvious encroachment on U.S. dollar supremacy in the international oil market.

ericg

10-21-2007, 05:47 PM

Oil prices punch through $90 per barrel

LONDON: Oil prices soared to another record high above $90 per barrel on Friday amid global supply jitters and tensions between Turkey and crude producer Iraq, dealers said. New York's main futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery in November, touched $90.07 per barrel in early afternoon deals. That beat the previous high of $90.02 set late on Thursday.

London's Brent North Sea crude for December delivery was flat at $84.60 after hitting a record $84.88 on Thursday.

"Persistent geopolitical fears provide good support to oil prices," said analyst Andrey Kryuchenkov at the Sucden brokerage in London.

This week, red hot crude prices have blazed a record-breaking trail as Turkey has moved closer toward a military incursion into northern Iraq - home to many of the troubled country's largest oil fields.

Iraq's Kurds vowed on Friday to fight off any attack on their region as pressure mounted in Baghdad and Washington for action against Kurdish rebels to stave off a potential Turkish incursion.

The market was also fretting over the falling US dollar. A weak greenback makes commodities priced in the US unit cheaper for buyers using stronger currencies and therefore boosts crude demand, analysts say.

In Friday morning trade, the European single currency hit a fresh record high at $1.4319.

Prices were "still underpinned by a weakening dollar and tight fuel supplies ahead of the winter heating season," added Kryuchenkov.

Demand for heating fuel hits a peak during the northern hemisphere winter and supplies are widely expected to tighten.

Turkey has said it will pursue diplomacy to defuse the crisis over Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq while Baghdad has tried to dissuade its northern neighbor from possible military action.

The Turkish Parliament Wednesday approved a motion authorizing military strikes against the Kurdistan Workers' Party, accused of using bases in northern Iraq for attacks on targets across the border in Turkey.

Tetsu Emori, a fund manager at Astmax in Tokyo, said a portion of Iraqi crude from its northern oilfields is exported to Turkey because it is easier to do so.

"This is why traders are looking closely at the situation along the border," Emori said.

"There are some Iraqi exports waiting to be transported but that could not [be] because of the tension. That's the main factor."

ericg

10-21-2007, 05:48 PM

OpEdNews

Original Content at http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_jayne_ly_071020_the_protect_who_act_3f.htm

October 20, 2007

The Protect Who Act?
By Jayne Lyn Stahl

<span class="q">Congress appears to be on the verge of reaching agreement on some aspects of the so-called Protect America Act, or the "spying bill," which grants immunity to telecommunication companies accused of turning over private customer records to the National Security Agency. (WaPo)

</span>The legislation which aims to reform the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act such that warrants are now optional with the vehicle will make an appearance before the Senate next week where it is expected to pass. And, this bill is as much about protecting America as the Iraq war is about bringing democracy to the Middle East. The only ones being protected here are those who continue to break the law under the guise of national security. From the presidential veto, it's obvious that this administration isn't interested in granting immunity from prosecution to parents who are unable to pay their children's medical bills. . <span class="q">

What's more, when was the last time you've heard of a White House giving an order to any company, let alone a communications company, which has tens of millions of customers, not to testify in court under a state secrets law that has yet to be written. But, what the hell, if one can grant retroactive immunity, why not enforce a law that isn't on the books? Oh, and why not cook the books, too, while we're at it as the Downing Street Memo clearly proves.

If nothing else, the past six years proves that not only does crime pay, but it pays handsomely--for the upper one percentile of the population of this country, that is. There are more carcinogens trying to pose as laws, coming out of Congress, these days, than on any freeway in America.

Let your Senators, whose salaries you and I pay, hear now whether you're willing to have your personal phone calls, and e-mails, intercepted as those of tens of millions of Americans already have, and whether it's okay with you for those telecommunication behemoths like A T & T, and Verizon, to be granted immunity from prosecution for breaking the law that protects your privacy.

Look at it this way, would you grant immunity unless you thought that a crime was committed? The Constitution isn't the only casualty of the "war on terror;" common sense is, too.</span>

Authors Website: http://ladyjaynestahl.blogspot.com

Authors Bio: Widely published, poet, playwright, essayist, and screenwriter; member of PEN American Center, and PEN USA.

ericg

10-21-2007, 05:53 PM

What Do you Do about it?
Body: Sit back and Kick it with a voice of reason.....

What if you live in the most destructive culture ever to exist? What if that culture refuses to change? What do you do about it?

Derrick Jensen: Endgame Part One

www.endgamethebook.org

www.derrickjensen.org

Derrick Jensen named
Press Action Person of the Year for 2006

From the Press Action
website www.pressaction.com

"The recipient of this award was never in doubt. Derrick Jensen's Endgame, released in late spring, was the best work of nonfiction in 2006. Given the significance of its subject matter and the urgency of Jensen's message, Endgame is the most important book of the decade and could stand as the must-read book of our lifetimes. But be careful. The book is likely to send you into periods of despondency over the bleak future of the planet. But Jensen explains that if enough of us stand up and work together to fight the fascists, the crash won't be as devastating. And the long struggle will eventually result in an explosive renewal of all forms of life on the planet."

Derrick Jensen: Endgame Part One
57:00 minutes

..

"Having long laid waste our own sanity, and having long forgotten what it feels like to be free, most of us too have no idea what it's like to live in the real world. Seeing four salmon spawn causes me to burst into tears. I have never seen a river full of fish. I have never seen a sky darkened for days by a single flock of birds. (I have, however, seen skies perpetually darkened by smog.) As with freedom, so too the extraordinary beauty and fecundity of the world itself: It's hard to love something you've never known. It's hard to convince yourself to fight for something you may not believe has ever existed." --from Endgame, Volume I

"Hailed as the philosopher poet of the ecological movement, best-selling author Derrick Jensen returns with a passionate forecast of how industrial civilization, and the persistent and widespread violence it requires, is unsustainable. Jensen's intricate weaving together of history, philosophy, environmentalism, economics, literature and psychology has produced a powerful argument that demands attention in the tradition of such important books as Herbert Marcuse's Eros and Civilization and Brigid Brophy's Black Ship to Hell."

Derrick Jensen: Endgame Part Two
58:00 minutes

google...

ericg

10-21-2007, 06:21 PM

ericg

10-21-2007, 06:28 PM

www.outtheretv.com
www.wearechange.org
www.educate-yourself.org
www.flexyourrights.org
www.stopblackwater.net
www.legitgov.org
www.democracyrising.us
www.whatreallyhappened.com
www.brainradar.com
www.waterforfuel.com
www.steorn.com
www.energyfromthevacuum.com
www.wtprn.com
www.makethestand.com
www.oilempire.us
www.showthelaw.com

Schmeltz

10-21-2007, 08:47 PM

You're in a room full of people, eric, but you're only talking to yourself.

Yetra Flam

10-21-2007, 08:50 PM

does this ring of power need to be cast into a fiery chasm from whence it came?

Bob

10-21-2007, 09:37 PM

does this ring of power need to be cast into a fiery chasm from whence it came?

you know, that sounds like a metaphor for vaginas

Yetra Flam

10-21-2007, 09:43 PM

it IS man. so much hidden innuendo in the LotR.
the "guy love" thing between sam and frodo.
fucking gollum - what a fucking meth addict. i see women like that on the bus all the time.

so so much more than meets the eye

Bob

10-22-2007, 04:31 AM

yeah but fiery chasms from whence things come is totally talking about vaginas

ericg

10-22-2007, 03:41 PM

You're in a room full of people, eric, but you're only talking to yourself.

i'm in a room of foolish people..?
but hundreds of others pass through.

you don't read the signs too well.
fools get worked here. it helps to show others a better way.

ericg

10-22-2007, 03:44 PM

yeah but fiery chasms from whence things come is totally talking about vaginas

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puscifer

the age of confounded 'over-population'.
666 = 18, the age of accountability ...

ericg

10-22-2007, 04:53 PM

The U.S. government routinely conducts experiments on weather modification
By Chris Handy
Go To Original

The U.S. government routinely conducts experiments on weather modification, and has been doing so for at least half a century. Previously classified under such names as "Project Cirrus" (1947) and "Project Popeye" (1966), weather modification is no longer a secret practice. In fact, a bill (S517) was sponsored in 2005 by Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson, a Republican, "to establish the Weather Modification Operations and Research Board, and for other purposes." This bill did not become law. Yet, there is reason to believe that various government institutions are carrying out numerous legal and illegal weather experiments without informing the public.

This isn't just a suspicion of the United States. The Chinese government announced in April the creation of the first-ever artificial snowfall over the city of Nagqu in Tibet. The event was only one in a series of Chinese weather modification experiments that have been going on for years. China, in fact, now conducts more cloud seeding projects than any other nation.

Cloud seeding through the use of silver iodide was discovered as a viable way to make rain clouds in 1946. In 1947, the U.S. military attempted to use this method to seed a hurricane, which later hit the Georgia coast near Savannah. In the mid-1960s, similar techniques were used in hopes of muddying the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Vietnam. The idea was to slow enemy troop movements through the introduction of inclement weather, and conversely to prevent foul weather over allies.

But cloud seeding with silver iodide is an archaic technique compared with newer advances in nanotechnology and other methods for weather monitoring and control. Microelectric Mechanical Sensors (MEMS) and the newer Global Environmental MEMS Sensors (GEMS), are extremely tiny machines used to monitor weather patterns.

No larger than dust particles, the sensors are designed to be sent up inside hurricanes and other weather systems in large numbers, reporting back data as they literally become a part of those systems. This data can later be used to improve weather forecasting and potentially control the weather through a better understanding of the complex mathematics involved in such systems. One goal is to "steer" these systems, sending them to specific targets and increasing or decreasing their size.

Another extremely controversial participant in the weather modification game is the infamous HAARP antenna grid in Gakona, Alaska. HAARP, the High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program, is an enormous array of antennas inspired by the free energy experiments of 19th-century electrical playboy Nikola Tesla. Commencing sometime around 1990, HAARP was only recently declassified, and much of the current research there is said to take place in secret.

HAARP fires massive amounts of energy into the ionosphere, heating and distorting a section up to 30 miles in diameter. There are various strange and frightening claims made about the project. It may be capable of shifting the position of the jetstream, which could impact global weather in ways that we still do not understand well. Other claims about HAARP, such as that it is part of a massive government mind-control operation or that it forms the main component of a giant death ray, are difficult to verify. But these theories are not as implausible as one might think.

Even in the face of mountains of evidence, many people still believe that weather modification of any kind is only a fantasy. People must be aware that these technologies have been around for a long time, are indeed being used and have great potential for dangerous and unethical uses. Our planet's weather is part of a single interconnected system and any change to it, whether natural or not, affects every other element of that system. The organizations most interested in modifying this system appear to be applying their theories in incredibly irresponsible ways.

Bob

10-22-2007, 05:15 PM

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puscifer

the age of confounded 'over-population'.
666 = 18, the age of accountability ...

see here's a little glimpse into how ridiculous you look: i can't tell if you're actually trying to make a serious point with this post or not. if it were anybody else i'd say "ha ha that's a funny joke" but with you i'm not so sure you're joking

Ms Crafty

10-23-2007, 06:02 AM

hey ericg, pass me some of that shit you're smoking, man (y)

ericg

10-23-2007, 04:39 PM

When I think of fluoridation, two words come to mind: medical experiment. And the guinea pig is Y-O-U. That's right: Without any solid proof that ingesting fluoride was beneficial for your teeth-and with no safety tests conducted to determine its potential effects on the rest of your body - the government moved forward with the mass medication of the country's water supply.

Think about it: With the exception of fluoride, every other chemical added to tap water is for the purpose of improving the water's safety. Fluoride is the only chemical added for the purpose of medication. And just like all drugs doled out by Big Pharma, this one comes with a litany of potential side effects. The difference? There's no black box warning on your faucet like there is on a bottle of pills.

But there should be.

Did you know that for years fluoride was classified as a toxic waste in this country? In fact, not too long ago its only approved uses were as an insecticide and a RAT POISON! And that's just how your body treats it - as a poison.

Plenty of studies have been done over the years - and the results are frightening. Fluoridation has been linked to immune system alteration, musculoskeletal harm, genetic damage, thyroid dysfunction, and even cancer.

video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7319752042352089988

ericg

10-23-2007, 04:44 PM

video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-9203126838329335210

ericg

10-23-2007, 04:48 PM

www.youtube.com/watch?v=uljOLFyCjjc

ericg

10-23-2007, 04:51 PM

video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2020789241047516411

ericg

10-24-2007, 12:59 AM

Clinton bucks the trend and rakes in cash from the US weapons industry

By Leonard Doyle in Washington

10/19/07 "The Independent" -- -- The US arms industry is backing Hillary Clinton for President and has all but abandoned its traditional allies in the Republican party. Mrs Clinton has also emerged as Wall Street's favourite. Investment bankers have opened their wallets in unprecedented numbers for the New York senator over the past three months and, in the process, dumped their earlier favourite, Barack Obama.

Mrs Clinton's wooing of the defence industry is all the more remarkable given the frosty relations between Bill Clinton and the military during his presidency. An analysis of campaign contributions shows senior defence industry employees are pouring money into her war chest in the belief that their generosity will be repaid many times over with future defence contracts.

Employees of the top five US arms manufacturers – Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Northrop-Grumman, General Dynamics and Raytheon – gave Democratic presidential candidates $103,900, with only $86,800 going to the Republicans. "The contributions clearly suggest the arms industry has reached the conclusion that Democratic prospects for 2008 are very good indeed," said Thomas Edsall, an academic at Columbia University in New York.

Republican administrations are by tradition much stronger supporters of US armaments programmes and Pentagon spending plans than Democratic governments. Relations between the arms industry and Bill Clinton soured when he slimmed down the military after the end of the Cold War. His wife, however, has been careful not to make the same mistake.

After her election to the Senate, she became the first New York senator on the armed services committee, where she revealed her hawkish tendencies by supporting the invasion of Iraq. Although she now favours a withdrawal of US troops, her position on Iran is among the most warlike of all the candidates – Democrat or Republican.

This week, she said that, if elected president, she would not rule out military strikes to destroy Tehran's nuclear weapons facilities. While on the armed services committee, Mrs Clinton has befriended key generals and has won the endorsement of General Wesley Clarke, who ran Nato's war in Kosovo. A former presidential candidate himself, he is spoken of as a potential vice-presidential running mate.

Mrs Clinton has been a regular visitor to Iraq and Afghanistan and is careful to focus her criticisms of the Iraq war on President Bush, rather than the military. The arms industry has duly taken note.

So far, Mrs Clinton has received $52,600 in contributions from individual arms industry employees. That is more than half the sum given to all Democrats and 60 per cent of the total going to Republican candidates. Election fundraising laws ban individuals from donating more than $4,600 but contributions are often "bundled" to obtain influence over a candidate.

The arms industry has even deserted the biggest supporter of the Iraq war, Senator John McCain, who is also a member of the armed services committee and a decorated Vietnam War veteran. He has been only $19,200. Weapons-makers are equally unimpressed by the former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani. Despite a campaign built largely around the need for an aggressive US military and a determination to stay the course in Iraq, he is behind Mrs Clinton in the affections of arms executives. Mr Giuliani may be suffering because of his strong association with the failed policies of President Bush and the fact he is he is known as a social liberal.

Mrs Clinton's closest competitor in raising cash from the arms industry is the former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, who raised just $32,000.

"Arms industry profits are so heavily dependent on government contracts that companies in this field want to be sure they do not have hostile relations with the White House," added Mr Edsall.

The industry's strong support for Mrs Clinton indicates that she is their firm favourite to win the Democratic nomination in the spring and the presidential election in November 2008. In the last presidential race, George Bush raised more than $800,000 – twice the sum collected by his Democratic rival John Kerry.

Mr Edsall's analysis of the figures reveals that, over the past 10 years, the defence industry has favoured Republicans over Democrats by a 3-2 margin, making Mrs Clinton's position even more remarkable.

"Don't forget that William Jefferson Clinton is in Skull and Bones too.....And Hillary Is in the CFR, just like the Bushes. Only non-CFR presidential candidates are Ron Paul, Dennis Kucinich and Mike Gravel. CFR are the idiots who brought us NAFTA and will bring us the North American Union. Anyone miss the American Jobs Bill Clinton sent packing off to other countries?" - MS

Rothschild Banking Family Backs Hillary Clinton

"If you havent noticed already the mass media machine is pushing Hillary on us at an alarming pace they already have her in the white house all the polls are bullshit they want us to believe that Hillary is unbeatable. Rothschilds have financially supported nearly every war since the French Revolution, the State of Israel, and coups around the world. Millions of people have died as a direct result of this families financial gains." - MS

When 67-year-old British banking scion Sir Evelyn Rothschild first set eyes on 44-year-old Lynn Forester at the 1998 Bilderberg conference—the matchmaker was none other than Henry Kissinger—she was already a woman of major means.

A corporate lawyer and telecommunications entrepreneur, the sparkly blond ex-wife of former New York politician Andrew Stein had made more than $100 million from the sale of cleverly acquired wireless broadband licenses. She was also sexy, charming, and dazzlingly well connected. Two years later, after the smitten Sir Evelyn divorced his second wife, Victoria Schott, the mother of his three children, Forester became the third Lady Rothschild. After marrying in November 2000 at a London synagogue, they honeymooned at the White House, guests of Lynn's good friends Bill and Hillary Clinton.

Today the New Jersey-born Lady de Rothschild—the flashiest hostess in London—is mates with Tony and Cherie Blair, among other topflight Britons. She's also mistress of the former John Singer Sargent home in Chelsea and of Ascott House, the 3,200-acre Rothschild family estate in Buckinghamshire, and the chief executive of E.L. Rothschild, the holding company that she owns with her third husband to manage investments in the Economist and various enterprises in India. Those include FieldFresh, a startup that will grow and export Indian fruits and vegetables for markets in Europe and Asia, and a soon-to-be-announced retail venture aimed at the exploding Indian middle class.

In July, Sir Evelyn completed the sale of his stake in the centuries-old English branch of the Rothschild banking empire (for a reported $600 million)—which frees up a lot of capital for them to be major players in the Indian business world.

This week, Lady de Rothschild talked exclusively with Portfolio.com about her devotion to the idea of President Hillary...

"Doesn't it give you a warm, fuzzy feeling to know that this criminal has been selected as the next president to continue the Bush-Clinton dynasty? That what was intended as a democratic republic (NEVER as a democracy; please expunge that notion) has become a banana republic? Take a few minutes to watch, listen, understand what's on this video - and recognize, even with the truth staring us in the face, the odds are exceedingly high that ABSOLUTELY NOTHING will come of this. Except, if you pass it on, that perhaps a few more people will wake up." - Richie (MS)

http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docId=7007109937779036019

ericg

10-24-2007, 01:06 AM

video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7218920724339766288

ericg

10-24-2007, 01:09 AM

www.oct27.org

ericg

10-24-2007, 01:12 AM

www.boydgraves.com

ericg

10-24-2007, 01:15 AM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrJcmdMfkwQ

ericg

10-24-2007, 01:21 AM

www.youtube.com/watch?v=0P-hvPJPTi4
fema was absorbed by the dhs in 2003.
internment: containment during wartime
camps only accessed by a railroad (shackles found in cars) company with strong ties to the bush family..
directive 51...

google

ericg

10-24-2007, 01:43 AM

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8006151089769075377
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8006151089769075377

ericg

10-24-2007, 02:34 AM

http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9400228/Hitler-Directive-Number-51
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMs733gFg-I

ericg

10-24-2007, 04:19 PM

This morning on Fox News, hosts of the show Fox and Friends blamed the wildfires in California on a new culprit: al Qaeda. They pointed to a 2003 FBI memo, which raised the possibility that al Qaeda may try to set wildfires around the western United States. They also noted that men in a “hovering helicopter” saw “a guy starting one of these fires.”

Later in the segment, host Steve Doocy acknowledged that in memo, al Qaeda didn’t even mention California. “They mention Colorado, Montana, Utah, and Wyoming,” he added.

Transcript:

DOOCY: You’re looking live at pictures from San Diego — Santiago, CA, where the wildfires continue. We were talking earlier in today’s telecast with Adam Housley and apparently police officers in a hovering helicopter saw a guy starting one of these fires. And Allison Allison Camerota, an FBI memo from late in June of this year is popping up this morning and it is ominous.

CAMEROTA: This actually has happened for many years in the past as well. An FBI sent out to local law-enforcement said that an al Qaeda detainee had given them some information that the next wave of terrorism could be in the form of setting wild fires. Adam Housley said lots of people on his block were asking him about it. Obviously this is something the FBI has looked into. They will continue to investigate it.

CARLSON: If they have this person in custody it probably won’t take long to be able to develop a link if there is one.

KILMEADE: A June 25 memo from the FBI’s Denver offices reported three days ago, excuse me, five days ago, by the Arizona Republic, that is a newspaper, they have been carrying the story and they continue to expand upon it.

DOOCY: Brian, the plot they say, according to this detainee, and they don’t know if the detainee is telling the truth. The plot was to set three or four wildfires. But they don’t mention California. They mention Colorado, Montana, Utah, and Wyoming. We do know for a fact that a number of the fires in southern California are of a suspicious nature and they are investigating arson.

http://thinkprogress.org/2007/10/24/fox-news-al-qaeda-is-causing-the-ca-wildires

ericg

10-24-2007, 05:01 PM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbgiM7rhsmc
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/REAL_ID_ACT

ericg

10-24-2007, 05:09 PM

video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5464625623984168940

ericg

10-25-2007, 03:07 PM

The Man Common
Date: Oct 25, 2007 8:56 AM

WHY IS THE 911 "FRINGE" MOVEMENT SO MAINSTREAM?
By: Devvy
Go To Original

“It just didn't make any sense to me... When one starts using his own mind, and not what one was told, there is very little to believe in the official story.” September 5, 2007 - U.S. Navy ‘Top Gun’ pilot, Commander Ralph Kolstad

On October 19, 2007, some individuals in the audience of a taping of the Bill Maher show disrupted the airing; Maher joined security in removing these folks from the building. I know little about Maher and have never subscribed to any of the so-called premium channels like HBO on moral grounds. The individuals removed wanted Maher and his guests to talk about 911. The aftermath was a fresh barrage of verbal missiles aimed at anyone with questions about 911. Useful idiot, John Gibson, of the FAUX (FOX) Network, refers to people with reasonable questions about 911 as "ragtag conspiratorialists."

Bill O'Reilly and his stable of regular commentators always refer to those seeking the truth about 911 as conspiracy wackos; the "fringe element" that no one takes seriously. He is particularly nasty and often hysterical in his tirades. They all pull out Rosie O'Donnell as the poster child to bolster their rants. Following along with the rest of these mindless robots comes Glen Beck. Uh, who? Beck does a show on CNN's News Network. I'm not sure who would waste their time watching him after having scanned his show a couple of times for a total of five minutes, but apparently he has some sort of audience or he'd be off the air. Beck is a documented 911 truth basher. His latest statement on his web site reads: "Bill Maher's nasty spat with some 9/11 conspiracy nut jobs was a nuisance on live TV, but are these conspiracy theorists a menace to society? You bet they are."

Beck also has a poll up on his site with the question: "Conspiracy Craziness: Anyone who believes our government could have successfully planned 9/11 is not only giving them too much credit, but they're also insane. Do you agree or disagree?" Oops, Mr. Glen. The results as I work this column: I agree: 2,279. I disagree: 7,045. It would appear Beck's own audience doesn't even agree with him. Wait, it gets better. On his show October 22, 2007, he said:

"Anybody who thinks that 9/11 was carried out by the government isn't a truther. They're idiots....These truthers are exactly the kind of people who want to rock this nation's foundation, tear us apart and plant the seeds of dissatisfaction in all of us....Oh, no, don't get me wrong, I think they do believe it, which is why I believe these guys are dangerous. I believe these guys are anarchists that are looking to tear us apart. I mean, this is -- this is the kind of group that a Timothy McVeigh would come from."

According to all these high paid "experts" on "mainstream" and cable network television, anyone who has reasonable questions about what really happened on 911 is not only outside the "mainstream" of society, but would have been an advocate of Timothy McVeigh. Here's just a few of these "fringe" wackos so maligned by the aforementioned:

Bob McIlvaine, father of Robert McIlvaine, Assistant Vice President, Merrill Lynch, WTC North Tower, 106th floor. Interview by Evan Solomon, CBC News 8/30/06: Bob McIlvaine: "I believe 100% that the U.S. orchestrated 9/11 with the help of other agencies around the world. But my blame goes to the United States because it happened in the U.S. There's people within the U.S. that knew it happened, that planned this to happen."

Bill Doyle – father of Joseph Doyle, Cantor Fitzgerald, WTC North Tower. Article 8/6/05: "I honestly don't believe the government story. During another interview, Doyle said: The 9/11 Commission is probably the worst representation of the 9/11 Families or for that matter all the American public because it's a sham. It really is.... We had tons of different questions that we asked them to ask. They wouldn't do it. And the continuing cover-up is just beyond belief... There's just such a continuing coverup. And why don't we just let the information about 9/11 be known? And then maybe this conspiracy type of thing would go away, but it's never going to go away or I don't think it can go away because they were complicit..."

Michelle Little, sister of Firefighter David M. Weiss, FDNY, Rescue Company 1, Midtown Manhattan, lost his life trying to rescue others from the World Trade Center the day of the attacks. Press Conference, National Press Club 9/12/06: "I am here today to call for the facts of September 11, 2001 to be released to the American public. ... The time is now to call upon all the Americans to lobby local media to cover this story and to pressure members of Congress to support legislation by reopening this investigation. We must hold those involved accountable for this atrocious tragedy. My brother, David, and ten brothers from his unit were murdered on 9/11. For them and for all of our mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers, aunts and uncles that died that day, it is imperative for their lives to know the truth."

Lt. Col. Shelton F. Lankford, U.S. Marine Corps. Retired U.S. Marine Corps fighter pilot with over 300 combat missions flown. 20-year Marine Corps career. "This isn't about party, it isn't about Bush Bashing. It's about our country, our constitution, and our future. ... Your countrymen have been murdered and the more you delve into it the more it looks as though they were murdered by our government, who used it as an excuse to murder other people thousands of miles away. If you ridicule others who have sincere doubts and who know factual information that directly contradicts the official report and who want explanations from those who hold the keys to our government, and have motive, means, and opportunity to pull off a 9/11, but you are too lazy or fearful to check into the facts yourself, what does that make you?"

Barry Zelman, brother of Kenneth Zelman, Oracle Corp., on assignment at Marsh & McLennan, WTC North Tower, 99th floor. Speech given at The Citizens' Commission on 9-11, 9/9/04: "I just embrace people that understand that four airplanes an hour and half between the first impact and the second impact with zero military response in the United States. It didn't happen that way. It couldn't have happened that way. You're talking about the most intelligent agencies that we have on the face of the earth. State of the art agencies ... And there was zero military response? ...It's very transparent that our own president did not want to investigate this tragedy. And I'm standing before you today for one reason. The only thing that I can give my brother is the truth. That's it."

Donna Marsh O'Connor, mother of Vanessa Lang Langer, Regus Business Center, WTC South Tower. Press Conference, National Press Club 9/12/06: "This government has made me a victim of conspiracy theories because they haven't answered fully, or allowed anyone to ask the true questions of September 11th. And that's what I'm asking from you [members of the media] today; for exposure. We are not crazy. We have questions. We demand answers ...We're asking for a new investigation into the events of September 11th and this time a truly bipartisan, global--with families invested from the beginning, middle and though out the end."

Those Americans are just a tiny number of not only family members, but fire fighters, first responders, professionals such as engineers, pilots, former military, aviation experts and demolitions experts from every walk of life, every race, religions and different political parties. Are they all part of a fringe element out of their minds by asking questions? How about seven veteran CIA personnel who call the official version of 911 a joke, monstrous lies and a cover up? You can read the statements of 190 Americans who ARE mainstream folks and this includes the spontaneous statements of fire fighters who heard bombs go off in the underground (basement) of the World Trade Towers by clicking here.

Are we to believe that thousands of Americans who have read the 911 (Omission) Commission Report and family members who have been intimately involved in the farce called an "official investigation" are all Bush haters? That they are all nuts, wackos, the "fringe of society" and advocates of Timothy McVeigh? According to Dan Abrams, Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity, Alan Colmes, Glen Beck, John Gibson and others, they are. Without a doubt a whole cottage industry has blossomed over 911 and a great deal of it is simply trash, misleading, disinformation and some of it sickening, i.e., on Flight 93: "Find da plane, da plane!" like it's some sort of game. How insulting to the loved ones who lost someone on Flight 93.

As someone who has spent a substantial amount of time, including a cross country trip to Pennsylvania to look into Flight 93, it's been difficult to separate credible research from those profiting from 911. On my web site is an index of all my 911 columns; see link section below. I have never stated that Bush knew in advance or planned 911. However, I do believe that Dick Cheney and Rudy Julie Annie must be hauled in front of a real grand jury. If you read, Crossing the Rubicon, by Mike Ruppert, you will understand why I take this position. You don't have to agree with Ruppert's assessment on peak oil because there are strong advocates for both sides of that argument and so much conflicting information and statistics. But, his research about that day, backed up by footnotes for his sources - especially the military exercises - is critically important.

A new slide show is now available for viewing for free on the Internet. As you'll see on slide one, Richard Gage leads the way. Gage is a member of the American Institute of Architects. There are 318 slides in this presentation. This slide presentation is endorsed by dozens of others in his profession (list on slides 3 & 4) demanding a real investigation. Are they ALL Bush haters? The fringe element of society? This slide show contains a few film clips from what I believe is far and away the best presentation on the twin towers and aspects of what really happened that day: 911 Mysteries Demolitions. You can watch the parts here and I strongly recommend every American with a computer take the time to watch this unbiased presentation. I know time is an issue for everyone, but the weekend is coming. Please book mark this column and take the time to watch 911 Mysteries Demolitions and Richard Gage's 9/11: Re-examining the 3 WTC High-rise Building "Collapses" slide show.

See this picture of the Murrah Building in OKC? That building was blown from the inside out. Anyone with two eyes can see this building was NOT blown up by a "truck bomb" parked 50' away from the front doors. The guilty are still walking around free, protected by the U.S. Government (U.S. Department of Justice, FBI and elected public officials). When you view Gage's slide show, remember OKC because it's the same scenario: The Murrah building was not blown from the outside and the twin towers did not fall from fire weakening steel. For those who believe the bilge published by Popular Mechanics on 911, I submit to you than once you view 911 Mysteries and Gage's slide presentation, you will see for yourself that a "mainstream" publication put their name and repuation on biased trash.

Besides the family members, do people really think individuals like Gage have nothing better to do with their time than put together a professional slide show on a complicated issue like this? Because they're all Bush haters? Because they have no life and "need" to believe some conspiracy theory? Let YOUR eyes be the judge of what is real and what is a lie. Every piece of draconian legislation nullifying the Bill of Rights and the unconstitutional invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq are a result of 911. Thousands of these family members and professionals have signed petitions for a real, unbiased investigation. Despite the old smear tactics from the "mainstream" media anchors mentioned above, millions of Americans do not believe the fairy tale told by the U.S. government and its minions who work for paychecks instead of the truth.

High paid mouthpieces like Bill O'Reilly continue to chant that to question 911 is hurtful to the families and that family members who lost loved ones that day are insulted by anyone asking reasonable questions. I will leave you with these words from two people Glen Beck considers a menace to society:

Rosemary Cain, mother of Firefighter George C. Cain, Ladder Company 7, Manhattan, FDNY. "It is our right to know, as the families of those who paid the highest price. We demand to stop the lies so they can rest in peace. The truth must be known. They did not die in vain!"

Daniel Wallace (1984 - 2007), son of Lt. Robert Wallace, Engine 205, Ladder 118, FDNY. Speech 12/3/06: "Ever since that day, I believed the official story for all about 2 minutes. I always had my questions. My family had their questions. The government sent us the 9/11 Commission or I should say omissions, really. They sent us that. I read the whole thing. As I'm reading the whole thing; it was just incredible; the lies in this book... It hurt me to read this book....

"The truth: to actually be out there knowing that I'm fighting for something that's right and something that's American. That's the American way. ... My father was a true patriot and I will follow in his footsteps. I'm gonna try so hard. I'm gonna try to the death of me to get him justice. Not only him, but the three thousand others that died, too. ... My father was a patriot. I'm a patriot and everybody in this room that believes in truth and wants to find justice is a patriot. Because this is America. It is of the people; for the people; and by the people. And that's the America I know and that's the America that I'm gonna defend, no matter what."

Important links:

Petition for new investigation

1 - Seven CIA Veterans Challenge 9/11 Commission Report
2 - Statement of family members, fire fighters and professionals
3 - Complete 911 Timeline
4 - Pilots for Truth
5 - Resolution of Flight 93 lawsuit
6 - 911 Archives
7 - Crossing the Rubicon
8 - Dr. Steven Jones - Use of thermite
9 - The New Pearl Harbor Debunking 9/11 Debunking: An Answer to Popular Mechanics and Other Defenders of the Official Conspiracy Theory (2007)
10 - Gutless Attorney General Eliot Spitzer refuses to investigate murder in his back yard

ericg

10-25-2007, 03:10 PM

Torture, Paramilitarism, Occupation and Genocide
Torture as Policy under George Bush
By Stephen Lendman
Go To Original

On October 5, George Bush confronted a public uproar and defended his administration claiming "This government does not torture people." Again he lied. Once secret US Department of Justice (DOJ) legal opinions confirm the Bush administration condones torture by endorsing "the harshest interrogation techniques ever used by the Central Intelligence Agency." It also condones paramilitary thuggery, oppressive occupation, and genocide. This unholy combination is the ugly face of an imperial nation run by war criminals. That's the state of things today. First, the practice of torture.

Torture as Policy under George Bush

In a hollow posturing gesture, DOJ publicly declared torture "abhorrent" in a December, 2004 legal opinion. That secretly changed after Alberto Gonzales became Attorney General in February, 2005 and authorized physical and psychological brutality as official administration policy. This continues unabated in violation of international and US laws that include fifth and eighth amendment prohibitions against cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment in all forms for any reason. These practices been long-standing US official policy, nonetheless, but the mask came off post-9/11 when former CIA Counterterrorism Center chief Cofer Black (now Blackwater USA's vice-chairman) told a joint House-Senate intelligence committee hearing September 26, 2002: "There was a before-9/11 and an after-9/11(on the use of torture). After 9/11, the gloves came off" and "old" standards no longer apply. They never did, and Congress knows and condones it.

Further, George Bush signed a secret September 17, 2001 "finding" authorizing CIA to kill, capture and detain "Al Qaeda" members anywhere in the world and rendition them to secret black site torture prisons for interrogation presumed to include torture.

As White House Counsel, Alberto Gonzales then wrote a sweeping memorandum to George Bush January 25, 2002 calling the Geneva Conventions "quaint" and "obsolete" and claimed the administration could ignore Geneva international law in interrogating prisoners henceforth. He also outlined plans to try prisoners in military "commissions" and deny them all protections under international law including due process and habeas rights. DOD Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was on board as well. In December, 2002, he approved a menu of banned interrogation practices that allowed most anything short of what would cause organ failure.

A new book called "Administration of Torture," by two ACLU attorneys, contains evidence (from FOIA requests) from over 100,000 newly released government documents. It reveals how US military interrogators carried out abuse and torture orders from their superiors on scores of prisoners. The book quotes Major General Michael Dunlavey who had DOD responsibility for interrogations of "suspected terrorists." He and Guantanamo commander General Geoffrey Miller both told the FBI they got their "marching orders" from Donald Rumsfeld to use harsh methods at Guantanamo that presumably were meant for all other US-run torture prisons as well. It was also revealed that Rumsfeld was "personally involved" in overseeing the torture-interrogation of Mohammed al Qahtani. He was falsely accused of being the 20th 9/11 hijacker, confessed under torture, and then retracted his testimony later as completely untrue.

Torture violates international law. The (non-binding) Universal Declaration of Human Rights outlawed it in 1948. The four 1949 Geneva Conventions then banned any form of "physical or mental coercion" and affirmed detainees must at all times be treated humanely. Its first two conventions protect sick and wounded forces in battle. The third one defines who is a prisoner of war and establishes "minimum standards" for POW treatment. The fourth convention applies to civilians and affords them protections during war that require they be treated humanely. All four conventions have a common thread called Common Article Three. It requires non-combatants be treated humanely at all times. There are no exceptions for any reasons and violations are grave breaches under Geneva and other international law that constitute crimes of war and against humanity.

The European Convention followed Geneva in 1950. Then in 1984, the UN Convention Against Torture became the first binding international instrument dealing exclusively with the issue of banning torture in any form for any reason. These are sacred international laws all signatories, that include the US, are bound by. No longer under George Bush's unconstitutional "unitary executive" authority power grab Chalmers Johnson calls a "bald-faced assertion of presidential supremacy....dressed up in legalistic mumbo jumbo." Condoning torture as official policy under it is Exhibit A.

In her important new book, "Cowboy Republic: Six Ways the Bush Gang Defied the law," law professor and current National Lawyers Guild president Marjorie Cohn calls torture abhorrent and violates at least two US laws - the 1996 War Crimes Act and 1994 Torture Statute. The US is also party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) that guarantees the right to life and prohibits cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment.

The 1996 War Crimes Act provides up to life imprisonment or the death penalty for persons convicted of committing war crimes within or outside the US. Administration memos from Gonzales, John Yoo, Jay Bybee, and David Addington supported dictatorial powers for the president and advised Al Qaeda and Taliban interrogators were exempt from torture laws under George Bush's "commander-in-chief powers." Cohn, in her book, explained "the Torture Convention permits no such exemption, even during wartime."

Yoo and Bybee also distorted what constitutes torture by claiming psychological harm must last "months or even years." Otherwise, it's just harsh "enhanced interrogation" of the secret kinds George Bush authorized in a July, 2006 executive order. They reportedly include sleep deprivation, simulated drowning, stress positions, prolonged isolation, sensory deprivation and/or overload, beatings, induced hypothermia, and more that can cause irreversible physical and psychological harm including psychoses.

The October, 2006 Military Commissions Act followed, appropriately called the "torture authorization act." It gives the administration extraordinary unconstitutional powers to detain, interrogate and prosecute alleged terror suspects and anyone thought to be their supporters. The law lets the president designate anyone in the world an "unlawful enemy combatant," without corroborating evidence, and order they be arrested and incarcerated indefinitely in military prisons outside the criminal justice system without habeas and due process rights. US citizens aren't exempt. We're all "enemy combatants" under this law. Anyone charged under it loses all constitutionally protected rights and can be subjected to cruel and unusual punishment including torture.

Ironically, on the one year anniversary of the Military Commissions Act enactment, Fr. Louie Vitale and Fr. Steve Kelly were both sentenced to five months in federal prison for opposing torture. They also oppose teaching it at Fort Huachuca, Arizona and tried to deliver a letter with their views to the base commander, Major General Barbara Fast, former head of military intelligence in Iraq. Both priests were arrested for trespassing while kneeling in prayer on the base driveway in November, 2006. In an appalling miscarriage of justice, the presiding judge refused to allow any evidence of torture to be introduced. He also ruled out discussion of the illegality of the Iraq war and all references to international law.

Relief from these type abuses are nowhere in sight as leading Democrats condone them and now assure extremist Attorney General nominee Michael Mukasey's nomination won't be challenged. He promises business as usual that's bad news for supporters of the law. He earned his bona fides as a US District Court Southern District of New York judge by ruling Jose Padilla, a US citizen, could be imprisoned without trial and held indefinitely by the military.

Padilla spent three and a half years uncharged in a 9 by 7-foot isolated South Carolina Navy brig cell where he underwent alternating sensory deprivation and overload and was denied the right to counsel for two years. Months of beatings, mind-altering drugs, and denial of medical treatment destroyed his mind, turned him to mush, and him easy pickings to convict on all charges without evidence he broke any law. Under Bush administration justice, we're all potential Jose Padillas in a nation where the rule of law affords no protection, and torture is the preferred means of social control.

Administration Outsourced Paramilitarism

The Bush administration believes anything government can do private business does better, so let it. And that applies to the military as well with Blackwater USA's powerful emergence Exhibit A. Author Jeremy Scahill portrays the company as "the world's most powerful mercenary army" in his frightening new book about it. It describes a "shadowy mercenary company (employing) some of the most feared professional killers in the world....accustomed to operating without worry of legal consequences....largely off the congressional radar." It has "remarkable power and protection within the US war apparatus" with unaccountable license to practice street violence with impunity that includes cold-blooded murder.

A congressional report indicates Blackwater received more than $1 billion in mostly State Department no-bid contracts since 2001. It's to provide security services for US diplomats, officials and others once assigned to the military at around six times the cost and can be up to $1200 per man-day. With Bush administration backing, it operates outside the law and Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) and is immune from civil lawsuits like the military. Scahill calls the company the "Bush administration's Praetorian Guard" with "immunity and impunity" to do as it pleases.

Today, around 200,000 private contractors operate in Iraq. Up to 100,000 of them are paramilitary mercenaries from companies like Blackwater, DynCorp, ArmorGroup, Erinys, Triple Canopy and others like the Australian-owned Unity Resources that murdered two Iraqi women October 9. Blackwater is the largest, is close to the Bush administration, and is cashing in big as a war profiteer from huge continuing no-bid contracts.

The company was founded in 1996 by former Navy SEAL Eric Prince who's also closely allied to the extremist Christian Right. Blackwater came into its own post-9/11 and is now the world's best connected, largest paramilitary army. It employs 2300 personnel in nine countries with 20,000 or more others on call as needed. The company also has its own 20 aircraft fleet that includes helicopter gunships as well as a private intelligence division and a 7000 acre Moyock, North Carolina headquarters Scahill calls "the world's largest private military base."

Controversary surrounding Blackwater made headlines after its mercenaries killed as many as 28 Iraqis in al-Nisour September 16 by some accounts and wounded dozens more. It was only the latest incident involving the company that has a disturbing history of instigating unprovoked violence and then falsely claim it acted in self-defense as Eric Prince told Congress saying his men act "appropriately at all times."

A new congressional account from State Department and company documents reveals otherwise. It shows the company has been involved in at least 195 "escalation of force" incidents since early 2005 that include previously unreported Iraqi civilian killings. In at least one of them, evidence proved Blackwater personnel tried covering up what happened with a falsified report, and the State Department made no effort to hold them accountable or order the company to pay compensation to the families of the victims.

Agence France-Presse reported on September 16 Blackwater personnel shot recklessly "at everything that moved with a machine gun and even with a grenade launcher (as well as from two hovering helicopters). There was panic. Everyone tried to flee. Vehicles tried to make U-turns to escape. There were dead bodies and wounded people everywhere. The road was full of blood. A bus was also hit and several of its occupants were wounded." Among the dead were women and children. A daughter witnessing her mother shot in the head and killed said: "They are killers. I swear to God, not one bullet was shot at them. Why did they shoot us?"

Following the incident, investigations were launched that are little more than damage control cover-up. The FBI is involved as well as a joint American-Iraqi inquiry. Iraqi prime minister al-Maliki has gone back and forth on this one. At first, he demanded Blackwater personnel leave Iraq. He then backed down under pressure. He'll likely await the inquiry's findings that are out in part from Iraqi investigators, but again said he wants Washington to sever all Blackwater ties, remove the company from Iraq in six months, and have it pay each family $8 million in compensation.

It won't ever happen, even though early findings conclude Blackwater's actions were unprovoked, the al-Nisour massacre was a deliberate crime, those involved in it should be charged, put on trial, and the families of victims fairly compensated. The findings are similar to an initial US military report that one Pentagon official confirmed saying Blackwater's actions were "obviously excessive, it was obviously wrong. The civilians....didn't have any weapons (and) none of the IP (Iraqi police) or any local security forces fired (on Blackwater)."

Investigations are still continuing, the State Department is in damage control mode, and an October 4 House-passed bill (not retroactive) just made US contractors accountable for felony crimes under the 2000 Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act (MEJA). In addition, new operating procedures have been instituted to paper over the whole affair. Nothing, in fact, will change, however. Blackwater personnel will stay in place, none of them will face criminal charges, and things are again business as usual with the company's paramilitaries back on Iraqi streets after being banned from operating there by an impotent prime minister.

A sign of things to come came a day ahead of the October House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Blackwater hearing. It was revealed the company's Presidential Airways subsidiary got a new government contract to supply aircraft, crew and equipment for flight operations in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. Blackwater personnel may likely show up anywhere and currently patrol New Orleans streets for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) post-hurricane Katrina. Their presence is menacing everywhere, and they may show up soon in a neighborhood near you as the "war on terrorism" touches down at home.

Imperial Conquest and Occupation

Current rhetoric aside, even Alan Greenspan's new book admitted what's "politically inconvenient to acknowledge (but) everyone knows: the Iraq war is largely about oil" and it was "essential" Saddam be removed to control it. Unmentioned was Iraq's importance that explains why Washington plans permanent occupation of the country. The Middle East has two-thirds of the world's proved oil reserves; Iraq has the most untapped amounts of it; and it's the easiest gotten, cheap to refine light sweet kind Big Oil covets. The country is also strategically located between Saudi Arabia and Iran at the top of the Persian Gulf. That makes it a perfect site for military bases sitting atop an ocean of oil worth trillions of dollars and surrounded by lots more of it.

The strategy to seize it was simply conceived but hopelessly flawed - replace the "cradle of civilization" with a newly created free market paradise with all that oil as grand prize pickings. It's still up for grabs, but a huge supportive infrastructure is in place and still being built for permanent occupation.

By May, 2005, US forces were operating out of 106 bases around the country from an original 120 number of sites. They range in size from the huge Main Operating Base (MOB) Camp Victory complex near Baghdad airport with thousands of US troops to others for fewer numbers called Forward Operation Sites (FOS) that are still major installations. There are also many smaller Cooperative Security Locations (CSL) as well as prisons and detention facilities throughout the country plus others for Iraqi military and police units.

A sign of permanency are four to six or more super-bases built and planned, the largest of which is the huge Balad one. It's the major Air Force facility in the country with its state of the art "Kingpin" air traffic control center (called the Common Grid Reference System) that divides the country's airspace into "kill boxes." The Army's largest logistical support center and secret Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force (CJSOTF) are also there as well as well as thousands of civilian contractors in neighborhoods charmingly called "KBR-land."

Balad and other major bases are enormous in size and on the order of small towns. They encompass 15 - 20 square miles with double runways as long as 12,000 feet, and Balad's air traffic operates round the clock and is comparable in number of takeoffs and landings to Chicago's O'Hare that along with Atlanta's Hartsfield are the world's two busiest airports.

In addition, they have their own neighborhoods and kinds of amenities found back home. They include department store-sized post exchanges, fast food outlets, movie theaters with the latest films, swimming pools, miniature golf courses, elaborate gymnasium and sports facilities, satellite internet access, cable TV, air-conditioning, international phone service and more. All the comforts of home including takeout pizza and Monday night football in the middle of a war zone.

Other major facilities are at al-Talil near Nasiriya in the South; the largest Marine base at al-Asad in Western Anbar province; al-Qayyara, 50 miles southeast of Mosul in the North; the US military command HQ at Camp Victory/Camp Liberty near Baghdad International Airport; Camp Marez near Mosul Airport; Camp Cook north of Baghdad; and a new base near Irbil in the North. In addition, another new Forward Operating base is being built near Zurbatiya near the Iranian border to be completed in November. It's location is provocative as the centerpiece of a new border control surveillance, monitoring and logistical support strategy called "Combat Outpost Shocker."

Then, there's what critics call "Fortress Baghdad" or the "ultimate gated community" inside the city's four square mile fortress-like Green Zone. It's surrounded by thick blast-proof concrete walls, and to enter visitors must pass through up to eight checkpoints. Inside, security is intense and includes full body searches, electronic scanners, explosive-sniffing dogs and every other human and high-tech measure imaginable for security.

The US embassy compound is there as well that when finished will be the largest in the world. It's Vatican-sized in dimensions and hugely fortified atop 104 acres, or six times larger than the UN complex in New York. Reports vary on whether 21 or 27 buildings are planned but their cost plus all facilities and perimeter security will top $1 billion. Construction is continuing, far behind schedule, it's reported to be shoddy, and it's already way over budget as predicted so the final cost remains uncertain but will be plenty.

The compound has everything - its own water, electricity, sewers, apartment buildings, swimming pool, shops, Marine barracks and will house more than 1000 civilian staff plus a large private and military security contingent. For the Iraqi people, it's a hated symbol of imperial occupation Washington intends to be permanent, but it may in the end go the way of the Saigon embassy in 1975. That's where the last US Vietnam remnants were frenetically rooftop-helicoptered out of the country in humiliating drawdown defeat. It ended visions of permanence then the way history may one day repeat in Iraq.

Imperial Genocide in Iraq

By any estimate, the human toll in Iraq is horrific from all that happened after Saddam's August 2, 1990 Kuwait invasion. Four days later, Operation Desert Shield was launched. It began with US-led UN-imposed economic sanctions, large US and other troop deployments to the region, and a sweeping Kuwait-funded PR campaign to win public support for Operation Desert Storm that began January 17, 1991.

Before it ended six weeks later on February 28, US forces committed grievous war crime violations of the Hague and Geneva Conventions and UN and Nuremberg Charters. They included gratuitous mass killings as well as bombing and destroying essential to life facilities that included:

-- power generating stations;

-- dams;

-- water purification capabilities;

-- sewage treatment and disposal systems;

-- telephone and other communications;

-- hospitals;

-- mosques;

-- residential areas affecting 10-20,000 homes, apartments and other dwellings;

-- irrigation sites;

-- food processing, storage and distribution facilities;

-- hotels and retail establishments;

-- transportation infrastructure;

-- oil wells, pipelines, refineries and storage tanks;

-- chemical plants;

-- civilian shelters like Al Ameriyya that was attacked February 13, 1991 by two laser-guided "smart bombs" killing around 400 civilians including 142 children;

-- factories and other commercial operations;

-- government offices;

-- historical sites; and more in a willful malicious effort to return the country to a pre-industrial age and punish its people horrifically.

Lost was power, clean water, sanitation, fuel, transportation, medical facilities and medications, adequate food, schools, private dwellings and places of employment. Early post-war estimates placed the number of civilians killed at 113,000 (mostly children) according to the Red Crescent Society of Jordan. In addition, US CENTCOM commander, General Schwarzkopf and others, estimated 100,000 or more Iraqi military deaths plus thousands more killed gratuitously as they were retreating in disarray.

What then followed was 12 years of the most comprehensive genocidal sanctions ever imposed on a country as an act of vengeance and US-imposed imperial arrogance. They were first adopted in UN Resolution 661 four days after Iraq invaded Kuwait. They included a full trade embargo that crippled the country economically but initially allowed in food, medical and other essential humanitarian needs. UN Resolution 670 followed in September, 1990 that imposed an air blockade and measures to enforce it.

After the war in April, 1991, UN Resolution 687 was adopted. It required Saddam accept cease fire terms and comply with Geneva protocols banning biological and chemical weapons. It also affirmed Kuwait's sovereignty, but it wasn't good enough for US officials who wanted sanctions to remain in force until Saddam was removed.

Later on, the oil for food and medicine program was adopted under UN Resolution 986 in 1995 but was hopelessly inadequate by design. An internal UN report in 1999 revealed it delivered only $74 of food per annum per person (about 21 cents a day) and $15 worth of medicines (about 4 cents a day) with vitally needed items banned or in short supply like syringes, anesthetics, vaccines, antibiotics and other drugs. Everything with potential "dual use" was blocked - chlorine to purify water, vital medical equipment, chemotherapy and pain-killing drugs, ambulances, and anything Washington wished to deny the country punitively with horrific consequences.

Further complicating things, all Iraqi funds were frozen and administered through a US-controlled Development Fund for Iraq. In addition, UN Resolution 661 stipulated all goods entering the country had to be approved by a 15 member committee that included the five permanent Security Council members. Approval had to be unanimous with every member having veto power. The US representative abused his authority by blocking items or causing long delays in importing others. The practice became so extreme, on one occasion baby food was denied on the grounds adults might consume it. At other times, items on the World Health Organization (WHO) humanitarian priority list were blocked such as rice, school books, paper, agricultural pesticides, medical journals and catheters for babies.

The results were predictable and devastating. Normal life was impossible and became a daily struggle to survive. It became apparent by the mid-1990s many didn't or wouldn't:

-- the UN World Food Program (WFP) reported 2.4 million Iraqi children were severely at nutritional risk in September, 1995;

-- in December, 1995, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said 12% of Baghdad children were "wasted, 28% stunted and 29% under weight;"

-- by year end 1995, FAO reported 567,000 Iraqi children sanction-related deaths;

-- by March, 1996, WHO noted a six-fold mortality rate increase among children under five;

-- in October, 1996 UNICEF reported 4500 monthly Iraqi children deaths from sanction-caused starvation and disease;

-- by 1999, the under five child mortality rate rose three-fold from 1989, malnutrition doubled, and the entire young child population was affected;

-- UN Secretary-General Boutras-Boutras-Ghali noted how health conditions deteriorated dramatically by the mid-1990s, and by 1997 the WHO Director General said Iraq's health care system was systemically broken; in addition, malaria, typhoid, cholera and other life-threatening and communicable diseases were rampant.

US administrations under GHW Bush, Bill Clinton and GW Bush are criminally liable under "the genocide convention" and other relevant international law. Up to the March, 2003 attack and invasion, more than 1.5 million Iraqis, including over one million children, likely died from the combination of war and economic sanctions. Two UN heads of Iraqi humanitarian relief resigned under them in anger and frustration with Dennis Halliday saying in 1998 he did so because he "had been instructed to implement a policy that satisfies the definition of genocide: a deliberate policy that has effectively killed well over one million individuals, children and adults" including 5000 Iraqi children monthly in his judgment.

To date, most members of Congress are mute on the Iraq genocide and continue funding it with hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars. Yet on October 10, the House Foreign Relations Committee hypocritically passed a non-binding resolution calling the 1915 - 1923 Armenian holocaust (taking 1.0 to 1.5 million lives) genocide with a full House vote on the measure still scheduled for November in spite of waning support for it and uncertainty where it will go in the Senate.

Speaker Pelosi still backs the measure and in 2006 as Minority Leader pledged to support legislation "that would properly acknowledge the Armenian Genocide. It is imperative that the United States recognize this atrocity and move to renew our commitment to eliminate genocide whenever and wherever it exists." Today, Speaker Pelosi is mute on Iraq, Afghanistan and fully supports AIPAC's agenda and its top priority of war with Iran. She's not bothered by her own government's genocide that far exceeds the Ottoman and post-Ottoman Turkish Armenian slaughter during and after WW I. The data below estimates as many as four million Iraqis have perished from 1990 - 2007, but speaker Pelosi's condemnation of it is nowhere in sight.

Dr. Gideon Polya is a well-published biological scientist who's book, "Body Count: Global avoidable mortality since 1950," came out this year. It "documents....non-reported (worldwide) avoidable death(s) of 1.3 billion people since 1950" including in Iraq and Afghanistan. He also published his data on millions of violent and non-violent deaths under the three most recent US administrations in articles like his October 7 one on Countercurrents.org. In it, he cites data on Iraq from the Lancet, UN and British polling firm ORB. His "Asian Wars" totals in Iraq, Afghanistan, Occupied Palestine and Lebanon are horrific, and, if correct, exceed any others published to date. A summary of his data follows.

-- Eight million total violent and non-violent deaths in Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine and Lebanon breaking down as follows:

-- 70,000 "US-backed" Israeli-caused deaths in Lebanon from 1978 - 2006, 10,000 of which were violent killings "by Israelis" or their "surrogates;"

-- 300,000 1967-2007 Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) deaths plus another 10,000 violent deaths;

-- 200,000 violent 1990-91 Gulf war deaths;

-- 1.7 million 1990-2003 Iraqi sanctions-caused deaths including 1.2 million children under age five;

-- 3.2 million 2001-2007 US Afghanistan war deaths including UN Population Division data totaling 2.5 million plus 700,000 children under age five;

-- 2.0 million 2003-07 US Iraq war deaths including 1.2 million UK polling firm ORB violence-related estimates plus 800,000 children under age five from UNICEF data; and

-- 500,000 2001-07 opiate drug-related deaths resulting from the resurgent Afghan opium industry under US-UK occupation; the UN Office on Drugs and Crime estimates its output at 93% of world production.

Polya cites the failure of occupying powers to supply essential "life-sustaining requisites" as a major cause of preventable deaths. He also notes his eight million estimate exceeds the Nazi-inflicted Jewish holocaust total of about six million. And he rightly observes that major media misreporting, denying or "ignoring of this horrendous, ongoing mass" slaughter is the equivalent of Jewish holocaust denial and doing it endangers security for "both....victims and....perpetrators."

There's no denying the toll on victims, but consider the cost at home post-9/11:

-- a nation with no outside enemies permanently at war and claims the right to wage preventive wars under the doctrine of "anticipatory self-defense" using first strike nuclear weapons even against non-nuclear states;

-- world stability and peace further threatened by the administration's abandoning NPT, ending Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty protection, rescinding and subverting the Biological and Toxic Weapons Convention, deploying so-called "missile defense" for offense, and plans to weaponize space toward the goal of "full-spectrum (unchallengeable) dominance" of all land, surface and sub-surface sea, air, space, electromagnetic spectrum and information systems plus as much of the world's energy resources as possible;

-- a military budget hugely exceeding the rest of the world combined; The Independent Institute analyst Robert Higgs estimates the true FY 2007 budget exceeds $1 trillion with all defense-related items included;

-- a rogue government operating outside constitutional and international laws and norms with the Congress and courts criminally complicit;

-- an unprecedented wealth disparity in an omnipotent corporatist state;

-- growing social decay and poverty in the richest country in the world;

-- a secretive, intrusive, repressive administration under a president who disdains the public interest and is a serial liar and war criminal;

-- condoning and operating secret torture-prisons around the world as a weapon of cruelty, vengeance and social control; and

-- a cesspool of corruption stemming from incestuous business-govenment ties that defile democracy and mock any notion of government of, for and by the people.

The toll in Israel is evident as well. Angela Godfrey-Goldstein is an Israeli Jew, based in Jerusalem, and the Action Advocacy Officer with the Israeli Committee Against (Palestinian) House Demolitions (ICAHD). On August 30, 2007, she delivered an address at the UN Conference at the EU Parliament in Brussels commemorating the fortieth anniversary of Occupied Palestine. In it, she noted part of the toll on Israeli society caused by 40 years of Palestinian repression:

-- around one million Israeli Jews "voted with their feet and left the country;"

-- an estimate by some that up to 50% of Israeli youths refuse mandatory Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) service plus a "grey" Air Force refusal rate of around 30%;

-- a significant recent observation from John Pilger that "something (around the world) is changing. (There's a) swell of a boycott....growing inexorably....an important marker (may have) been passed, reminiscent of the boycotts (preceding) sanctions against apartheid South Africa" that led to the fall of its white-supremicist government; and

-- her experience working with "diplomats, politicians and aid workers in Israel and Palestine (shows) that, on an individual basis, there's enormous personal support and empathy for the Palestinian cause" because decades of abuse against them are intolerable and must end.

Push eventually will come to shove. We better hope it arrives soon. The world can't wait much longer.

Stephen Lendman is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG) He is based in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

Also visit his blog site at www.sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to The Steve Lendman News and Information Hour on TheMicroEffect.com Mondays at noon US central time.

ericg

10-25-2007, 03:11 PM

House Passes Thought Crime Prevention Bill

Lee Rogers
Go To Original

The U.S. House of Representatives recently passed HR 1955 titled the Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007. This bill is one of the most blatant attacks against the Constitution yet and actually defines thought crimes as homegrown terrorism. If passed into law, it will also establish a commission and a Center of Excellence to study and defeat so called thought criminals. Unlike previous anti-terror legislation, this bill specifically targets the civilian population of the United States and uses vague language to define homegrown terrorism. Amazingly, 404 of our elected representatives from both the Democrat and Republican parties voted in favor of this bill. There is little doubt that this bill is specifically targeting the growing patriot community that is demanding the restoration of the Constitution.
First let’s take a look at the definitions of violent radicalization and homegrown terrorism as defined in Section 899A of the bill.

The definition of violent radicalization uses vague language to define this term of promoting any belief system that the government considers to be an extremist agenda. Since the bill doesn’t specifically define what an extremist belief system is, it is entirely up to the interpretation of the government. Considering how much the government has done to destroy the Constitution they could even define Ron Paul supporters as promoting an extremist belief system. Literally, the government according to this definition can define whatever they want as an extremist belief system. Essentially they have defined violent radicalization as thought crime. The definition as defined in the bill is shown below.

..(2) VIOLENT RADICALIZATION- The term ..violent radicalization' means the process of adopting or promoting an extremist belief system for the purpose of facilitating ideologically based violence to advance political, religious, or social change.

The definition of homegrown terrorism uses equally vague language to further define thought crime. The bill includes the planned use of force or violence as homegrown terrorism which could be interpreted as thinking about using force or violence. Not only that but the definition is so vaguely defined, that petty crimes could even fall into the category of homegrown terrorism. The definition as defined in the bill is shown below.

..(3) HOMEGROWN TERRORISM- The term ..homegrown terrorism' means the use, planned use, or threatened use, of force or violence by a group or individual born, raised, or based and operating primarily within the United States or any possession of the United States to intimidate or coerce the United States government, the civilian population of the United States, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives.

Section 899B of the bill goes over the findings of Congress as it pertains to homegrown terrorism. Particularly alarming is that the bill mentions the Internet as a main source for terrorist propaganda. The bill even mentions streams in obvious reference to many of the patriot and pro-constitution Internet radio networks that have been formed. It also mentions that homegrown terrorists span all ages and races indicating that the Congress is stating that everyone is a potential terrorist. Even worse is that Congress states in their findings that they should look at draconian police states like Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom as models to defeat homegrown terrorists. Literally, these findings of Congress fall right in line with the growing patriot community.

The biggest joke of all is that this section also says that any measure to prevent violent radicalization and homegrown terrorism should not violate the constitutional rights of citizens. However, the definition of violent radicalization and homegrown terrorism as they are defined in section 899A are themselves unconstitutional. The Constitution does not allow the government to arrest people for thought crimes, so any promises not to violate the constitutional rights of citizens are already broken by their own definitions.

..SEC. 899B. FINDINGS.

..The Congress finds the following:

..(1) The development and implementation of methods and processes that can be utilized to prevent violent radicalization, homegrown terrorism, and ideologically based violence in the United States is critical to combating domestic terrorism.

..(2) The promotion of violent radicalization, homegrown terrorism, and ideologically based violence exists in the United States and poses a threat to homeland security.

..(3) The Internet has aided in facilitating violent radicalization, ideologically based violence, and the homegrown terrorism process in the United States by providing access to broad and constant streams of terrorist-related propaganda to United States citizens.

..(4) While the United States must continue its vigilant efforts to combat international terrorism, it must also strengthen efforts to combat the threat posed by homegrown terrorists based and operating within the United States.

..(5) Understanding the motivational factors that lead to violent radicalization, homegrown terrorism, and ideologically based violence is a vital step toward eradicating these threats in the United States.

..(6) The potential rise of self radicalized, unaffiliated terrorists domestically cannot be easily prevented through traditional Federal intelligence or law enforcement efforts, and requires the incorporation of State and local solutions.

..(7) Individuals prone to violent radicalization, homegrown terrorism, and ideologically based violence span all races, ethnicities, and religious beliefs, and individuals should not be targeted based solely on race, ethnicity, or religion.

..(8) Any measure taken to prevent violent radicalization, homegrown terrorism, and ideologically based violence and homegrown terrorism in the United States should not violate the constitutional rights, civil rights and civil liberties of United States citizens and lawful permanent residents.

..(9) Certain governments, including the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia have significant experience with homegrown terrorism and the United States can benefit from lessons learned by those nations.

Section 899C calls for a commission on the prevention of violent radicalization and ideologically based violence. The commission will consist of ten members appointed by various individuals that hold different positions in government. Essentially, this is a commission that will examine and report on how they are going to deal with violent radicalization and homegrown terrorism. So basically, the commission is being formed specifically on how to deal with thought criminals in the United States. The bill requires that the commission submit their final report 18 months following the commission’s first meeting as well as submit interim reports every 6 months leading up to the final report. Below is the bill’s defined purpose of the commission. Amazingly they even define one of the purposes of the commission to determine the causes of lone wolf violent radicalization.

(b) Purpose- The purposes of the Commission are the following:

..(1) Examine and report upon the facts and causes of violent radicalization, homegrown terrorism, and ideologically based violence in the United States, including United States connections to non-United States persons and networks, violent radicalization, homegrown terrorism, and ideologically based violence in prison, individual or ..lone wolf' violent radicalization, homegrown terrorism, and ideologically based violence, and other faces of the phenomena of violent radicalization, homegrown terrorism, and ideologically based violence that the Commission considers important.

..(2) Build upon and bring together the work of other entities and avoid unnecessary duplication, by reviewing the findings, conclusions, and recommendations of--

..(A) the Center of Excellence established or designated under section 899D, and other academic work, as appropriate;

..(B) Federal, State, local, or tribal studies of, reviews of, and experiences with violent radicalization, homegrown terrorism, and ideologically based violence; and

..(C) foreign government studies of, reviews of, and experiences with violent radicalization, homegrown terrorism, and ideologically based violence.

Section 899D of the bill establishes a Center of Excellence for the Study of Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism in the United States. Essentially, this will be a Department of Homeland Security affiliated institution that will study and determine how to defeat thought criminals.

Section 899E of the bill discusses how the government is going to defeat violent radicalization and homegrown terrorism through international cooperation. As stated in the findings section earlier in the legislation, they will unquestionably seek the advice of countries with draconian police states like the United Kingdom to determine how to deal with this growing threat of thought crime.

Possibly the most ridiculous section of the bill is Section 899F which states how they plan on protecting civil rights and civil liberties while preventing ideologically based violence and homegrown terrorism. Here is what the section says.

..SEC. 899F. PROTECTING CIVIL RIGHTS AND CIVIL LIBERTIES WHILE PREVENTING IDEOLOGICALLY-BASED VIOLENCE AND HOMEGROWN TERRORISM.

..(a) In General- The Department of Homeland Security's efforts to prevent ideologically-based violence and homegrown terrorism as described herein shall not violate the constitutional rights, civil rights, and civil liberties of United States citizens and lawful permanent residents.

..(b) Commitment to Racial Neutrality- The Secretary shall ensure that the activities and operations of the entities created by this subtitle are in compliance with the Department of Homeland Security's commitment to racial neutrality.

..(c) Auditing Mechanism- The Civil Rights and Civil Liberties Officer of the Department of Homeland Security will develop and implement an auditing mechanism to ensure that compliance with this subtitle does not result in a disproportionate impact, without a rational basis, on any particular race, ethnicity, or religion and include the results of its audit in its annual report to Congress required under section 705.'.

(b) Clerical Amendment- The table of contents in section 1(b) of such Act is amended by inserting at the end of the items relating to title VIII the following:

It states in the first subsection that in general the efforts to defeat thought crime shall not violate the constitutional rights, civil rights and civil liberties of the United States citizens and lawful permanent residents. How does this protect constitutional rights if they use vague language such as in general that prefaces the statement? This means that the Department of Homeland Security does not have to abide by the Constitution in their attempts to prevent so called homegrown terrorism.

This bill is completely insane. It literally allows the government to define any and all crimes including thought crime as violent radicalization and homegrown terrorism. Obviously, this legislation is unconstitutional on a number of levels and it is clear that all 404 representatives who voted in favor of this bill are traitors and should be removed from office immediately. The treason spans both political parties and it shows us all that there is no difference between them. The bill will go on to the Senate and will likely be passed and signed into the law by George W. Bush. Considering that draconian legislation like the Patriot Act and the Military Commissions Act have already been passed, there seems little question that this one will get passed as well. This is more proof that our country has been completely sold out by a group of traitors at all levels of government.

ericg

10-25-2007, 03:13 PM

When it comes to producing billionaires, America is doing great.

Until 2005, multimillionaires could still make the Forbes list of the 400 richest Americans. In 2006, the Forbes 400 went billionaires only.

This year, you'd need a Forbes 482 to fit all the billionaires.

A billion dollars is a lot of dough. Queen Elizabeth II, British monarch for five decades, would have to add $400 million to her $600 million fortune to reach $1 billion. And she'd need another $300 million to reach the Forbes 400 minimum of $1.3 billion. The average Forbes 400 member has $3.8 billion.

When the Forbes 400 began in 1982, it was dominated by oil and manufacturing fortunes. Today, says Forbes, "Wall Street is king."

Nearly half the 45 new members, says Forbes, "made their fortunes in hedge funds and private equity. Money manager John Paulson joins the list after pocketing more than $1 billion short-selling subprime credit this summer."

The 25th anniversary of the Forbes 400 isn't party time for America.

We have a record 482 billionaires - and record foreclosures.

We have a record 482 billionaires - and a record 47 million people without any health insurance.

Since 2000, we have added 184 billionaires - and 5 million more people living below the poverty line.

The official poverty threshold for one person was a ridiculously low $10,294 in 2006. That won't get you two pounds of caviar ($9,800) and 25 cigars ($730) on the Forbes Cost of Living Extremely Well Index. The $20,614 family-of-four poverty threshold is lower than the cost of three months of home flower arrangements ($24,525).

Wealth is being redistributed from poorer to richer.

Between 1983 and 2004, the average wealth of the top 1 percent of households grew by 78 percent, reports Edward Wolff, professor of economics at New York University. The bottom 40 percent lost 59 percent.

In 2004, one out of six households had zero or negative net worth. Nearly one out of three households had less than $10,000 in net worth, including home equity. That's before the mortgage crisis hit.

In 1982, when the Forbes 400 had just 13 billionaires, the highest paid CEO made $108 million and the average full-time worker made $34,199, adjusted for inflation in $2006. Last year, the highest paid hedge fund manager hauled in $1.7 billion, the highest paid CEO made $647 million, and the average worker made $34,861, with vanishing health and pension coverage.

The Forbes 400 is even more of a rich men's club than when it began. The number of women has dropped from 75 in 1982 to 39 today.

The 400 richest Americans have a conservatively estimated $1.54 trillion in combined wealth. That amount is more than 11 percent of our $13.8 trillion Gross Domestic Product (GDP) - the total annual value of goods and services produced by our nation of 303 million people. In 1982, Forbes 400 wealth measured less than 3 percent of U.S. GDP.

And the rich, notes Fortune magazine, "give away a smaller share of their income than the rest of us."

Thanks to mega-tax cuts, the rich can afford more mega-yachts, accessorized with helicopters and mini-submarines. Meanwhile, the infrastructure of bridges, levees, mass transit, parks and other public assets inherited from earlier generations of taxpayers crumbles from neglect, and the holes in the safety net are growing.

The top 1 percent of households - average income $1.5 million - will save a collective $79.5 billion on their 2008 taxes, reports Citizens for Tax Justice. That's more than the combined budgets of the Transportation Department, Small Business Administration, Environmental Protection Agency and Consumer Product Safety Commission.

Tax cuts will save the top 1 percent a projected $715 billion between 2001 and 2010. And cost us $715 billion in mounting national debt plus interest.

The children and grandchildren of today's underpaid workers will pay for the partying of today's plutocrats and their retinue of lobbyists.

It's time for Congress to roll back tax cuts for the wealthy and close the loophole letting billionaire hedge fund speculators pay taxes at a lower rate than their secretaries.

Inequality has roared back to 1920s levels. It was bad for our nation then. It's bad for our nation now.

ericg

10-25-2007, 03:14 PM

Former Bush General Touts Privatization of National Disaster Response
by: Eartha Jane Melzer

Blackwater Pal Says "Country Club Fees" Would Guarantee Protection

(Photo: President George W. Bush and Brigadier General Richard Mills, Deputy Commander of U.S. Special Forces, view a tactical demonstration from the roof of a building at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, Friday, March 15, 2002. White House photo by Eric Draper.)

A retired general now working for a controversial private security company told an audience last night about the services the company plans to provide.

The government does not have the tax base to provide services to everyone in the event of a major catastrophe, retired Brigadier General Richard W. Mills told an audience in Pellston last night.

Mills served as Deputy Director of the Counterterrorism Center (CTC) of the Central Intelligence Agency before retirement this year. At a public meeting at the Pellston High School he presented himself as the executive vice president for strategic development for Sovereign Deed, an 18 month old company that offers private disaster response services.

Sovereign Deed was started by a founder of Triple Canopy -- one the largest private security companies doing business in Iraq. In August the company announced that it would build a "national response center" at the Pellston airport in Emmet County. The announcement came after State Senator Jason Allen (R-Traverse City) successfully sponsored a bill to allow private security firms to qualify for tax abatements as industrial facilities.
Mills, and Emmet County officials, were on hand last night to speak about Sovereign Deed and address what they called a wave of "rumors" about the company's plans.

Mills said that Sovereign Deed is focused ..ing people in urban areas plan to survive a major disaster.

Mills said that Sovereign Deed would offer planning and rescue services to subscribers who pay a "country club type membership fee." Basic service, he said, would involve a one time $50,000 fee and $15,000 per year.

"The reality of FEMA is that is has no infrastructure, and a lot of our National Guard is elsewhere fighting the war," Mills said. "You never know what could happen. A hurricane, a terrorist attack, a nuclear power plant going bad -- it doesn't matter, you make concentric circles, you get a plan."

He said northern Michigan was well suited for a national response center because it has low air traffic congestion and few risks outside the occasional snow storm.

Though some said they would welcome any business development that might bring jobs to local people, many objected to what they called the vague nature of Sovereign Deed's plans.

Mills did not offer details about what supplies would be stored at it's Emmet county warehouses. He did not offer details on how much air traffic the business might generate, how many people it would train and what sort of training people would receive. He did say that the company would bring military cargo planes to the Pellston airport.

Mills emphasized that Sovereign Deed is not a government agency. But he did not rule out working for governments and he said that FEMA is looking to privatize some functions.

Members of the group "Do We Need Sovereign Deed" are questioning the use of tax incentives to attract Sovereign Deed. During the forum several people expressed concerns about a "parallel universe" security system being set up to benefit only those with financial resources.

The Sovereign Deed plan, "Flies in the face of democracy," Carolyn Belknap said.

Belknap said she feels the company's plans are covert and that she is suspicious of Sovereign Deed connections to other similar organizations such as Triple Canopy and Blackwater.

Belknap said she is particularly disturbed by Sovereign Deed claims that they will have access to advance intelligence on security threats. She said she is concerned with the privatization of security intelligence.

Belknap pointed to the close relationships between Eric Prince, founder of Blackwater, and conservative political causes and candidates.

"I think that when we dig deeper we are going to find that they are all connected. We've got to follow the money."

As part of the campaign to do this, Belknap said, concerned citizens in Northern Michigan are forming ties with a group in California that is mobilizing to oppose a Blackwater training camp there.

East of San Diego, in rural Potrero, California (now in the midst of a forest fire) a recall campaign seeks to unseat planning commissioners who approved a plan for a 860 acre Blackwater training facility.

Activists there say that the Blackwater facility near the southern border is positioned to take advantage of government border security contracts.

Some people wary of the Sovereign Deed project have expressed concern that a closed state prison camp in Pellston may be part of the company's future plans.

ericg

10-25-2007, 03:15 PM

The destroyed Potrero community near San Diego is the location where Blackwater plans to put a massive mercenary training facility. Now all the homes are destroyed. The Town was totally against Blackwater coming in and now they all got burned out.

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2007/10/...ckwater_border/

Blackwater is planning to build an 824-acre military-style training complex in Potrero, Calif., a rural hamlet 45 miles east of San Diego. The company's proposal, which was approved last December by the Potrero Community Planning Group and has drawn protest from within the Potrero community, will turn a former chicken ranch into "Blackwater West," the company's second-largest facility in the country. It will include a multitude of weapons firing ranges, a tactical driving track, a helipad, a 33,000-square-foot urban simulation training area, an armory for storing guns and ammunition, and dorms and classrooms. And it will be located in the heart one of the most active regions in the United States for illegal border crossings.

Beyond the damage and destruction to life and property, the timing of this wildfire could not be much worse. This fire exploded just as the people of Potrero were preparing for a recall election on December 11 to kick out the planning group members who approved Blackwater's base. With ballots scheduled to be mailed in early November to less than 600 registered voters in this historic vote-by-mail recall, Potrero residents were preparing for an intense campaign over the next six weeks.

But the actual landscape -- and the political landscape -- of Potrero have been transformed over the last 48 hours.
http://www.couragecampaign.org/page/s/Potrero

Here's a trailer to an upcoming documentary showing the small town's fight to keep Blackwater out:
"Blackwater in Petrero"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvIeWQQh8MA

Consider that a terror alert was issued to firehouses as strange men were seen surveying and photographing firehouses up and down California recently
http://calfire.blogspot.com/2007/09/terror...e-stations.html

And isnt this great...

the lock down, fortress like(were talking huge congrete barrier rings inside barriers with no way out) Quallcom stadium full of tens of thousands of refugees into makeshift FEMA camp

ericg

10-25-2007, 03:16 PM

Please sign this Petition and repost everywhere!
http://www.petitiononline.com/brownirs/

ericg

10-25-2007, 03:25 PM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iptbB1rZ-6I

Schmeltz

10-25-2007, 05:40 PM

Independent sources report that a bear has very likely shit in the woods in northern Seattle. A bulletin sent to users via MySpace, meanwhile, confirms the involvement of the Illuminati, Rothschilds, Jews, Blackwater USA, and shape-shifting alien reptile people from Atlantis in said incident.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2U4L6L0S1H4I2T0

ericg

10-25-2007, 07:38 PM

stay on it and figure that shit out.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVM62idO9MA

ericg

10-25-2007, 11:56 PM

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4511473723593448051

ericg

10-26-2007, 04:27 PM

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7828479818173821931

ericg

10-26-2007, 05:21 PM

Donald Rumsfeld charged with torture during trip to France
http://wor.ldne.ws/node/8288
Fri, 10/26/2007 - 09:23

Former US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld got an unpleasant surprise during his visit to France today when human rights groups filed a complaint with the Paris Prosecutor before the “Court of First Instance” (Tribunal de Grande Instance) charging the chief architect of President George W. Bush's "war on terror" with ordering and authorizing torture.

International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) along with the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR), and the French League for Human Rights (LDH) filed the complaint while Rumsfeld was in Paris for a talk sponsored by Foreign Policy magazine, and under French law, an investigation must be opened if an alleged torturer is inside France.

“France is under the obligation to investigate and prosecute Rumsfeld’s accountability for crimes of torture in Guantanamo and Iraq," said FIDH President Souhayr Belhassen. "France has no choice but to open an investigation if an alleged torturer is on its territory. I hope that the fight against impunity will not be sacrificed in the name of politics. We call on France to refuse to be a safe haven for criminals.”

“The filing of this French case against Rumsfeld demonstrates that we will not rest until those U.S. officials involved in the torture program are brought to justice," said CCR President Michael Ratner. "Rumsfeld must understand that he has no place to hide. A torturer is an enemy of all humankind.”

The criminal complaint states that because of the failure of authorities in the United States and Iraq to launch any independent investigation into the responsibility of Rumsfeld and other high-level U.S. officials for torture despite a documented paper trail and government memos implicating them in direct as well as command responsibility for torture – and because the U.S. has refused to join the International Criminal Court – it is the legal obligation of states such as France to take up the case.

Rumsfeld’s presence on French territory gives French courts jurisdiction to prosecute him for having ordered and authorized torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment of detainees in Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib and elsewhere.

“We want to combat impunity and therefore demand a judicial investigation and a criminal prosecution wherever there is jurisdiction over the torture incidents,” said ECCHR General Secretary Wolfgang Kaleck.

"That a criminal State representative should benefit from impunity is always unacceptable. Because the USA is the super power of the beginning of this century and, above all, because it is a democracy, the impunity of Donald Rumsfeld is even more insufferable than that of a Hissène Habré or a Radovan Karadzic", underlined Jean-Pierre Dubois, LDH President.

In this case, charges are brought under the 1984 Convention against Torture, ratified by both the United States and France, which has been used in France in previous torture cases.

French courts therefore have an obligation under the Convention against Torture to prosecute individuals responsible for acts of torture if they are present on French territory. This will be the only case filed while he is in the country, which makes the obligations to investigate and prosecute under international law extremely strong.

In addition, having resigned from his position of U.S. Secretary of Defense a year ago, Rumsfeld can no longer try to claim immunity as a head of state or government official. Nor can he claim immunity as former state official, as international law does not recognize such immunity in the case of international crimes including the crime of torture.

Former U.S. Army Brigadier General Janis Karpinski, former commander of Abu Ghraib and other U.S.-run prisons in Iraq, submitted written testimony to the Paris Prosecutor for the plaintiffs’ case on Rumsfeld’s responsibility for the abuse of detainees.

This is the fifth time Rumsfeld has been charged with direct involvement in torture stemming from his role in the Bush administration’s program of torture post-9/11.

Two previous criminal complaints were filed in Germany under its universal jurisdiction statute, which allows Germany to prosecute serious international crimes regardless of where they occurred or the nationality of the perpetrators or victims. One case was filed in fall 2004 by CCR, FIDH, and Berlin attorney Wolfgang Kaleck; that case was dismissed in February 2005 in response to official pressure from the U.S., in particular from the Pentagon.

The second case was filed in fall 2006 by the same groups as well as dozens of national and international human rights groups, Nobel Peace Prize winners and the United Nations former Special Rapporteur on Torture. The 2006 complaint was presented on behalf of 12 Iraqi citizens who had been held and abused in Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq and one Saudi citizen still held at Guantánamo. This case was dismissed in April 2007, and an appeal will be filed against this decision next week.

Two other cases were filed against Rumsfeld in Argentina in 2005 and in Sweden in 2007.

The complaint and the documents attached are available on FIDH Website in French language.

ericg

10-26-2007, 05:23 PM

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/10/26/4832/

Spilling the Beans on Soy
by Heidi Sopinka
What could be a more eco-righteous symbol of the hippie vegetarian movement than a block of tofu? As it turns out, the gentle bean has become somewhat of a blood crop in South America. A recent article in The Daily Telegraph uncovered that land-rights activists are risking death, while vast swaths of rainforest are being felled to provide land for the booming soy industry in Brazil (now surpassing the United States as the top soy exporter in the world). With the added issues of widespread genetically modified and pesticide-laden crops, along with the documented dangers of eating too much unfermented soy, just how green is the soy bean?

27,200

Amount in square kilometres (an area about the size of Belgium) of Amazon rainforest cleared for monoculture soybean farming between August, 2003, and August, 2004. Three-quarters of this destruction was illegal.

75 to 89

Percentage of soybeans grown in North America that are genetically modified. Even if you are actively avoiding GM foods, GM soy is present in approximately 60 per cent of processed foods - usually as filler or oil. Neither Canada nor the United States requires any safety testing on GM food products, despite findings of toxicity and cancer-promoting properties.

115

Celsius temperature to which soy beans are heated in the production of commercial soy milk in an attempt to remove trypsin inhibitors (they interfere with protein digestion and have been linked to pancreatic disorders), but the phytate content remains largely intact. (Phytates block the absorption of essential minerals such as calcium, magnesium, iron and especially zinc in the intestinal tract.)

5

The equivalent number of birth-control pills a day that babies fed exclusively on soy formula would be consuming, according to a British toxicologist’s calculations. (Components of soy called isoflavones produce estrogen-like effects in the body, and as a result are sometimes called phytoestrogens.) Thirty to 40 per cent of babies in the United States are fed soy formula.

Bottom Line

From fast food to pet food, soy is wall-to-wall in our edible products. And while organic fermented soy can be good in moderation, eating a tofu burger and washing it down with a glass of soy milk on a daily basis could prove hazardous to your health. Although the lauded Asian diet has incorporated soy for centuries, it has never included the large amounts of unfermented and heavily processed soy products consumed in North America that have toxicologists worried. When seeking out soy, look for products that are labelled “organic soy,” which means they are genetically unaltered and pesticide-free. Fermented soy products, including miso, tempeh and tamari sauce, are healthy choices (the fermentation process removes the phytates, trypsin inhibitors and hemagglutinins, which can cause clots). If only the hippies had known that soy was going to wind up a Frankenfood blood crop - chances are they would’ve just stuck to the wheatgrass.

Sources: Health Canada, U.K. Medical Research Council, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Worldwatch Institute, World Wildlife Fund

ericg

10-26-2007, 05:26 PM

The Secretive Fight Against Bioterror
The government is building a highly classified facility to research biological weapons, but its closed-door approach has raised concerns.

By Joby Warrick
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, July 30, 2006

On the grounds of a military base an hour's drive from the capital, the Bush administration is building a massive biodefense laboratory unlike any seen since biological weapons were banned 34 years ago.

The heart of the lab is a cluster of sealed chambers built to contain the world's deadliest bacteria and viruses. There, scientists will spend their days simulating the unthinkable: bioterrorism attacks in the form of lethal anthrax spores rendered as wispy powders that can drift for miles on a summer breeze, or common viruses turned into deadly superbugs that ordinary drugs and vaccines cannot stop.

The work at this new lab, at Fort Detrick, Md., could someday save thousands of lives -- or, some fear, create new risks and place the United States in violation of international treaties. In either case, much of what transpires at the National Biodefense Analysis and Countermeasures Center (NBACC) may never be publicly known, because the Bush administration intends to operate the facility largely in secret.

In an unusual arrangement, the building itself will be classified as highly restricted space, from the reception desk to the lab benches to the cages where animals are kept. Few federal facilities, including nuclear labs, operate with such stealth. It is this opacity that some arms-control experts say has become a defining characteristic of U.S. biodefense policy as carried out by the Department of Homeland Security, NBACC's creator.

Since the department's founding in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks, its officials have dramatically expanded the government's ability to conduct realistic tests of the pathogens and tactics that might be used in a bioterrorism attack. Some of the research falls within what many arms-control experts say is a legal gray zone, skirting the edges of an international treaty outlawing the production of even small amounts of biological weapons.

The administration dismisses these concerns, however, insisting that the work of NBACC is purely defensive and thus fully legal. It has rejected calls for oversight by independent observers outside the department's network of government scientists and contractors. And it defends the secrecy as necessary to protect Americans.

"Where the research exposes vulnerability, I've got to protect that, for the public's interest," said Bernard Courtney, NBACC's scientific director. "We don't need to be showing perpetrators the holes in our defense."

Tara O'Toole, founder of the Center for Biosecurity at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and an adviser to the Defense Department on bioterrorism, said the secrecy fits a larger pattern and could have consequences. "The philosophy and practice behind NBACC looks like much of the rest of the administration's philosophy and practice: 'Our intent is good, so we can do whatever we want,' " O'Toole said. "This approach will only lead to trouble."

Although they acknowledge the need to shield the results of some sensitive projects from public view, critics of NBACC fear that excessive secrecy could actually increase the risk of bioterrorism. That would happen, they say, if the lab fosters ill-designed experiments conducted without proper scrutiny or if its work fuels suspicions that could lead other countries to pursue secret biological research.

The few public documents that describe NBACC's research mission have done little to quiet those fears. A computer slide show prepared by the center's directors in 2004 offers a to-do list that suggests the lab will be making and testing small amounts of weaponized microbes and, perhaps, genetically engineered viruses and bacteria. It also calls for "red team" exercises that simulate attacks by hostile groups.

NBACC's close ties to the U.S. intelligence community have also caused concern among the agency's critics. The CIA has assigned advisers to the lab, including at least one member of the "Z-Division," an elite group jointly operated with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory that specializes in analyzing and duplicating weapons systems of potential adversaries, officials familiar with the program confirm.

Bioweapons experts say the nature of the research envisioned for NBACC demands an unusually high degree of transparency to reassure Americans and the rest of the world of the U.S. government's intentions.

"If we saw others doing this kind of research, we would view it as an infringement of the bioweapons treaty," said Milton Leitenberg, a senior research scholar and weapons expert at the University of Maryland's School of Public Policy. "You can't go around the world yelling about Iranian and North Korean programs -- about which we know very little -- when we've got all this going on."
Creating the Weapons of Terrorism

Created without public fanfare a few months after the 2001 anthrax attacks, NBACC is intended to be the chief U.S. biological research institution engaged in something called "science-based threat assessment." It seeks to quantitatively answer one of the most difficult questions in biodefense: What's the worst that can happen?

To truly answer that question, there is little choice, current and former NBACC officials say: Researchers have to make real biological weapons.

"De facto, we are going to make biowarfare pathogens at NBACC in order to study them," said Penrose "Parney" Albright, former Homeland Security assistant secretary for science and technology.

Other government agencies, such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, study disease threats such as smallpox to discover cures. By contrast, NBACC (pronounced EN-back) attempts to get inside the head of a bioterrorist. It considers the wide array of potential weapons available. It looks for the holes in society's defenses where an attacker might achieve the maximum harm. It explores the risks posed by emerging technologies, such as new DNA synthesizing techniques that allow the creation of genetically altered or man-made viruses. And it tries in some cases to test the weapon or delivery device that terrorists might use.

Research at NBACC is already underway, in lab space that has been outsourced or borrowed from the Army's sprawling biodefense campus at Fort Detrick in Frederick. It was at this compound that the U.S. government researched and produced offensive biological weapons from the 1940s until President Richard M. Nixon halted research in 1969. The Army continues to conduct research on pathogens there.

In June, construction began on a $128 million, 160,000-square-foot facility inside the same heavily guarded compound. Space inside the eight-story, glass-and-brick structure will be divided between NBACC's two major divisions: a forensic testing center tasked with using modern sleuthing techniques to identify the possible culprits in future biological attacks; and the Biothreat Characterization Center, or BTCC, which seeks to predict what such attacks will look like.

It is the BTCC's wing that will host the airtight, ultra-secure containment labs where the most controversial research will be done. Homeland Security officials won't talk about specific projects planned or underway. But the 2004 computer slide show -- posted briefly on a Homeland Security Web site before its discovery by agency critics prompted an abrupt removal -- offers insight into NBACC's priorities.

The presentation by NBACC's then-deputy director, Lt. Col. George Korch, listed 16 research priorities for the new lab. Among them:

"Characterize classical, emerging and genetically engineered pathogens for their BTA [biological threat agent] potential.

"Assess the nature of nontraditional, novel and nonendemic induction of disease from potential BTA.

"Expand aerosol-challenge testing capacity for non-human primates.

"Apply Red Team operational scenarios and capabilities."

Courtney, the NBACC science director, acknowledged that his work would include simulating real biological threats -- but not just any threats.

"If I hear a noise on the back porch, will I turn on the light to decide whether there's something there, or go on my merry way?" Courtney asked. "But I'm only going to do [research] if I have credible information that shows it truly is a threat. It's not going to be dreamed up out of the mind of a novelist."

Administration officials note that there is a tradition for this kind of biological risk assessment, one that extends at least to the Clinton administration. In the late 1990s, for example, a clandestine project run by the Defense Department re-created a genetically modified, drug-resistant strain of the anthrax bacteria believed to have been made by Soviet bioweaponeers. Such research helped the government anticipate and prepare for emerging threats, according to officials familiar with the anthrax study.

Some arms-control experts see the comparison as troubling. They argued, then and now, that the work was a possible breach of a U.S.-negotiated international law.
Legal and Other Pitfalls

The Bush administration argues that its biodefense research complies with the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention, the 1972 treaty outlawing the manufacture of biological weapons, because U.S. motives are pure.

"All the programs we do are defensive in nature," said Maureen McCarthy, Homeland Security's director of research and development, who oversees NBACC. "Our job is to ensure that the civilian population of the country is protected, and that we know what the threats are."

Current and former administration officials say that compliance with the treaty hinges on intent, and that making small amounts of biowarfare pathogens for study is permitted under a broad interpretation of the treaty. Some also argue that the need for a strong biodefense in an age of genetic engineering trumps concerns over what they see as legal hair-splitting.

"How can I go to the people of this country and say, 'I can't do this important research because some arms-control advocate told me I can't'?" asked Albright, the former Homeland Security assistant secretary.

But some experts in international law believe that certain experiments envisioned for the lab could violate the treaty's ban on developing, stockpiling, acquiring or retaining microbes "of types and in quantities that have no justification" for peaceful purposes.

"The main problem with the 'defensive intent' test is that it does not reflect what the treaty actually says," said David Fidler, an Indiana University School of Law professor and expert on the bioweapons convention. The treaty, largely a U.S. creation, does not make a distinction between defensive and offensive activities, Fidler said.

More practically, arms experts say, future U.S. governments may find it harder to object if other countries test genetically engineered pathogens and novel delivery systems, invoking the same need for biodefense.

Already, they say, there is evidence abroad of what some are calling a "global biodefense boom." In the past five years, numerous governments, including some in the developing world -- India, China and Cuba among them -- have begun building high-security labs for studying the most lethal bacteria and viruses.

"These labs have become a status symbol, a prestige item," said Alan Pearson, a biologist at the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation. "A big question is: Will these labs have transparency?"
Secrecy May Have a Price

When it opens in two years, the NBACC lab will house an impressive collection of deadly germs and teams of scientists in full-body "spacesuits" to work with them. It will also have large aerosol-test chambers where animals will be exposed to deadly microbes. But the lab's most controversial feature may be its secrecy.

Homeland Security officials disclosed plans to contractors and other government agencies to classify the entire lab as a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility, or SCIF.

In common practice, a SCIF (pronounced "skiff") is a secure room where highly sensitive information is stored and discussed. Access to SCIFs is severely limited, and all of the activity and conversation inside is presumed to be restricted from public disclosure. There are SCIFs in the U.S. Capitol, where members of Congress are briefed on military secrets. In U.S. nuclear labs, computers that store weapons data are housed inside SCIFs.

Homeland Security officials plan to operate all 160,000 square feet of NBACC as a SCIF. Because of the building's physical security features -- intended to prevent the accidental release of dangerous pathogens -- it was logical to operate it as a SCIF, McCarthy said.

"We need to protect information at a level that is appropriate," McCarthy added, saying she expects much of the lab's less-sensitive work to be made public eventually.

But some biodefense experts, including some from past administrations, viewed the decision as a mistake.

"To overlay NBACC with a default level of high secrecy seems like overkill," said Gerald L. Epstein, a former science adviser to the White House's National Security Council and now a senior fellow with the Center for Strategic and International Studies. While accepting that some secrecy is needed, he said the NBACC plan "sends a message that is not at all helpful."

NBACC officials also have resisted calls for the kind of broad, independent oversight that many experts say is necessary to assure other countries and the American public about their research.

Homeland Security spokesmen insist that NBACC's work will be carefully monitored, but on the department's terms.

"We have our own processes to scrutinize our research, and it includes compliance to the bioweapons convention guidelines as well as scientific oversight," said Courtney, the NBACC scientific director.

In addition to the department's internal review boards, the agency will bring in small groups of "three or four scientists" on an ad-hoc basis to review certain kinds of potentially controversial experiments, Courtney said. The review panels will be "independent," Courtney said, but he noted that only scientists with government security clearances will be allowed to participate.

Some experts have called for unusual forms of oversight, including panels of well-respected, internationally known scientists and observers from overseas. While allowing that the results of some experiments should be kept confidential, O'Toole, of the Center for Biosecurity, argues that virtually everything else at NBACC should be publicly accountable if the United States is to be a credible leader in preventing the proliferation of bioweapons.

"We're going to have to lean over backward," O'Toole said. "We have no leverage among other nation-states if we say, 'We can do whatever we want, but you can't. We want to see your biodefense program, but you can't see ours.' "

In recent weeks, NBACC's first officially completed project has drawn criticism, not because of its methods or procedures, but because heavy classification has limited its usefulness.

The project was an ambitious attempt to assess and rank the threats posed by dozens of different pathogens and delivery systems, drawing on hundreds of studies and extensive computer modeling. When delivered to the White House in January, it was the most extensive survey of its kind, and one that could guide the federal government in making decisions about biodefense spending.

Six months later, no one outside a small group of officials and advisers with top security clearances has seen the results.

"Something this important shouldn't be secret," said Thomas V. Inglesby, an expert at the Center for Biosecurity who serves on a government advisory board that was briefed on the results. "How can we make policy decisions about matters of this scale if we're operating in the dark?"

Mahalo: Tane
Date: Oct 25, 2007 8:23 PM

E kalamai ia'u! I was so upset and thus the expletives. Last year Campbell estate sold some of its land near Whitmore to the military for a project the military was planning. We were upset then as the land could be put to other better uses. This miitarism has escalated in Hawaii triple-fold. They led us to believe it was a benign project but necessary for the defense of the country. Meanwhile we had a serious housing shortage for low-income families and later DelMonte's Pomoho Camp was closing and Monsanto was interested in the property that would displace a whole community. The people were evicted. The influx of US, Mexican, and Asian settlers increased as well as the Marshall Islanders who were displaced because their island was unfit for humans due to the radiation of the testing of nuclear bombs. Many were sick from the radiation of those tests and were to receive medical attention from the US who reneged on their medical needs. Hawaii has the burden now to care for them. Other US states send their homeless to us and we can't send them back fromwhere they come from because there's no family or anyone to accept them back. The tourist industry is expanding, wanting developers to build more resorts. I guess now that we have the world's deadliest bacteria and viruses brought to O'ahu for experimentation, it may deter visitors from Honolulu. Hell, I wouldn't go to a place that has that on the island and not knowing when an accident will occur. It's simple; the USA must deoccupy Hawaii!

Senate approves $160 million in Hawaii projects -- including $25 million for construction of a regional biodefense laboratory

Thursday, October 25, 2007
http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071025/NEWS21/710250345/1171/NEWS21

ericg

10-26-2007, 05:33 PM

What Happened in Nahr Al Bared?

Systematic burning and destruction ravage a Palestinian camp in Lebanon, but the media is banned and the world is silent

By Michael Birmingham

10/25/07 "Common Dreams" -- -- Nahr Al Bared is a Palestinian refugee camp in the north of Lebanon which has been home to about 40,000 Palestinian people, most of whom are the children and grandchildren of those who left Palestine in 1948. Some, like Abu Mohammad, were born in Palestine. He was ten years old, and next year it will be sixty years since the formation of the State of Israel was achieved through the ethnic cleansing of Abu Mohammad and so many others from their home in Palestine. He told me this as the two of us sat alone in the pitch dark while rats ran around beside our chairs at his house. As I left he went in to sleep alone amongst ashes and rodents, with no neighbours around him, trying to believe that he still has something left to protect.

Between May and September of this year, a ferocious battle took place between the Lebanese Army and a small armed group known as Fatah Al Islam. From the first the day, the Lebanese Army surrounded the camp and fired in artillery, maintaining this course for months. Most of the residents of the camp were forced to leave with the clothes on their backs within the first three days. As the number of young Lebanese soldiers killed and horribly maimed rose through the battle, Lebanon became awash with patriotism and grief, any questioning of the army taboo.

Something terrible has been done to the residents of Nahr al Bared, and the Lebanese people are being spared the details. Over the past two weeks, since the camp was partly reopened to a few of its residents, many of us who have been there have been stunned by a powerful reality. Beyond the massive destruction of the homes from three months of bombing, room after room, house after house have been burned. Burned from the inside. Amongst the ashes on the ground, are the insides of what appear to have been car tyres. The walls have soot dripping down from what seems clearly to have been something flammable sprayed on them. Rooms, houses, shops, garages - all blackened ruins, yet having had no damage from bombing or battle. They were burned deliberately by people entering and torching them.

How many we do not know; it is too large for a few people to comprehensively assess. But finding an un-bombed house or a business that has not been torched is very hard indeed.

Why did this happen? Why have the people whose entire life’s work is to be found in ashes on the floor of these burned out homes, not been given any information about this - not a word? Each day new people return to find that this is what has happened to their homes.

It is not just the burning of houses. Cars that residents were ordered to leave behind in the first days of the battle have been smashed up. Mopeds and TVs and all that ordinary people value, also broken up. Fridge after fridge with bullets through them. All of this clearly done from inside the houses, not from any outside battle.

People returning to their homes sit outside alone on the ground. Stunned. When you ask them to bring you into their houses, they tell you, person after person, of how their valuables were stolen. Even where the valuables were well hidden, everything was ransacked and valuables found. Explosives were used to get through locked doors or to open safes. Items that people have had stolen include everything from clothes to cars. That which has not been burned, which was not smashed, which was of value seems to have vanished. Where?

This camp was strictly out of bounds to the Palestinian people. They could not have done this. Who did this and why must surely be investigated before more vital evidence has disappeared. A small amount of this may be attributable to Fatal al-Islam fighters. But there is clear evidence that some elements of the army acted improperly.

On the inside walls of many, many houses, are written slogans. Everything from proud soldiers noting army units, to profoundly racist, offensive slogans against Palestinian people. Many families have found some of their belongings in nearby houses. Faeces are on some mattresses and floors.

Every day that goes by more families return to the camp. Within hours, they have swept up and cleared away ashes and debris, so that they can try to imagine where to begin again. Mattresses with faeces are being burned. Journalists are still prohibited from the camp. Cameras are illegal there. Human rights groups have not entered. Every day that goes by, more evidence is lost.

For those of us who lived in nearby Baddawi refugee camp during the battle, this follows from months of people from Nahr al Bared telling stories of torture and abuse at checkpoints, and in the Lebanese Ministry of Defence at Yarsi. It also follows on peaceful demonstrators from Nahr al Bared who bravely tried to tell the world what was happening being shot dead near Baddawi. The world ignored completely even their deaths.

Amnesty International, the largest human rights organisation in the world, was concluding a report on the situation of Palestinians in Lebanon during the past week. Its delegation left Lebanon without seeing Nahr Al Bared - before it left holding a Beirut press conference which was abruptly ended at the first mention of Nahr Al Bared.

The United States Government played a key role in this battle, strongly supporting politically and with munitions the Lebanese government’s decision to seek a military solution. The Lebanese offered to Fatah Al Islam simply to surrender or die. The European Union and many Arab countries also clearly supported this approach. The moral and legal imperative to distinguish between combatants and civilians, and not to target civilian communities was not a concern. The Palestinians of Lebanon, the subject of so many crocodile tears from around the world during infamous massacres in the past, once again are without support at the moment when it might actually matter.

What happened in Nahr al Bared? Why does the world not seem to care?

Michael Birmingham is an Irish peace activist who has been mostly based in Lebanon since July 2006. He has formerly worked on human rights and social justice in Ireland and Iraq.

Much Like Auschwitz

Israel's regard for Palestinians can be summed up in how it imprisons and terrorises them, writes Khaled Amayreh in the occupied West Bank

By Khaled Amayreh

10/25/07 "Al-Ahram" --- - A few weeks ahead of the upcoming "peace conference" in Annapolis, Maryland, Israel has been displaying its "goodwill" towards the Palestinians. At the notorious Kitziot Prison, a real concentration camp minus gas chambers, crack Israeli soldiers have been ganging up ..less and fettered Palestinian prisoners, shooting, beating and humiliating them under largely concocted pretexts.

On Monday 22 October, in the quiet hours before dawn, hundreds of soldiers from two notoriously brutal army units, code-named Nachshon and Massada, stormed the prisoner camp for what was described as a "routine inspection". During these routine inspections, inmates are forced to take off their clothes and are subject to every imaginable form of humiliation. Whoever protests is normally placed in open-ended solitary confinement.

Rudely awoken, Kitziot's estimated 1,200 inmates, already fed-up with draconian punitive measures, decided to resist their tormentors. According to one prisoner leader, this resistance had not been planned, coming as an instinctive defensive reflex to "obvious provocation".

Some prisoner leaders pleaded with the detention camp's administration to wait until morning to carry out the impromptu inspection. The administration's response came in the form of bullets, sonic grenades (which the Israelis call stun grenades), tear-gas and smoke bombs.

"I don't know what a Nazi concentration camp looked like, but I imagine that Kitziot looked very much like a concentration camp yesterday," said Abu Ahmed, a detainee from Hebron, who has been languishing at the facility for nine months without charge or trial.

Abu Ahmed, who was speaking via a smuggled mobile phone, described the assault on the prisoners as "planned and premeditated", calling Israeli claims that the soldiers were only defending themselves against rioters "obscene lies meant to cover up a criminal act".

The pogrom-like attack on the helpless Kitziot prisoners lasted for more than two hours as a huge cloud of smoke hovered over the area. When the dust settled, there were hundreds of prisoners who suffered significant to serious wounds, mostly in the head and upper body. At least nine inmates were severely injured, including Mohamed Sati Al-Ashkar, who was hit with a live round in the head, causing massive brain haemorrhage.

On 23 October, Al-Ashkar was pronounced clinically dead.

As is usual in such circumstances, the Israeli media and government spokespersons switched to damage-control mode, disseminating disinformation about what happened while barring reporters access to the notorious facility.

Even serious newspapers like Haaretz played a role parroting army propaganda that "violent clashes" took place between the prisoners and guards and that only "non-lethal methods" were used to disperse the protesting inmates.

The Israeli army has so far refused to reveal what it was that killed Al-Ashkar, whether a sonic bomb that hit him on the head, whether he was beaten with a club, or whether he was hit by plastic-coated bullets. Usually the Israeli army waits several days before issuing statements on such cases, seemingly to allow any protest sentiment to die down.

The murder at Kitziot is only a small leitmotif of the ferocious onslaught of repression being visited on Palestinians in the occupied territories, where Israeli death squads continue to roam and strike. This happens despite -- or partly as a result of -- close security coordination between President Mahmoud Abbas's "forces" and the Israeli occupation army.

The low-key reaction by the Abbas regime is already raising eyebrows in the West Bank, with many seeing the Kitziot assault and general terror under occupation as a means of "softening up" the Palestinians ahead of Annapolis for a peace deal that fails to meet minimum Palestinian expectations.

Meanwhile, in the Gaza Strip, Israel continues its slow-motion genocide of the occupied territory's estimated 1.5 million persecuted inhabitants. "Gaza is being sacrificed, is being decapitated but slowly, while the Arabs are watching 'Babel Hara' and the world is preoccupied with Iran and a peace conference in America," said one unemployed worker who used to work in construction in Israel, alluding to a popular Syrian TV series screened during the Holy month of Ramadan.

Another man, a plasterer, also unemployed because Israel won't allow raw materials, such as cement, into the Strip, insists on more daring language. "I don't know why the world doesn't call things by their real name. Here the Jews are starving us to death. Gaza is a large concentration camp. It is very much like Auschwitz. Yes, there are no gas chambers and crematoria. But people are dying for lack of food and lack of medicine.

"And I am 100 per cent sure that hadn't it been for the world media and international public opinion, or whatever is left of it, Israel would have disposed of us a long, long time ago," the worker added.

Earlier this week, Gazan hospitals faced an acute and critical crisis when they ran out of nitrous oxide, vital for operations. Eventually, an SOS by Gazan doctors embarrassed Israeli leaders, who decided to allow, for the time being, passage of a small amount of the gas, which Gazan doctors say will last only a few weeks.

When talking to foreign media, Israeli leaders and spokespersons claim the hermetic blockade of Gaza is a reaction to Hamas's takeover of Gaza in mid-June, following sporadic clashes with Fatah. A few weeks ago, Israel declared Gaza a "hostile entity", as if the occupied coastal strip of land where poverty, despair and occupation violence define daily life had been treated as a friendly entity before.

Finally, Israel doesn't want to take sole responsibility for exterminating the people of Gaza. The Israeli government has been inciting the powerful Jewish lobby, which deeply influences American policies and politics, to pressure Egypt to seal its border with Gaza so that the concentration camp can be perfected.

Livni behind closed doors: Iranian nuclear arms pose little threat to Israel

By Gidi Weitz and Na'ama Lanski

10/25/07 "h a a r e t z" -- -- Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said a few months ago in a series of closed discussions that in her opinion that Iranian nuclear weapons do not pose an existential threat to Israel, Haaretz magazine reveals in an article on Livni to be published tomorrow.

Livni also criticized the exaggerated use that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is making of the issue of the Iranian bomb, claiming that he is attempting to rally the public around him by playing on its most basic fears. Last week, former Mossad chief Ephraim Halevy said similar things about Iran.

The article also reveals for the first time a document Livni prepared and sent to Olmert a few months after the Second Lebanon War proposing a new division of labor between the two. "Enclosed is a proposal for work procedures between us, with the aim of providing an answer to Israel's strategic needs and facilitating early planning and the formulation of coordinated Israeli positions ... within the framework of cooperative relations, full transparency and continuous mutual updates," wrote Livni.

She described in the document a number of required arrangements: "The prime minister and the foreign minister will hold regular work meetings at least once a week." In an allusion to her absence from critical discussions during the war in Lebanon, she wrote: "The foreign minister will be invited to meetings with the prime minister on security matters and other meetings with serious implications."

The most important part of the document relates to the talks with the Palestinians. Livni wrote: "The foreign minister shall represent the prime minister and the government of Israel, and will act on their behalf as the director of the dialogue with the relevant Palestinian representatives, and in accordance with the policy and methods to be coordinated in advance with the prime minster, while keeping him informed."

It is reasonable to assume that Olmert's decision to appoint Livni as head of the negotiating team with the Palestinians at the Annapolis summit is connected to the document·

The Haaretz article also reveals for the first time a draft of a document prepared for Livni by her advisor, Dr. Tal Becker of the Foreign Ministry, who is slated to serve as a senior member of the negotiating team with the Palestinians. The draft, named the Diplomatic Horizon, is pessimistic about the chances of reaching a permanent solution in the near future.

Pete, Nancy, George and WWIII

By Cindy Sheehan

<td>“You don’t have money to fund the war or children. But you’re going to spend it to blow up innocent people if we can get enough kids to grow old enough for you to send to Iraq to get their heads blown off for the president’s amusement.”
-Pete Stark (D-Ca)

“While Members of Congress are passionate about their views what Congressman Stark said during the debate was inappropriate.”
-Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, (D-Ca)

“But this — we got a leader in Iran who has announced that he wants to destroy Israel. So I’ve told people that if you’re interested in avoiding World War III, it seems like you ought to be interested in preventing them from have (sic) the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon.”
-George Bush, War Criminal
10/25/07 "ICH" -- -- I cheered inside my head when I heard Rep. Stark unbelievably utter his words condemning the murderous acts of BushCo on the House floor, and I was impressed with his candor, compassion and what I consider an appropriate amount of rage and honesty. How many of us were not thinking the same thing about the S-CHIP votes? I knew, however, that it would not be long until Pete Stark had to apologize. It happened today.

I believe that Speaker Pelosi’s comments about Rep. Stark were utterly inappropriate and out of line. I believe that when she said that impeachment was “off the table,” her remarks were not only inappropriate but also antithetical to our Constitution and directly in opposition to why the people of this country put Democrats back in power.

We may remind the Speaker of some of the things George has said: He told us that Saddam was able to reach the Eastern part of the US with drones that contained either chemical or biological weapons; that the smoking gun might come in the form of a “mushroom cloud” and that Saddam was also seeking significant amounts of “yellow cake uranium.” George and his co-criminals also told us over and over again that 9-11 was the justification for an attack on Iraq because Saddam had something to do with 9-11.

It is imperative that Ms. Pelosi be a true leader and lead the charge to impeach the liars, or at least get the hell out of the way so they can be impeached. I buried my son for no logical, moral or truthful reason for God’s sake, and she has neither the integrity or fortitude to finally say that BushCo has to be stopped before George is the instigator for Armageddon.

Ms. Pelosi is not the only one who condemned Rep. Stark; she joined hands (again) with Republicans to do so. However, for the Republicans to say that Congressman Stark’s comment demeaned “the troops” is so patently ridiculous, it is stunningly pathetic. Our troops and their much higher paid cousins, the mercenary killers, are killing innocent Iraqis. IT IS A WAR! What do these morally bankrupt Chickenhawks think occurs in war? It would be better for everyone if “the troops” went over to play pinochle with the Iraqis, but occupied peoples have an inherent hatred of their occupiers and want them to leave their country: dead or alive. Congress wants to hide behind “the troops” by giving BushCo billions more dollars to wage the occupation so their lobbyist buddies and campaign contributors can become richer off of the flesh and blood of those same troops that they claim to support.

BushCo has over 14 more months to sew their demented seeds of destruction all over the planet. We must all join Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-Oh) in his call to remove them from office not only for their past, but for their future, illegal wars of aggression, possibly even doing the unthinkable: using a nuclear weapon. The terrorists that wear Brooks Brothers and Armani and live and work in the big white house on Pennsylvania Avenue are more dangerous to our way of life and safety than any others.

I wish Congressman Stark had not caved to the establishment elitists. George is the one that needs to apologize to each and every one of us for killing just about everything that we hold dear: our treasury, our Constitution, our standing in the international community, our ecology, our children, and for murdering our hopes and dreams for the future.

When I replace Nancy Pelosi as the Representative from California’s 8th district, I will fight for the lives, security and prosperity of not only my constituents, but for all the human beings in the world. If BushCo is still in office, God forbid, when I am sworn in, I will do everything in my power to hold them accountable for their crimes against humanity and I will never, ever apologize for telling the truth.

Kucinich: Bush Wants More War

This Time With Iran

10/25/07 "ICH" -- -- WASHINGTON, DC - October 25 - Today, the Bush Administration announced additional sanctions on Iran and labeled the Revolutionary Guard Corps as proliferators of weapons of mass destruction and a unit of the Corps – the Quds Force – as a "specially designed global terrorist." Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) charged the Administration with drumming up support for a war with Iran.

"The Administration has been dramatically increasing its efforts in the last several weeks to go to war with Iran," Kucinich said. "This latest stunt is nothing more than an attempt to deceive Americans into yet another war—this time with Iran."

Last week, President Bush stated in a news conference: "So I've told people that if you're interested in avoiding World War III, it seems like you ought to be interested in preventing them (Iran) from have the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon."

In a speech Sunday to the Washington Institute for Near East Studies, Vice President Dick Cheney said that if Iran continues on its current course, the United States and other nations are "prepared to impose serious consequences. Our country, and the entire international community, cannot stand by as a terror-supporting state fulfills its grandest ambitions."

In announcing the sanctions today, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said: "Unfortunately the Iranian government continues to spurn our offer of open negotiations, instead threatening peace and security by pursuing nuclear technologies that can lead to a nuclear weapon, building dangerous ballistic missiles, supporting Shia militants in Iraq and terrorists in Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon and the Palestinian territories, and denying the existence of a fellow member of the United Nations, threatening to wipe Israel off the map."

"After the lies and deception used to lead us to war in Iraq, the belligerent Bush Administration cannot be given leeway with statements that suggest a preemptive attack on Iran is necessary," Kucinich said. "We are systematically destroying every available route to restoring peace and security in the Middle East.

"Congress must take back its exclusive authority to declare war from the Bush Administration."

U.S. bunker-buster request prompts Iran attack fears

By Susan Cornwell

10/24/07 - - - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Some Democratic lawmakers questioned on Wednesday whether a new Bush administration request for $88 million to fit "bunker-busting" bombs to B-2 stealth bombers was part of preparations for an attack on Iran.

The proposal was included as part of a nearly $200 billion request for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that the Bush administration sent to Capitol Hill on Monday.

The request included $87.8 million for further development of the Massive Ordnance Penetrator, or MOP, a conventional bomb designed to destroy hardened or deeply buried targets.

Many of Iran's nuclear development facilities are believed to be underground. The United States accuses Iran of trying to develop a nuclear bomb while Tehran insists its nuclear program is only for power generation.

A Bush administration summary said the request was needed for "development of a Massive Ordnance Penetrator for the B-2 aircraft in response to an urgent operational need from theater commanders," but gave no details.

"My assumption is that it is Iran, because you wouldn't use them in Iraq, and I don't know where you would use them in Afghanistan, it doesn't have any weapons facilities underground that we know of," said Rep. Jim Moran, a Virginia Democrat who is on the House defense spending committee and intends to argue against the request.

"I suppose you could try to bomb out a cave (in Afghanistan), but that seems like taking a sledgehammer to a tack. A little excessive," Moran said in a phone interview.

Another Democrat, Rep. Jim McDermott of Washington, said the bunker-buster request worried him because of the rising tide of criticism of Iran coming from the Bush administration. Last week, Bush warned that a nuclear-armed Iran could lead to World War Three.

"The drumbeats of war are beating again, this time against Iran and we have to step in while there is still time," McDermott said through a spokesman.

'BURIED TARGETS'

One congressional aide said, however, that the proposed program to fit the bombs to the B-2s might not be finished until 2009 or 2010 -- after the Bush administration has left office.

Asked what the bunker-buster had to do with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, a senior defense official briefing reporters on the war funding request earlier this week said: "Look in terms of better capabilities of bringing better, quicker precision ordnance on the target."

"You have buried targets, for example particularly in Afghanistan, that you're concerned about and so, to me, I think there is in fact a direct link in terms of the kinds of possibilities that might be there in this sort of capability."

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice repeated the administration's position on Wednesday that Bush prefers diplomacy to resolve problems with Iran, although she said all options are on the table.

The Democratic majority in Congress, which opposes prolonging the Iraq conflict, is in no hurry to give Bush more war money. House appropriators said earlier this month they would not even consider the new war funding request until early 2008, and they want to link it to a plan to bring troops home.

White House Leak: Cheney's Plan for Iran Attack Starts With Israeli Missile Strike
By Gregor Peter Schmitz and Cordula Meyer, Der Spiegel
Posted on October 26, 2007, Printed on October 26, 2007
http://www.alternet.org/story/66157/
US Vice President Dick Cheney -- the power behind the throne, the eminence grise, the man with the (very) occasional grandfatherly smile -- is notorious for his propensity for secretiveness and behind-the-scenes manipulation. He's capable of anything, say friends as well as enemies. Given this reputation, it's no big surprise that Cheney has already asked for a backroom analysis of how a war with Iran might begin.

In the scenario concocted by Cheney's strategists, Washington's first step would be to convince Israel to fire missiles at Iran's uranium enrichment plant in Natanz. Tehran would retaliate with its own strike, providing the US with an excuse to attack military targets and nuclear facilities in Iran.

This information was leaked by an official close to the vice president. Cheney himself hasn't denied engaging in such war games. For years, in fact, he's been open about his opinion that an attack on Iran, a member of US President George W. Bush's "Axis of Evil," is inevitable.

Given these not-too-secret designs, Democrats and Republicans alike have wondered what to make of the still mysterious Israeli bombing run in Syria on Sept. 6. Was it part of an existing war plan? A test run, perhaps? For days after the attack, one question dominated conversation at Washington receptions: How great is the risk of war, really?

Grandiose Plans, East and West

In the September strike, Israeli bombers were likely targeting a nuclear reactor under construction, parts of which are alleged to have come from North Korea. It is possible that key secretaries in the Bush cabinet even tried to stop Israel. To this day, the administration has neither confirmed nor commented on the attack.

Nevertheless, in Washington, Israel's strike against Syria has revived the specter of war with Iran. For the neoconservatives it could represent a glimmer of hope that the grandiose dream of a democratic Middle East has not yet been buried in the ashes of Iraq. But for realists in the corridors of the State Department and the Pentagon, military action against Iran is a nightmare they have sought to avert by asking a simple question: "What then?"

The Israeli strike, or something like it, could easily mark the beginning of the "World War III," which President Bush warned against last week. With his usual apocalyptic rhetoric, he said Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad could lead the region to a new world war if his nation builds a nuclear bomb.

Conditions do look ripe for disaster. Iran continues to acquire and develop the fundamental prerequisites for a nuclear weapon. The mullah regime receives support -- at least moral support, if not technology -- from a newly strengthened Russia, which these days reaches for every chance to provoke the United States. President Vladimir Putin's own (self-described) "grandiose plan" to restore Russia's armed forces includes a nuclear buildup. The war in Iraq continues to drag on without an end in sight or even an opportunity for US troops to withdraw in a way that doesn't smack of retreat. In Afghanistan, NATO troops are struggling to prevent a return of the Taliban and al-Qaida terrorists. The Palestinian conflict could still reignite on any front.

In Washington, Bush has 15 months left in office. He may have few successes to show for himself, but he's already thinking of his legacy. Bush says he wants diplomacy to settle the nuclear dispute with Tehran, and hopes international pressure will finally convince Ahmadinejad to come to his senses. Nevertheless, the way pressure has been building in Washington, preparations for war could be underway.

In late September, the US Senate voted to declare the 125,000-man Iranian Revolutionary Guard a terrorist organization. High-ranking US generals have accused Iran of waging a "proxy war" against the United States through its support of Shiite militias in Iraq. And strategists at the Pentagon, apparently at Cheney's request, have developed detailed plans for an attack against Tehran.

Instead of the previous scenario of a large-scale bombardment of the country's many nuclear facilities, the current emphasis is, once again, on so-called surgical strikes, primarily against the quarters of the Revolutionary Guards. This sort of attack would be less massive than a major strike against Iran's nuclear facilities.

Conservative think tanks and pundits who sense this could be their last chance to implement their agenda in the Middle East have supported and disseminated such plans in the press. Despite America's many failures in Iraq, these hawks have urged the weakened president to act now, accusing him of having lost sight of his principal agenda and no longer daring to apply his own doctrine of pre-emptive strikes.

Sheer Lunacy?

The notion of war with Iran has spilled over into other circles, too. Last Monday Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic Speaker of the US House of Representatives, made it clear that the president would first need Congressional approval to launch an attack. Meanwhile, Republican candidates for the White House have debated whether they would even allow such details to get in their way. Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney said he would consult his attorneys to determine whether the US Constitution does, in fact, require a president to ask for Congressional approval before going to war. Vietnam veteran John McCain said war with Iran was "maybe closer to reality than we are discussing tonight."

Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton has also adopted a hawkish stance, voting in favor of the Senate measure to classify the Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organization. Her rivals criticized Clinton for giving the administration a blank check to go to war.

The US military is building a base in Iraq less than 10 kilometers (about six miles) from Iran's border. The facility, known as Combat Outpost Shocker, is meant for American soldiers preventing Iranian weapons from being smuggled into Iraq. But it's also rumored that Bush authorized US intelligence agencies in April to run sabotage missions against the mullah regime on Iranian soil.

Gary Sick is an expert on Iran who served as a military adviser under three presidents. He believes that such preparations mark a significant shift in the government's strategy. "Since August," says Sick, "the emphasis is no longer on the Iranian nuclear threat," but on Iran's support for terrorism in Iraq. "This is a complete change and is potentially dangerous."

It would be relatively easy for Bush to prove that Tehran, by supporting insurgents in Iraq, is responsible for the deaths of American soldiers. It might be harder to prove that Iran's nuclear plans pose an immediate threat to the world. Besides, the nuclear argument is reminiscent of an embarrassing precedent, when the Bush administration used the claim that Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction -- which he didn't -- as a reason to invade Iraq. Even if the evidence against Tehran proves to be more damning, the American public will find it difficult to swallow this argument again.

The forces urging a diplomatic resolution also look stronger than they were before Iraq. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice wants the next step to be a third round of even tighter sanctions against Iran in the UN Security Council. Rice has powerful allies at the Pentagon: Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Admiral William Fallon, head of US Central Command, which is responsible for American forces throughout the region.

Rice and her cohorts all favor diplomacy, partly because they know the military is under strain. After four years in Iraq and Afghanistan, the US lacks manpower for another major war, especially one against a relatively well-prepared adversary. "For many senior people at the Pentagon, the CIA and the State Department, a war would be sheer lunacy," says security expert Sick.

Bruce Riedel, a former CIA officer and now a Middle East expert at the Brookings Institution, agrees. A war against Tehran would be "a disaster for the entire world," says Riedel, who worries about a "battlefield extending from the Mediterranean to the Indian subcontinent." Nevertheless, he believes there is a "realistic risk of a military conflict," because both sides look willing to carry things to the brink.

On the one hand, says Riedel, Iran is playing with fire, challenging the West by sending weapons to Shiite insurgents in Iraq. On the other hand, hotheads in Washington are by no means powerless. Although many neoconservative hawks have left the Bush administration, Cheney remains their reliable partner. "The vice president is the closest adviser to the president, and a dominant figure," says Riedel. "One shouldn't underestimate how much power he still wields."

'Is it 1938 Again?'

Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to Tehran last week also played into the hands of hardliners in Washington, who read it as proof that Putin isn't serious about joining the West's effort to convince Tehran to abandon its drive for a nuclear weapon. Moreover, the countries bordering the Caspian Sea, including Central Asian nations Washington has courted energetically in recent years, have said they would not allow a war against Tehran to be launched from their territory.

Cheney derives much of his support from hawks outside the administration who fear their days are as numbered as the President's. "The neocons see Iran as their last chance to prove something," says analyst Riedel. This aim is reflected in their tone. Conservative columnist Norman Podhoretz, for example -- a father figure to all neocons -- wrote in the Wall Street Journal that he "hopes and prays" that Bush will finally bomb Iran. Podhoretz sees the United States engaged in a global war against "Islamofascism," a conflict he defines as World War IV, and he likens Iran to Nazi Germany. "Is it 1938 again?" he asks in a speech he repeats regularly at conferences.

Podhoretz is by no means an eccentric outsider. He now serves as a senior foreign-policy adviser to Republican presidential candidate Rudolph Giuliani. President Bush has also met with Podhoretz at the White House to hear his opinions.

Nevertheless, most experts in Washington warn against attacking Tehran. They assume the Iranians would retaliate. "It would be foolish to believe surgical strikes will be enough," says Riedel, who believes that precision attacks would quickly escalate to war.

Former presidential adviser Sick thinks Iran would strike back with terrorist attacks. "The generals of the Revolutionary Guard have had several years to think about asymmetrical warfare," says Sick. "They probably have a few rather interesting ideas."

According to Sick, detonating well-placed bombs at oil terminals in the Persian Gulf would be enough to wreak havoc. "Insurance costs would skyrocket, causing oil prices to triple and triggering a global recession," Sick warns. "The economic consequences would be enormous, far greater than anything we have experienced with Iraq so far."

Because the catastrophic consequences of an attack on Iran are obvious, many in Washington have a fairly benign take on the current round of saber rattling. They believe the sheer dread of war is being used to bolster diplomatic efforts to solve the crisis and encourage hesitant members of the United Nations Security Council to take more decisive action. The Security Council, this argument goes, will be more likely to approve tighter sanctions if it believes that war is the only alternative.

ericg

10-26-2007, 05:37 PM

How Bad Will the Next Recession Be?
By Scott Thill, AlterNet
Posted on October 26, 2007, Printed on October 26, 2007
http://www.alternet.org/story/65037/
"My rant was the rant heard around the world," CNBC personality and ex-hedge funder James Cramer told viewers of his cable show Mad Money, a talk-radio spectacle involving its host's over-the-top antics like hitting sound-effects buttons and giving stock advice at breakneck speed. The setting was 2006's fiscal third quarter, a highly volatile period in which the market nosedived on the heels of a subprime housing and credit meltdown.

In the rant, broadcast on the show Stop Trading! before becoming an online hit, Cramer aggressively screamed for a rate cut from the Fed for his "people [who] have been in this business for 25 years!" -- by which he meant, of course, the hedge funders whose deceptive bundling of mortgage-backed securities built on subprime loans and no oversight from the SEC whatsoever are finally getting their comeuppance.

Cramer, who ignored repeated requests for participation in this story and its predecessor, viewable on AlterNet here, made it pretty clear that his friends in the hedge fund industry manipulate the credit and housing markets for fat-ass paydays. But there he was a few days later, backtracking hard. He was even lucky enough to get on The Colbert Report to do some much-needed damage control, asserting that he was really defending the millions of suckered Americans about to lose their homes, thanks to highly leveraged loans manipulated by investment banks and private equity groups like Blackstone, KKR and Bear Stearns (now the target of a criminal investigation) into Kafkaesque packages called CDOs (collateralized debt obligations). Those labyrinthine Ponzi schemes allowed hedge fund managers and private equity groups to not only buy out big names like Sallie Mae, Hilton, Chrysler and more, but also skim huge percentages off the top for themselves, their wives, mistresses and mansions.

And here we are, after the subprime collapse and Cramer's rant hear 'round the world, teetering on a fourth quarter that is screwed without some help from the Federal Reserve Bank. In fact, we could be headed to the type of economic recession that the Los Angeles Times recently reported may swallow us all -- at least until 2009, if we're lucky. Others aren't so optimistic: Paul Krugman, a noted economist and caller of bullshit on fantasies financial and military, like the occupation of Iraq, wrote in an aptly titled New York Times op-ed called "Very Scary Things" that "what's been happening in financial markets over the past few days is something that truly scares monetary economists: liquidity has dried up ... This could turn out to be nothing more than a brief scare. At worst, however, it could cause a chain reaction of debt defaults ... Let's hope, then, that this crisis blows over as quickly as that of 1998. But I wouldn't count on it."

That was Krugman's take on Aug. 10. The 1998 crisis he's referring to? That would be total implosion of Long-Term Capital Management, a hedge fund made up of bond traders and Nobel Prize-winning economists that tanked billions and needed to be bailed out in order to avert an American recession under President Clinton. Hedge funds have the Midas touch, it seems, for making gold only for their shareholders, and few else, before needing a federal lifeboat.

Sure enough, in the days since Krugman's very scary thoughts, the situation has worsened. "Signs of progress have appeared," said Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke to a German conference on Sept. 11, "but ... most countries have only just begun to undertake the policy changes that will ultimately be needed ... in part because of the greater recent volatility in financial markets and investors' demands for increased compensation for risk-taking." Henry Paulson, current secretary of the treasury and former CEO and chairman of investment bank Goldman Sachs, a major beneficiary of the CDO bonanza and one bank that helped bail out Long-Term Capital Management, added that our current economic crisis will take longer to fix than the other major depressions of the last two decades, including the Russian default of the '90s and the Latin American debt nightmare of the '80s.

"The reason it is going to take longer today is that we are more globalized," Paulson said. In today's internetworked global economy, mortgage loans built out of the imaginations of American businessmen were being, as Paulson explained, "sliced and diced" into international bundles and turning up as far away as state-run regional banks in Germany, fragmentation -- or diversification, as some bean counters call it -- so complex that Paulson claims to have met daily with bankers who still couldn't decode its labyrinthine mechanisms. Throw in the fact that 97 percent of stock transactions are electronically conducted at the speed of light, more and more of them by companies that employ math and computer science Ph.D.s using quantitative strategies executed by proprietary computer programs, and you have a new definition of complexity. The more complex the mechanisms, the more money rolls in. As Cramer once argued of such inscrutable designs, "The SEC doesn't understand" them. And you can't police what you can't understand.

Ask Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who at last report was declining to raise taxes on hedge funds and private equity groups, who are drowning in money, for fear of "unintended consequences" to an American economy already reeling from the crisis. But he's a fool to wait: American home foreclosures and delinquencies are at record highs, and the dollar is at record lows. Meanwhile, oil is at a record high, even amidst drastic drops in inventory and a doomed occupation of Iraq that even ex-Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan admits was motivated by the aptly named crude. The houses that were hastily erected and packaged in the post 9/11 boom? They're festering on the market or being auctioned off for next to nothing in impacted cities like Detroit and scores more.

In other words, Reid has got it backwards. The consequences of giving hedge funds and private equity groups free rein, low taxes and zero oversight are already here. And they're severe.

Federal Reserve Governor Frederic Mishkin all but promised the United Kingdom's Financial Times that the hedge funds' manipulation of mortgage-backed securities will smack down the American economy: "Consumer and business spending also could be damped as a consequence of the recent financial turmoil ... economic activity could be affected more severely in other sectors should heightened uncertainty lead to a broader pullback in household and business spending." His colleague and San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank President Janet Yellen was less delicate, arguing that falling home sales and rising unemployment would put a last nail in the coffin of American economic growth going forward.

And last but not least, there is Paul Saffo, fellow for the World Economic Forum and Institute for the Future, professor at Stanford University, and consultant to companies like Samsung as well as Silicon Valley venture capitalists. He's predicting an end to the American economic model altogether. But he takes his thesis a frightening step beyond economic dissolution into the total dissolution of the country itself: "My forecast is that there's less than a 50 percent chance that the United States will exist as a nation by the middle of the century. And that is actually good news."

Saffo's idea is simple: The United States has become too large to function as an overlord to its city-states like Silicon Valley and Los Angeles, and in fact, has no real power to compel them to do anything, whether that's sending troops to the borders or demanding regional agencies adhere to national mandates on climate change. But the implications are much deeper: If Saffo is correct, what matters is not what we will become. What matters is what we will have lost, and that is an identity based on nationhood altogether.

In our days of hyperpatriotism, it is hyperreal to entertain the idea that you're not an American at all. Or that your vote doesn't count towards an American election -- or an Iraqi one, for that matter. Or that your country can't cite you as a reason it went to occupy Iraq in the first place. Because, the logic goes, if you're not an American, then what are you?

The answer? Globalized.

Long before 9/11, resource wars and the industries that support them -- private equity pools, hedge funds, investment banks, the mainstream media -- existed outside of geography. With offices across the world, trading across currencies and deals across borders, business has always been globalized to an extent. But after 9/11, the thought of Dubai handling security for American ports somehow skewed strange. Perhaps it had something to do with those planes flying not into the White House or Washington Monument but into global economic nerve centers like the World Trade Center.

In other words, America has only awakened to a process already underway: From a depressed currency and outsourced industries to the loss of its manufacturing base and educational standards, America is no longer the smartest or wealthiest superpower on the block. And as the means of production promised by globalization spread to nations like India, China and many more, the concept of nationhood is demolished further each day. But the United States, adrift in narcissistic simulations like American Idol and Survivor and distracted by reductive militarism, hasn't much longer to sleep, according to economists, think-tankers and other credentialed professionals that people with money pay attention to. The real nightmare is that it may have laid the foundation for the end of its economic system, the one U.S. comptroller general David Walker called "a broken business model," back in 2005 when "subprime collapse" was a punk band no one had heard yet.

"The mortgage problem is a manifestation of very serious imbalances and distortions," argues James Kunstler, entertaining doom prophet for the Clusterfuck Nation blog as well as the author of The Geography of Nowhere and The Long Emergency, "not just in our economy, but in our current social values. To put it somewhat simplistically, it represents the dangerous idea that it's possible to get something for nothing. When that idea becomes established as normal in a society, as it has in the United States, you're in big trouble. An ethos so inconsistent with reality must inevitably lead to a painful workout as reality reasserts itself."

That workout is going to hurt. From Bernanke and Paulson's mild worries to Krugman and Kunstler's more severe predictions, no one is going into 2008 thinking everything is going to come up yachts and roses. It's now only a question of how bad it is going to get. Some say it's going to be worse than you think.

"The credit bubble has burst and the entire U.S. economy will deflate with it," promises Peter Schiff, founder of Euro Pacific Capital fund and sometimes guest on Bloomberg, CNBC and Fox News. "Asset prices will fall sharply, as will consumer spending, as the world will no longer finance it. After the initial shock, the world will breathe a collective sigh of relief, as it will no longer bear the burden of supporting the U.S. economy." If you ask Reagan economist and Hoover fellow Paul Craig Roberts, one of those countries breathing a massive sigh of relief could be China, especially if we keep fucking with them. The more that happens, the more the Chinese, who are currently shouldering America's deficit trillions, might decide to dump dollars for euros, a move that would send our already tanking greenbacks into the currency basement. For his part, Roberts thinks they aren't out to destroy the dollar, just draw the line on America's influence. "China has no desire to destabilize the current financial system," Roberts reassured me via email. "But they are tired of the United States trying to dictate their economic policy. They hold powerful cards. [But] they would not dump the dollar unless seriously provoked."

Even if they don't, the dollar is sucking wind, and so is American nationhood. And regardless of Jim Cramer's rants or China's warnings, there isn't much that the Federal Reserve Bank, whose every word can determine the dramatic rise and fall of stocks and bonds, can do about it.

"They can only make it worse," Schiff continues. "Rate cuts will only bring about higher long-term interest rates, higher consumer prices, more unemployment, lower real estate prices, more defaults and bankruptcy. The Fed has reached the end of its rope. Greenspan made this bed and now Bernanke and the American people will be sleeping in it for years."

The timing couldn't be worse, so what happens to you when this worsens? What happens when the Ponzi scheme is complicated by a possible attack on Iran? And what do you think the American government will do when climate change -- whose ravages according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies will be "on the level of a nuclear war" -- stops by your town and tries to wipe it out?

Let's put it this way. If our government really is a corporation and Bush is really its CEO, we're all likely to be self-employed contractors out of a job. Throw in the skyrocketing cost of our fuel, food and freedom, and the future is looking more expensive by the day.

Whatever comes, we would best prepare for it by doing away with some fictions forever, including the one envisioning America as a gated community on an unreachable hill, populated by Hummers and patriots who just want to party without participating in the environment that sustains them. Because economic recessions and military occupations are heavy for sure, but there is no terror like terra scorned. American or Iranian, Christian or Muslim, Democrat or Republican, we are all bound by one truth: We're tied to a singular rock spinning through space by a tether called gravity. And if we don't treat that rock like our best friend in the coming century, it will easily turn into the worst enemy we've ever faced.

We'll be praying to be screwed by subprime mortgages and Iranian mullahs by then. That might be the best vacation from reality we could ask for.

Scott Thill runs the online mag Morphizm.com. His writing has appeared on Salon, XLR8R, All Music Guide, Wired and others.

Why Democrats are afraid to raise taxes on the rich
Could it have something to do with the recent affection of hedge-fund managers for the Democratic Party?
By Robert Reich

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Oct. 25, 2007 | New data from the Internal Revenue Service show that income inequality continues to widen. The wealthiest 1 percent of Americans earn more than 21 percent of all income. That's a postwar record. The bottom 50 percent of all Americans, when all their wages are combined, earn just 12.8 percent of the nation's income.

Considering the magnitude of challenges ahead for America, it seems only reasonable that taxes should rise on the wealthy. Taxing the super-rich is not about class envy, as conservatives charge. It's about the nation having enough money to pay for national defense and homeland security, good schools and a crumbling infrastructure, the upcoming costs of boomers' Social Security (the current surplus has masked the true extent of the current budget deficit, but it won't for much longer) and, hopefully, affordable national health insurance. Not to mention the trillion dollars or so it will take to fix the Alternative Minimum Tax, which is now starting to hit the middle class.

To some extent, the major Democratic candidates for president appear to agree. They are unanimous in their pledge to roll back the Bush tax cuts. That means that the wealthiest Americans, who are now taxed at a marginal rate of 35 percent, would go back to paying the 38 percent marginal rate they paid under Bill Clinton. So far, however, no Democrat has suggested that the nation should raise the marginal tax rate on the richest Americans above that 38 percent, as will probably be necessary if America is to avoid an economic meltdown in the years ahead.

The biggest emerging pay gap is actually within the top 1 percent of all earners. It's mainly a gap between corporate CEOs, on the one hand, and Wall Street financiers -- hedge-fund managers, private-equity managers (think Mitt Romney) and investment bankers -- on the other. According to a study by University of Chicago professors Steven Kaplan and Joshua Rauh, more than twice as many Wall Street financiers are in the top half of 1 percent of earners as are CEOs. The 25 highest-paid hedge-fund managers are earning more than the CEOs of the largest 500 companies in the Standard and Poor's 500 combined. While CEO pay is outrageous, hedge-fund and private-equity pay is way beyond outrageous. Several of these fund managers are taking home more than a billion dollars a year.

At the very least, you might think that Democrats would do something about the anomaly in the tax code that treats the earnings of private-equity and hedge-fund managers as capital gains rather than ordinary income, and thereby taxes them at 15 percent -- lower than the tax rate faced by many middle-class Americans. But Senate Democrats recently backed off a proposal to do just that. Why? It turns out that Democrats are getting more campaign contributions these days from hedge-fund and private-equity partners than Republicans are getting. In the run-up to the 2006 election, donations from hedge-fund employees were running better than 2-to-1 Democratic. The party doesn't want to bite the hands that feed.

If the rich and super-rich don't pay their fair share, the middle class will get socked with the bill. But the middle class can't possibly pay it. America's middle class is under intense financial pressure. Median wages and benefits, adjusted for inflation, have been going nowhere for 30 years; health costs are soaring (employers are quickly shifting co-payments, deductibles and premiums to their employees), fuel costs are out of sight, the prices of the houses occupied by the middle class are in the doldrums.

What's fair? I'd say a 50 percent marginal tax rate on the very rich, meaning those earning over $500,000 per year. I'd also suggest an annual wealth tax of one-half of 1 percent on the net worth of people holding more than $5 million in total assets. Can't be done, you say? Well, the highest marginal tax rate under Republican Dwight Eisenhower was 91 percent. It dropped under John Kennedy to the 70 percent range. You say the rich will leave the country rather than face a marginal tax of 50 percent? Let them, and take away their citizenship.

If the Democrats stand for anything, it's a fair allocation of the responsibility for paying the costs of maintaining this nation. So far, neither the Democratic candidates for president nor the Senate Democrats have shown much eagerness to advocate this fundamental principle. It seems the rich have bought them out.

Goodbye dollar, hello inflation
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The dollar is no longer the world's reserve currency. This is the statement you heard twice in one day if you were checking out the news on Bloomberg over the past 24 hours.

First, we heard it from economist Clifford Bennett of Sonray Capital, who said the Euro was the world's new reserve currency and that this idea was now universally recognized.

Next we heard it from investor Jim Rogers, who has been bearish on the dollar and the state of the US economy/fiscal outlook for quite some time.

What's notable about Rogers' latest call on the dollar is that he's once again backed his convictions with his actions; yesterday, Rogers announced that he is shifting his personal assets out of the dollar and into the Chinese renminbi.

Here's an excerpt from, "Jim Rogers Shifts Assets Out of Dollars to Buy Yuan".

"Jim Rogers, chairman of Beeland Interests Inc., said he is shifting all his assets out of the dollar and buying Chinese yuan because the Federal Reserve has eroded the value of the U.S. currency.

....I'm in the process of -- I hope in the next few months -- getting all of my assets out of U.S. dollars,'' said Rogers, 65, who correctly predicted the commodities rally in 1999. ....I'm that pessimistic about what's happening in the U.S.''

Rogers, delivering a presentation late yesterday at an investors' meeting organized by ABN Amro Markets in Amsterdam, said he expects the Chinese currency to quadruple in the next decade and that he is holding on to commodities such as platinum, gold, silver and palladium."

If you'd like to listen to an excerpt from Rogers' presentation to investors in Amsterdam, it is reproduced here courtesy of Bloomberg.

What's the rationale behind these calls for the dollar's eventual demise?

As Marc Faber recently noted in a lengthy interview with Bloomberg (and in seperate interviews with CNBC), the recent widespread bearishness might represent a contrarian buy signal for the dollar in the short-term, but this does not exactly cancel out the US currency's long-term problems.

In summary, expect continued deterioration in the dollar's purchasing power and increases in inflation over the longer term. Inflation will not be confined to the US; it has appeared and will continue to appear in countries across the globe.

Every government will try their damnedest to paper over their monetary inflation with ridiculous explanations and reconfigured price indexes which purport to show "low inflation". Still, worldwide inflation is here and it is only a question of which fiat currency will depreciate at the fastest rate against relatively hard currencies and gold.

For more on inflation and government statistics, see FSN Broadcast of October 13, 2007 with guest John Williams of Shadow Government Statistics.

Oil Rises Above $90 to a Record on Supply Drop, Iran Sanctions
By Mark Shenk

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Oct. 25 (Bloomberg) -- Crude oil rose above $90 a barrel to a record in New York the day after a government report showed an unexpected drop in U.S. stockpiles.

....It's not a question of when we'll hit $100 but how quickly,'' said Nauman Barakat, senior vice president of global energy futures at Macquarie Futures USA Inc. in New York. ....There are no bearish factors in the market right now.''

Supplies fell 5.29 million barrels to 316.6 million, the lowest since January, according to yesterday's Energy Department report. New U.S. sanctions against Iran, warnings of a Turkish assault on Kurdish militants in Iraq and a falling dollar also pushed prices higher today.

Crude oil for December delivery rose $3.36, or 3.9 percent, to settle at a record $90.46 a barrel at 2:45 p.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It was the biggest one-day gain since April 23. Futures climbed to $90.60, the highest intraday price since trading began in 1983. The previous record, $90.07, was touched on Oct. 19.

Brent crude oil for December settlement rose $3.11, or 3.7 percent, to close at a record $87.48 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. Brent reached $87.59, the highest since trading began in 1988.

....The U.S. has had sanctions against Iran since 1979 and it's not like we are just hearing for the first time about Turkey's intention to rout the Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq,'' said Tim Evans, an analyst with Citigroup Global Markets Inc. in New York. ....What the headlines do is keep these issues front and center for anyone trading in this market.''

New Sanctions

The Bush administration announced new sanctions against Iran today that designate the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps as a proliferator of weapons of mass destruction and its Quds force as a supporter of terrorism.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who joined Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson in announcing the measures, said today's steps were designed ....to increase the costs to Iran of its irresponsible behavior.''

The U.S. is trying to get Iran to halt uranium enrichment that it suspects is aimed at developing nuclear weapons. Iran, which holds the world's second-largest oil and natural gas reserves, says it wants to enrich uranium to produce electricity. The dispute has bolstered oil prices since January 2006 because of concern that oil shipments from the country might be cut.

Turkey won't stand by after Iraq allowed members of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, to use bases on Iraqi territory for attacks that left 42 Turks dead this month, President Abdullah Gul said in Ankara. Shelling by Turkish artillery of the Iraqi side of the border continued today, CNN Turk reported.

Small Risk

....We are seeing a continuation of the spike that began yesterday,'' said Eric Wittenauer, an energy analyst at A.G. Edwards & Sons Inc. in St. Louis. ....The threats to output aren't likely to limit production. Even if the Turks head into Iraq to attack the PKK, the risk to actual oil production seems small.''

Iraq's oil-rich northern region is controlled by a semi- autonomous Kurdish administration. Kirkuk, the center of the region, is about 100 miles (161 kilometers) from the Turkish border.

....The near-term worries about falling inventories and a weak dollar are outweighing the longer-term effects of a weak economy and conservation in people's minds,'' said Michael Lynch, president of Strategic Energy & Economic Research in Winchester, Massachusetts.

The dollar approached a record low against the euro after reports showed U.S. orders for durable goods unexpectedly dropped and initial jobless claims were higher than forecast, signaling economic growth may weaken. Slower growth supports the argument for the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates next week.

Lower Interest Rates

....The durable goods number today wasn't good, which makes it pretty clear that the Fed will cut interest rates on Oct. 31,'' Barakat said. ....The only question is whether it will be 25 or 50 basis points. Lower interest rates are going to send the dollar lower, which will send oil higher.''

Oil jumped after the U.S. central bank cut its benchmark rate by a half percentage point to 4.75 percent on Sept. 18 to bolster the economy. The Fed next meets on Oct. 30-31 and investors anticipate policy makers will lower the main rate a quarter point to 4.5 percent.

Members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries have said a falling dollar justifies higher prices because oil- producing countries sell oil in dollars and often buy goods in euros. The group agreed in September to produce an extra 500,000 barrels a day starting Nov. 1 to lower prices and meet fourth- quarter demand.

Prices for gasoline and heating oil also rose because yesterday's report showed that petroleum-product stockpiles fell last week.

Heating oil for November delivery increased 6.64 cents, or 2.8 percent, to close at a record $2.4084 a gallon in New York. Futures touched $2.4109, the highest since trading began in 1978. Gasoline for November delivery climbed 8.83 cents, or 4.1 percent, to settle at $2.2358 a gallon, the highest since July 12. It was the biggest one-day gain since Aug. 29.

BP to Pay $373 Million in Federal Probe
By Lara Jakes Jordan

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Washington - Global energy giant BP PLC agreed Thursday to pay $373 million to settle criminal and civil charges that it overcharged U.S. propane consumers by millions of dollars and ignored environmental warnings that resulted in an Alaska oil spill and a deadly explosion in Texas.

Additionally, a federal grand jury in Chicago indicted four former BP traders who were caught on tape discussing an alleged scheme to pump up profits by cornering the propane markets.

The federal investigation of Europe's second-largest energy company, and its executives, will continue during a three-year probation period, Acting Attorney General Peter Keisler said Thursday.

"Obviously, the actions that we're responding to today reflect that there were some very serious problems within the company," Keisler said, announcing the cases in Washington.

BP America Chairman and President Bob Malone apologized in a statement.

"These agreements are an admission that, in these instances, our operations failed to meet our own standards and the requirements of the law. For that, we apologize," Malone said.

The charges against London-based BP and its U.S.-based subsidiaries come in at least three separate cases that federal investigators have been pursuing for several years. They include:

• A February 2004 scheme by BP America Inc. to inflate the price of propane by buying massive quantities of the gas, to be delivered over a Texas pipeline, and then withholding supplies. That forced other buyers in the wholesale market to pay an unnaturally high premium, costing consumers an estimated $53 million and driving spot prices as high as 94 cents a gallon in places like New York, Pennsylvania and Illinois.

Ironically, BP did not profit because the financial benefits of the scheme were outweighed by the unexpectedly huge costs associated with carrying it out. But under an agreement with the Justice Department to avoid criminal prosecution, BP will pay a $100 million penalty on top of fines amounting to $25 million to the U.S. Postal Service; $125 million to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and $53 million in restitution.

Additionally, the Justice Department charged four former traders accused of carrying out the scheme with 20 counts of mail and wire fraud and commodities violations. At least some of the four traders - Mark David Radley, James Warren Summers, Cody Dean Claborn and Carrie Kienenberger - allegedly were caught on tape gleefully discussing how BP could "control the market at will."

Describing the tape, Commodity Futures Trading Commission acting chairman Walt Lukken described "outrage that these people were taking advantage of innocent consumers."

• A March 23, 2005, explosion at a BP refinery in Texas City, Texas, that killed 15 contract employees and injured more than 170. Granta Nakayama, assistant administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency, said BP failed to install environmental and safety standards as required by the Clean Air Act to prevent chemical vapors from being accidentally released.

BP will pay $50 million as part of a felony guilty plea in Texas - what officials called the largest criminal fine ever given in a Clean Air Act case.

• BP's March 2006 spill of 201,000 gallons of crude oil at Alaska's Prudhoe Bay, the nation's largest oil field. BP America will pay $20 million and plead guilty to a misdemeanor violation of the Clean Water Act for the largest crude spill on Alaska's oil-rich North Slope.

Under the agreement, BP will pay a $12 million fine and $4 million in restitution to the state of Alaska. Another $4 million goes to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation for Arctic environmental research.

Nakayama said the spill "should not have happened" because BP ignored what he called many warnings about the risks to the ecosystem.

"BP committed serious environmental crimes in our two largest states," Nakayama said. "Every entity that is subject to environmental laws has an obligation to comply. But global companies like BP, with their experience, technical capabilities and financial resources have no excuse for committing environmental crimes."

ericg

10-26-2007, 05:38 PM

2,000-Year-Old California Redwoods' Fate in Mediator's Hands
By Erwin Seba

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Corpus Christi, Texas - A U.S. bankruptcy judge in Texas said on Tuesday he would appoint a mediator to try to hammer out a deal on the fate of 29,000 acres of giant, 2,000-year-old California redwood trees, which environmentalists and loggers battled over in the 1990s.

U.S. Judge Richard Schmidt expressed frustration at the slow pace Maxxam Inc. subsidiary Pacific Lumber Co. was moving since filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in January.

Schmidt issued his decision on Tuesday night in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for Southern District of Texas at Corpus Christi after a daylong hearing.

"I'm going to put this on short-fuse mediation," Schmidt said.

Charles Hurwitz, chairman and chief executive of Houston-based Maxxam, became the target of protestors who lived in California redwoods to prevent Pacific Lumber from cutting them down in the 1990s.

Pacific Lumber signed a 1998 agreement with the state of California and the U.S. government to protect nearly 8,000 acres of timberland including old-growth redwoods as habitat for an endangered Pacific Coast bird the Marbled Murrelet.

Pacific Lumber filed for bankruptcy protection because of its inability to pay on $714 million in bonds. The company has taken on more debt to continue operating while working out of the bankruptcy.

Under a bankruptcy plan Pacific Lumber has put forward, 6,000 acres of timberland including old-growth redwoods would sell for $300 million to a conservation agency or group. Other nearby timberland, also including redwoods, would be sold or developed to raise another $1.1 billion.

Schmidt told the lawyers for Pacific Lumber and its creditors they could try to agree on a mediator, hoping it would be the first agreement reached in the case.

The mediator will have 30 days to try and hammer out an agreement between the parties involved.

"I want everyone to participate," Schmidt said. "Whether that means Mr. Hurwitz needs to attend or to send somebody."

ericg

10-26-2007, 05:39 PM

We're One Step Closer to Creating Genetically Enhanced Humans
By Marcy Darnovsky, AlterNet
Posted on October 19, 2007, Printed on October 26, 2007
http://www.alternet.org/story/65678/
It's Nobel Prize season, and the Nobel scientists are very much in the news. James Watson, awarded the laureate in 1962 for helping to deduce the now-iconic double-helix structure of DNA, is currently embroiled in controversy after making a series of blatantly racist remarks in the UK Sunday Times this month.

But related views espoused by one of this year's laureates have gone unnoticed. In early October, the Nobel Prize for biology went to three scientists whose talent and persistence gave us "knockout mice," the genetically engineered lab animals widely used by researchers to model and study human diseases. In the words of a Nobel committee member, these designer mice have "led to penetrating new insights" in several biological fields.

The story of one of the biology winners, Mario Capecchi, was the lead in most of the news reports about the award. Capecchi's rags-to-riches life gave an extra mythic dimension to the fairytale-like quality that always accompanies the Nobel announcements, with their large sums of money and middle-of-the-night phone calls to astonished scientists.

Capecchi spent his early childhood in World War II Italy, living on the streets and in orphanages after his mother was sent to Dachau for anti-Fascist activities. She survived and found her son on his ninth birthday. Together they set sail for the United States, where Capecchi got a high-quality education and eventually reached Watson's Harvard lab.

But there's another aspect of Capecchi's life that may sound more like science fiction than fairy tale. The new Nobel laureate, like his former mentor Watson, has spoken enthusiastically of using the genetic science he's helped advance to engineer biologically enhanced children.

The prospect of a renewed, high-tech eugenics is extraordinarily controversial, but it is not just a fantasy. It is coming ever closer to technical plausibility, and for a disturbing number of influential scientists and eccentric futurists, it is an agenda. At an infamous UCLA conference in 1998, Watson, Capecchi, and other prominent scientists gathered to strategize about how to make it "acceptable" to the public. The event was titled Engineering the Human Germline -- a reference to what is now more commonly called "inheritable genetic modification" -- and covered on the front pages of the New York Times and Washington Post.

The conferees were quite explicit. Watson -- hardly known for his shyness or tact -- proclaimed to the audience of nearly a thousand, "If we could make better human beings by knowing how to add genes, why shouldn't we do it?" (As for the "better human beings" he has in mind, he told a British film maker in 2003 that he considers ten percent of children "stupid," and would like to see them genetically modified. "If you really are stupid, I would call that a disease," Watson said. He went on to argue for using genetic techniques to prevent the births of "ugly girls." "People say it would be terrible if we made all girls pretty," he explained. "I think it would be great.")

Another conference attendee, Princeton mouse biologist turned futurist Lee Silver, has elaborated on this frankly eugenic vision. In Remaking Eden: Cloning and Beyond in a Brave New World (William Morrow: 1997), Silver eagerly imagines a future in which the appearance, personality, cognitive abilities, and sensory capacities of children become products of genetic modification. Silver acknowledges that the costs of such procedures would limit their widespread adoption, and predicts that over time society would segregate into castes that he dubs the "GenRich" and the "Naturals."

In the promotion of a new eugenics, Capecchi has been less the salesman or provocateur, and more the architect -- or, perhaps, the engineer. His talk at the 1998 conference, called "The Genetic Engineer's Tool Box," examined techniques "for safe, reliable germline engineering in humans." Capecchi acknowledged concerns about the wisdom of making permanent changes in the human genome. If inheritable genetic modification were to begin in twenty years, he mused, "the procedures that we'll be working out at that point will appear very primitive fifty years from now. And those procedures, in turn, will appear very primitive a hundred years from now." This presents a serious problem: "[T]here's no way we should create a system where it is a permanent record."

But for a man of Capecchi's scientific imagination, this problem is surmountable. In fact, he had already devised a clever work-around. His proposal: Create those genetic changes in the embryos that will become genetically enhanced children, but put "on" and "off" switches into their genes. Newsweek described the scheme as "an end run around the worry that it is wrong to monkey with human evolution."

Unlike Watson and others, Capecchi seems not to have pursued advocacy of using genetic tools in the service of a eugenic future. Perhaps he has had second thoughts. Perhaps he has recognized the disastrous new forms of discrimination and inequality that eugenic engineering could so easily produce. Perhaps there's a chance he'll use the platform afforded by his Nobel Prize to reject such dangerous applications of the science he's helped to develop. Or is that too much of a fairy tale ending?

endgame...

ericg

10-26-2007, 05:40 PM

What We Can Do to End the War
By Tara Lohan, AlterNet
Posted on October 26, 2007, Printed on October 26, 2007
http://www.alternet.org/story/66071/
The majority of Americans and Iraqis oppose the U.S.-led occupation of Iraq. Polls indicate that 70 percent of Americans are against the war and over 80 percent of Iraqis want coalition troops out of their country. In the four and a half years since the invasion, nearly 4,000 U.S. soldiers have been killed and nearly 30,000 seriously wounded. There have also been an estimated 1 million Iraqi civilians killed and over 4 million have fled for their lives.

The war has racked up a bill of over $600 billion of our taxpayer money and yet left Iraq a country in economic shambles and political unrest, and with a population living in fear of daily violence. (Check out the video to the right.)

For the duration of this war, people in the United States have raised their voice in opposition. They have marched, signed petitions, held vigils and written to their elected officials. But it hasn't been enough. Yet.

This Saturday, Oct. 27, United for Peace and Justice, the largest anti-war coalition in the United States, has organized 11 massive anti-war rallies to take place around the nation. Participating organizations include veterans and military family groups, as well as hundreds of national and local peace groups.

Leslie Cagan, national coordinator of United for Peace and Justice said, "Never before have we seen anything like this. In regional centers throughout the nation people will gather in an expression of the widespread opposition to the war. This war, with its senseless death and destruction in Iraq, is draining our communities as resources we need here at home are squandered every day. It is time to bring our troops home."

Tens of thousands are expected to participate in the coordinated day of opposition to the Bush administration's war in Iraq. The protest will take place in 11 regional centers including New York, Boston, New Orleans, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Jonesborough (TN), Seattle, Salt Lake City, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Orlando. Several other cities are conducting smaller gatherings for those who are unable to travel.

Nancy Lessin, co-founder of Military Families Speak Out, stated, "In the coming weeks, Congress will decide whether or not to continue funding the war in Iraq for another year. Military families and Iraq veterans will participate in the regional demonstrations on Oct. 27 to join people from around the country to remind Congress that funding this war is killing our troops."

The actions are designed to send a message both to the Bush administration and to Congress, said Cagan. They hope to give people a platform to express their opposition to the war in Iraq and to the importance of channeling that money to local communities where health care and education have been cut across the country. It will also be a place to raise awareness to prevent another ill-conceived war, this time with Iran.

"The timing is important," said Cagan. "It has been almost a year since voters said loud and clear that we want this war to end. Everyone saw the midterm elections last year as a mandate to end the war. And it is almost exactly a year until the next election. As we gear up for 2008, we want to be clear that the anti-war movement is not going away and we need to keep putting ourselves out there."

This is no longer Bush's war, said Cagan, but Congress' also since it has had a year to take action.

Organizers of the event hope to not just remind people of the enduring horrors in Iraq but to generate hope and energize people to go back into their communities and keep working at the local level.

Cagan says she understands the frustrations that have come from people who've been marching and opposing this war for years with little positive response from our government. "Some people are fed up with protests but are even more fed up with the war," said Cagan. "We have few vehicles to express our opposition, and we need to use every one we have. We'll never know the lives we may have saved or the destruction we may have prevented that resulted from our previous anti-war protests. But I do know that the minute we stop, things will get worse."

Even if you've marched before -- even if you've marched 20 times since March 2003, it is still important to get out there on Oct. 27 and let our elected officials and the entire world know that our country wants our troops out of Iraq.

"Being a visible, public, bold movement does have an impact on policymakers," said Cagan. "And it will ripple across the country and get more people engaged in a whole range of activities."

For more information about the Oct. 27 actions, visit Oct.27.org or United for Peace, and check out the video to the right.

ericg

10-26-2007, 11:21 PM

Much of US Could See a Water Shortage
By Brian Skoloff

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West Palm Beach, Florida - An epic drought in Georgia threatens the water supply for millions. Florida doesn't have nearly enough water for its expected population boom. The Great Lakes are shrinking. Upstate New York's reservoirs have dropped to record lows. And in the West, the Sierra Nevada snowpack is melting faster each year.

Across America, the picture is critically clear - the nation's freshwater supplies can no longer quench its thirst.

The government projects that at least 36 states will face water shortages within five years because of a combination of rising temperatures, drought, population growth, urban sprawl, waste and excess.

"Is it a crisis? If we don't do some decent water planning, it could be," said Jack Hoffbuhr, executive director of the Denver-based American Water Works Association.

Water managers will need to take bold steps to keep taps flowing, including conservation, recycling, desalination and stricter controls on development.

"We've hit a remarkable moment," said Barry Nelson, a senior policy analyst with the Natural Resources Defense Council. "The last century was the century of water engineering. The next century is going to have to be the century of water efficiency."

The price tag for ensuring a reliable water supply could be staggering. Experts estimate that just upgrading pipes to handle new supplies could cost the nation $300 billion over 30 years.

"Unfortunately, there's just not going to be any more cheap water," said Randy Brown, Pompano Beach's utilities director.

It's not just America's problem - it's global.

Australia is in the midst of a 30-year dry spell, and population growth in urban centers of sub-Saharan Africa is straining resources. Asia has 60 percent of the world's population, but only about 30 percent of its freshwater.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a United Nations network of scientists, said this year that by 2050 up to 2 billion people worldwide could be facing major water shortages.

The U.S. used more than 148 trillion gallons of water in 2000, the latest figures available from the U.S. Geological Survey. That includes residential, commercial, agriculture, manufacturing and every other use - almost 500,000 gallons per person.

Coastal states like Florida and California face a water crisis not only from increased demand, but also from rising temperatures that are causing glaciers to melt and sea levels to rise. Higher temperatures mean more water lost to evaporation. And rising seas could push saltwater into underground sources of freshwater.

Florida represents perhaps the nation's greatest water irony. A hundred years ago, the state's biggest problem was it had too much water. But decades of dikes, dams and water diversions have turned swamps into cities.

Little land is left to store water during wet seasons, and so much of the landscape has been paved over that water can no longer penetrate the ground in some places to recharge aquifers. As a result, the state is forced to flush millions of gallons of excess into the ocean to prevent flooding.

Also, the state dumps hundreds of billions of gallons a year of treated wastewater into the Atlantic through pipes - water that could otherwise be used for irrigation.

Florida's environmental chief, Michael Sole, is seeking legislative action to get municipalities to reuse the wastewater.

"As these communities grow, instead of developing new water with new treatment systems, why not better manage the commodity they already have and produce an environmental benefit at the same time?" Sole said.

Florida leads the nation in water reuse by reclaiming some 240 billion gallons annually, but it is not nearly enough, Sole said.

Floridians use about 2.4 trillion gallons of water a year. The state projects that by 2025, the population will have increased 34 percent from about 18 million to more than 24 million people, pushing annual demand for water to nearly 3.3 trillion gallons.

More than half of the state's expected population boom is projected in a three-county area that includes Miami, Fort Lauderdale and Palm Beach, where water use is already about 1.5 trillion gallons a year.

"We just passed a crossroads. The chief water sources are basically gone," said John Mulliken, director of water supply for the South Florida Water Management District. "We really are at a critical moment in Florida history."

In addition to recycling and conservation, technology holds promise.

There are more than 1,000 desalination plants in the U.S., many in the Sunbelt, where baby boomers are retiring at a dizzying rate.

The Tampa Bay Seawater Desalination Plant is producing about 25 million gallons a day of fresh drinking water, about 10 percent of that area's demand. The $158 million facility is North America's largest plant of its kind. Miami-Dade County is working with the city of Hialeah to build a reverse osmosis plant to remove salt from water in deep brackish wells. Smaller such plants are in operation across the state.

Californians use nearly 23 trillion gallons of water a year, much of it coming from Sierra Nevada snowmelt. But climate change is producing less snowpack and causing it to melt prematurely, jeopardizing future supplies.

Experts also say the Colorado River, which provides freshwater to seven Western states, will probably provide less water in coming years as global warming shrinks its flow.

California, like many other states, is pushing conservation as the cheapest alternative, looking to increase its supply of treated wastewater for irrigation and studying desalination, which the state hopes could eventually provide 20 percent of its freshwater.

"The need to reduce water waste and inefficiency is greater now than ever before," said Benjamin Grumbles, assistant administrator for water at the Environmental Protection Agency. "Water efficiency is the wave of the future."

yeahwho

10-26-2007, 11:30 PM

ring of throwing crap up against the wall and seeing what sticks.

yawn.

cosmo105

10-27-2007, 01:40 AM

El Guapo only kills men.

He does not kill crying women.

So go...

you big movie stars.

Thank you.

Faster!

People of Santa Poco.

You were very foolish to bring men
to try to stop El Guapo.

You have hurt me.

You see, Jefe?

A rose can bloom in the desert.

Jefe!

Santa Poco is no longer
under my protection!

The town is yours, muchachos!

Afternoon.

- We'll just get our things and go.
- There is nothing of yours here.

El Guapo has taken everything.

Sorry.

Did you see a pair of cuff links?
They were mother-of-pearl...

Where's Carmen?

El Guapo has taken her too.

- Let's go back to Hollywood.
- The sooner, the better.

- It's too hot down here.
- That and my hay fever.

- We don't belong down here anyway.
- Where's Ned?

What are you doing?

What do we have to go back to?

You've no jobs, no money...

no place to live.

No friends.

No women.

No self-respect.

Oh, hold on. Wait.

Ned, we could get killed.

Back there the Three Amigos
are already dead.

Here we could be
the Three Amigos for real.

I'm drawing a line.

Men or mice?

What'll it be?

Let's ride!

- Great job catching the food, Ned.
- Oh, thanks, Lucky.

How do you like your bat, Dusty?

- Medium rare.
- This should do it.

Thanks.

How far did we ride before we
had to go back and get directions?

Just three or four miles.

Read those instructions again.

All righty.

All right.

We go east...

through the desert
until we come to the singing bush.

The singing bush?

When we find the singing bush...

we say the magic chant,
each fire one shot in the air...

and that will summon
the invisible swordsman...

and he will then show us
the way to El Guapo's.

- Want your wings?
- No, fine.

Here you go.

Oh, great, thanks.

Well, good night.

Look at the little fella.
He's tuckered out already.

What was that?

It's just a coyote.

I've never slept outside before.

Take it easy.

Arizona moon keep shinin'

From the desert sky above

You know, pretty soon

That big yellow moon

Will light the way

Back

To the one you love

Blue

Shadows

On the trail

Little cowboy

Close your eyes

And dream

All of the doggies

Are in the corral

All of your work is done

Just close your eyes

And dream, little pal

Dream of

Someone

Blue

Shadows

On the trail

Soft wind blowin'

Through the trees

Above

All the other little cowboys

Back in the bunkhouse now, so

Close your

Eyes and

Dream

Good night, Lucky.
Good night, Dusty.

Good night, Ned.

Good night, Ned.

Good night, Ned.

Good night, Lucky.

Good night, Dusty.

ericg

10-27-2007, 06:04 PM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mriyJd3h3nY

Documad

10-28-2007, 01:56 AM

ericg

10-30-2007, 12:42 AM

WHY HR 1955 WAS RAMMED THROUGH UNDER COVER OF FIRE

By: Devvy
Go To Original

"Paper is poverty, .... it is only the ghost of money, and not money itself." -- Thomas Jefferson, 1788

Last week while the horrific fires were burning up Southern California and every major news network, including cable were providing non-stop coverage, a very dangerous bill to liberty and freedom was passed by 404 members of the U.S. House of Representatives. Called the 'Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007', this bill is perfectly summed up here:

"First let's take a look at the definitions of violent radicalization and homegrown terrorism as defined in Section 899A of the bill. The definition of violent radicalization uses vague language to define this term of promoting any belief system that the government considers to be an extremist agenda. Since the bill doesn't specifically define what an extremist belief system is, it is entirely up to the interpretation of the government. Considering how much the government has done to destroy the Constitution they could even define Ron Paul supporters as promoting an extremist belief system. Literally, the government according to this definition can define whatever they want as an extremist belief system. Essentially they have defined violent radicalization as thought crime."

Why was this bill passed now? Besides yours truly, thousands of economists and constitutional activists have been warning for decades what will happen if treaties like NAFTA were shoved down our throats destroying our most important, productive job sectors along with the continued fleecing of the people's purse. Let's look at some current data to bring things into perspective and it's not pretty:

Foreclosures, default notices soar locally and across the state. October 26, 2007: "Home loan defaults and foreclosures spiked again sharply in July, August and September throughout California and the capital region, setting records and adding more stress to an already-slumping housing market." Billions in housing wealth at risk as foreclosures soar. October 26, 2007: "More than $23.6 billion in California housing wealth will evaporate if real estate prices continue to decline and foreclosures on subprime home loans soar, according to a new congressional report that indicates the fallout from the national mortgage crisis is worsening." Cash-strapped Americans raiding their 401(k)s. October 14, 2007: "Despite potential tax and investment problems, more investors have been borrowing from their 401(k) plans or taking hardship withdrawals in recent months, some retirement plan providers say. Many in the field expect more borrowing in 2008, as consumers struggle with tighter credit and potentially higher mortgage payments."

2 Million Americans Face Losing Their Home. October 26, 2007: "An influential congressional committee warned yesterday that 2 million US families face losing their homes in a "tidal wave" of repossessions with an estimated cost of $71bn." US loan default problems widen. October 21 2007: " Poor quarterly results from banks across the US over the past two weeks suggest credit problems once confined to high-risk mortgage borrowers are spreading across the consumer landscape, posing new risks to the economy and weighing heavily on the markets. US banks have raised reserves for loan losses by at least $6bn over the second quarter and by even larger amounts from last year, indicating financial executives believe consumers will be increasingly unable to make payments on a variety of loans. " Goodbye dollar, hello inflation. October 24, 2007: "In summary, expect continued deterioration in the dollar's purchasing power and increases in inflation over the longer term. Inflation will not be confined to the US; it has appeared and will continue to appear in countries across the globe. Every government will try their damnedest to paper over their monetary inflation with ridiculous explanations and reconfigured price indexes which purport to show "low inflation". Still, worldwide inflation is here and it is only a question of which fiat currency will depreciate at the fastest rate against relatively hard currencies and gold."

When people have no money to spend except for food and shelter, it kills the local economy. Retailers are already anticipating a dismal Christmas season. Dr. Edwin Vieira has warned for decades this banking crisis was coming. He pointed out in a column, March 17, 2005, that a monetary and banking crisis was on its way. In his March 21, 2005, column, Edwin said: "Pointing out these stories to a New Hampshire State Legislator, I explained the logical connection among them: first, that this country is on the verge of an inevitable financial melt-down; second, that politicians are intent on making things even worse; and third, that when the Ponzi pyramid collapses, the same politicians whose irresponsibility caused the situation will impose draconian restrictions on common Americans by means of police forces amply provided with weapons and heavy equipment suitable for house-to-house fighting in Stalingrad."

Many times I have reminded Americans that back in 1984, Lt. Col. Oliver North, directly helped draft a plan in 1984 at the direction of Ronald Reagan to impose martial law in the United States in the event of an emergency. This secret plan would suspend the U.S. Constitution and turn over control of the government to the little known agency at that time: FEMA. This plan would appoint military commanders to run state and local governments - remember Katrina? Implementation of this plan would have been triggered by violent and wide spread internal dissent, disagreement with government policy or national opposition to any U.S. military invasion abroad. Essentially, it amounted to a complete and total suspension of the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights.

Many times I have reminded Americans about a 1997 essay in the Sacramento Bee titled: Our Civilian-Military Face off, which also carried a sub headline: Bill of Rights No Obstacle for the [Marine] Corps. This piece exposed the mindset way back then that at some point due to: "...the rising potential for civil disobedience within the inner cities it is 'inevitable' the U.S. military will be employed more often within American borders." In my March 10, 2005 column, I said that at some point, it was a given that posse comitatus is likely to be thrown out the window. WACO was the test case in violation of posse comitatus which resulted in our military burning and gassing to death 74 Americans, 17 of them children. For the most part, America was silent and sickeningly, large numbers felt the outcome was "necessary." Well, it came to pass and NWVs columnist, Greg Evensen, former Kansas State Trooper, summed it up quit succinctly:

"In addition to this “group think” concerning the police “mission” of enforcing the law—regardless of whether or not the law is righteous or constitutional---is the recent historic change in federal law. I am referring to Public Law 109-364, or the “John Warner Defense Authorization Act of 2007” (HR5122) (2), was signed by President Bush on October 17, 2006...It allows the President to declare a “public emergency” and station troops anywhere in America. Further, Section 1076 of this Act, entitled “Use of the Armed Forces in Major Public Emergencies and Section 333 Major Public Emergencies--interference with State and Federal Law, says that the President may use these forces when HE determines that domestic violence has occurred to such an extent that a State is incapable of (read that “refuse or fail” in) maintaining public order, “in order to suppress, in any State, any insurrection, domestic violence, unlawful combination thereof or conspiracy to commit these acts against the United States. This “repeal” of the Posse Comitatus Act (PCA) is a deadly blow on this historic prevention of US army units intervening in local disputes. The 1878 Act, protected local jurisdictions and even states from the willful intervention of corrupted or dictatorial executive branch orders being forced upon the locals by Army units in a law enforcement capacity."

Back in 1999, the International Association of Undercover Officers held a conference and put out a manual titled 'Homegrown Extremists.' This manual will shock you, i.e,. the Fully Informed Jury Association which teaches people about their serious responsibilities as a juror is blasted as an extremist organization. This is the kind of propaganda that was being jammed down the throats of law enforcement almost a decade ago. Most certainly there are dangerous groups in this country, but through toxic organizations like the Southern "Poverty" Law Center, this type of propaganda is now standard fare for law enforcement. Constitutionalists are deliberately lumped in with the KKK and wacky cults. Pg 52 begins "Know your enemy" and they are white, educated Christians. The full manual is scanned here.

The timing of the passage of H.R. 1955 was no accident; see roll call of votes here. The fact that 404 members of the U.S. House of Representatives voted for it tells me this collective body of dangerous individuals that have taken this country, with the blessing of every past president since Roosevelt, to the brink of financial ruin are now very afraid of what's going to happen when the peasants (that's us) find themselves left with nothing. Additionally, the push for a new, unbiased investigation into 911 is turning into an unmanageable situation for the shadow government.

Tens of millions of Americans do NOT want Bush to unconstitutionally invade and bomb Iran, a non threatening country and should the peasants, commonly referred to as the "working man", refuse to support this insanity, a new draconian law will be in place to crush we the people. Many now realize it's too late to stop exactly what Lou Dobbs so courageously railed about on his show, October 26, 2007:

"And the leadership, of course, emanating from Washington is brilliant dealing with the issue of $92-a-barrel crude oil, a Middle East policy that is a joke, an energy policy for this country that is nonexistent. This administration and the previous absolutely derelict...And I love, I love these jackasses in this administration, particularly in their -- the treasury secretary, Henry Paulson, the commerce secretary, this president, all of them talk coming together to create a super-fund for the money center banks, investment banks in this country to put together maybe about $100 billion fund, so that they won't have to suffer losses as a result of their bad credit market investments and risk taken in their portfolios, particularly in subprime mortgage. But we have got millions of people facing foreclosures, the resets that you're talking about on those mortgages, ARMs that were designed for the convenience of the industry. And this administration and this Congress is not moving to deal with a way to relieve that debt and that incredible pressure that it's going to put on middle- class families."

Empty bellies make for angry mobs. How much do you have in your savings account to keep emptying the ocean with a teaspoon? Are you one of the above borrowing from your 401(k)? What will be left at "retirement" time to see to your needs in your golden years? Crude closed at $92/per barrel last Friday; when Bush took office it was $18/barrel. This winter, our fellow Americans in states like Pennsylvania, Ohio and the New England States will have to face staying warm vs eating and/or dropping their health care premiums because there's no money left in the till to pay another increase in heating fuel oil. While Hillary Clinton and Nancy Pelosi eat off gold plated china, Bush will continue to blow $10 BILLION dollars a month on his insane wars and since there's no money in the treasury, that $10 BILLION will have to be borrowed and squeezed from we the people who have nothing left to give. And, these buzzards in Congress just keep writing hot checks:

Here piggie, piggie! Billions in fed trough. "Millions earmarked for La Raza radicals: $3.74 million for research into the Formosan Subterranean Termite, requested by Reps. Rodney Alexander and Richard Baker of Louisiana; $1.7 million for the Centers for Disease Control to fund a Hollywood liaison to advise doctor dramas." While you're trying to figure out how to provide health care insurance for your family, get them needed dental work, buy shoes and little dresses, this is what these damnable crooks in Congress are blowing money on when the treasury is empty. [Order and read Judge Andrew Napolitano's newest book "A Nation Of Sheep"]

The worst is now staring all of us in the face and I respectfully recommend every American do several things as soon as you can:

(1) Diversify a good portion of your assets into gold. I'm not a gold dealer, but my friends at El Dorado Gold know this issue inside and out and they will tell you that right now that stock market is on the same path as 1929. October 18, 2007: Dow drops over 366 on anniversary of Black Friday. This was a warning people had better take seriously. Call Eric in the Florida office at 623.643.8785 or, if you prefer closer to the West Coast, call Harvey at 602.228.8203. Congress is staring at double-digit TRILLIONS needed next year when that first wave of baby boomers retire. There's no money in the treasury and all the BS pouring out of Barack Hussein Obama or Hillary's mouth, or pie in the sky promises from Rudy Julie Annie, Huckabee or Romney isn't going to stop what is already underway.

(2) Get your affairs in order which means paperwork like wills, trusts, etc. DON'T put off this important task for a baseball game, round of golf or tv program.

(3) Disaster can happen at any time, so everyone should make sure they have at least a few weeks of food supplies, along with vitamins and medical necessities stored. If there's any disruption with our road warriors (truckers) being able to get to your area, your family will starve and there won't be any running down to China (Wal) Mart for a prescription refill that could mean life or death.

Please get on the phone to your House member this week and tell them: Bush simply cannot invade or bomb Iran like some banana republic dictator. A formal declaration of war is REQUIRED under the U.S. Constitution by Congress and we the people do NOT want any military aggression against a non threatening country like Iran. Stop this lunacy or find another job next November. Demand they vote yes NOW on the bills below because they are critical in beginning the rebuilding process:

H.R. 2755: Federal Reserve Board Abolition Act. To abolish the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and the Federal reserve banks, to repeal the Federal Reserve Act, and for other purposes.

H. Con. Res. 40: The United States should not engage in the construction of a North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) Superhighway System or enter into a North American Union with Mexico and Canada.

H.R. 3835: The American Freedom Agenda Act of 2007 which will restore habeas corpus by repealing the Military Commissions Act of 2006.

H. Con. Res. 22: The President should provide notice of withdrawal of the United States from the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

H.R.4855: Get rid of the unnecessary withholding taxing scheme. This bill was introduced by Congressman Ron Paul, July 27, 2000 and we the people demand a new bill get introduced and passed as well as abolish the IRS.

Important links:

1 - Reconstituting the militia under the states
2 - No income tax necessary to fund federal government
3 - The right argument on taxes
4 - Is the U.S. Government Sneaking Gold Out of Fort Knox?
5 - US Food Riots Much Closer Than You Think
6 - Iran: The Road to Armageddon?
7 - We must bomb Iran, says Republican guru

ericg

10-30-2007, 12:53 AM

On Track for U.S. Collapse
Michael S. Rozeff
Go To Original

Bush and Cheney are steering the U.S. into a collapse. Only strong public voices by influential people can prevent the coming disaster. We desperately need for men and women who are known to the public and have credibility to speak up in the critical period ahead to avoid catastrophe.

A few weeks ago, Israel bombed a alleged nuclear facility in Syria. This is a warm-up for an attack on Iran.
In the last few days, the U.S. unilaterally tightened sanctions on Iran. Russia and China do not support this move.
A week ago Bush warned Iran that its attainment of nuclear arms would lead to World War III.
Russia, which has been assisting Iran in its nuclear construction program for decades, regards Western military action against Iran as unacceptable.
China has been arming Iran with missiles. Its relations with Iran have been improving for years.
We know that Bush and Cheney are capable of pre-emptive attack. We know that Bush will act if he believes he is right no matter what the costs are. In his distorted worldview, Iran with nuclear weapons is a scenario worth any cost to avoid.

We know that Bush, Cheney, and Rice have repeatedly warned Iran of meaningful consequences if Iran arms itself with nuclear weapons. We know that their terms in office end in 15 months. These are the critical months.

But it is by no means clear that the front-running candidates for office who may replace them hold substantially different views. Hillary Clinton has publicly called for sanctions against Iran and has called Iran a threat to Israel.

Why may an unprovoked attack on Iran lead to WWIII and why may it lead to the collapse of the U.S.?

Imagine this scenario. The U.S. encourages Israel to bomb the Natanz nuclear facility in Iran. Russia attempts to restrain an Iranian response but fails. Iran responds in any of many ways, such as launching missiles on Israel, firing on shipping in the Straits of Hormuz, mining the Straits of Hormuz, sending troops into Iraq, or allying its military with Hezbollah and attacking Israel from Lebanon.

The U.S., citing Iran’s aggressions (that will be the story), launches a full-scale attack on Iran designed to devastate the country. This attack has actually been planned by the U.S. for years. Syria is unable to maintain neutrality and quickly becomes a battleground between Iran and Israel.

The price of oil by this point has already soared to $200 a barrel. The U.S. begins to use its strategic reserve and to divert Iraqi production. Russia responds by taking steps to prevent its oil production from reaching the U.S. China responds by cutting off its support of the U.S. Treasury market. Venezuela halts oil shipments to the U.S. The first stages of WWIII are economic warfare designed to cripple the U.S. and halt its war-making capacity.

The U.S., unable to finance its deficits and fund its sovereign debt, is forced into raising interest rates drastically in order to borrow. The Fed is forced to print money. An inflationary spiral occurs. Meanwhile the high interest rates and high oil prices, not to mention the shock of a spreading conflict, drive the U.S. economy into severe decline. The U.S. attempts to raise taxes in order to fund itself, further crippling the economy. Gold soars to $1,500–$2,000 an ounce.

The U.S. attempts to bolster its military forces. The draft is reinstated. The severity of the emergency allows Bush and Cheney to assume emergency powers and begin a dictatorship. Elections are postponed.

The U.S. collapses.

Unfortunately, even if this scenario does not occur, the position of the U.S. is so precarious that any number of other scenarios equally disastrous lie in wait. This house needs urgently to be put in order or it will fall, and especially if it does not terminate its imperial adventures. The very fact that Bush and Cheney (or any major U.S. political officials) gain by starting WWIII is a terrible indictment of our entire political system.

Who can stop this? Who can prevent this? It will only take a few well-placed people to prevent this catastrophe. My guess is 5–20 people could sway public opinion against war or provide enough cover for Congressional dissenters to screw up their courage. Maybe even as few as 3 or 4 influential people could derail the Bush-Cheney train to disaster. They need to speak out at the right times and they must be heard. Previously mute or muted voices simply must speak out. They know who they are. They know that their silence will mean silent approval of a U.S. collapse.

ericg

10-30-2007, 12:57 AM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fws4RxWtnOg

ericg

10-30-2007, 12:58 AM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIiwSeew0KI

ericg

10-30-2007, 01:03 AM

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=11730013

ericg

10-30-2007, 01:35 AM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OgfzqulvhlQ

yeahwho

10-30-2007, 06:20 AM

This guy with the milk hate thing, l bet if it's super hot and he's kind of getting a hankering for something sweet, I could talk him into ice cream 'real easy.

Carlos

10-30-2007, 06:52 AM

lol...

classic thread...

Eric sure you mean well, and from some of the stuff you have put up u are clearly well informed.

HOWEVER your presentation and reasoning style is easy cannon fodder for the Gatekeepers on this board. And even those who are interested in the subject will not spend the time to read your large posts (which do not appear to be much or your own thought, rather a ctr+c, ctrl+v exercise).

The main problem which has happened time and time again here: is that few people seem to think this board kinda belongs to them, and that if you post something up, then you have to justify it was worth posting up to these people, cos they live here. Fair enough if you want to engage with these people then you should be prepared to elaborate on you point.

But, it is not a priori pre-requesite that you must make the case for the information being presented, as this is a forum, and as such people often just posts a link to something without giving a framework for the info. I beleive the orriginal purpose of this thread was to 'share' a video: and that as this is an intellectual forum people have the ablilty to watch it and judge for themself if it has any merit.

Instead the gatekeepers have to ridicule it (most certainly without even watchin 15 mins of it) - in other words trying to put other people off watching it and being their own judge - exactly the same thing as Faux News. Gatekeeping information on an a prori basis, rather than on it's actual content.

I haven't seen the video, so i wouldn't dream commenting on it - like any truly objective person.. problem here is intellect can obscure objectivity on occasions.

Knuckles

10-30-2007, 07:27 AM

lol...

I haven't seen the video, so i wouldn't dream commenting on it - like any truly objective person.. problem here is intellect can obscure objectivity on occasions.

Do you really need to see this (http://www.secretspacedvd.com/) video before mocking it?

Carlos

10-30-2007, 08:09 AM

Knuckles

10-30-2007, 08:30 AM

1 word..

yes

until i see something/read it/ etc i will not lay down a judgement on it's content.. call me old fashioned :p

(by the way i have not checked ur link - and i am in no way condoning or condeming it)

That's not my link. It's an ericg special.

It must be hard living life without a bullshit sensor.

Bob

10-30-2007, 09:08 AM

Eric sure you mean well, and from some of the stuff you have put up u are clearly well informed.

haha, for example?

Carlos

10-30-2007, 09:53 AM

here a little example of being well informed:

President Truman issued an executive order establishing the Psychological Strategy Board. The Board was run by CFR members Gordon Gray and Henry Kissinger. The PSB has close ties to the State Department and Intelligence Organizations. The purpose of the PSB was to co-ordinate psycho-political operations. Many of those operations were focused at Americans. The people became wary of the Psychological Strategy Board. Eisenhower issued an executive order changing its name to the Operations Coordination Board. The OCB was a bigger more powerful PSB. Gray and Kissinger ran the OCB too. President Kennedy abolished the OCB. It became an ad hoc committee called the "Special Group," which exists today. The PSB/OCB/Special Group always has CFR members running and sitting on it. Since the Special Group was not formed by Executive Order it cannot be abolished.

If you want to learn about the CFR, I recommend these two books:

1. How the world REALLY works, by Alan Jones
2. Shadows of Power, by James Perloff

er - are you really trying to say that this shit isn't real? Do you really not understand the power these organisation possess and weild? Proabably not, because of an a priori assumption that "this shit is bullshit..." lol without once puting any real investigation into it.

Bob

10-30-2007, 10:10 AM

here a little example of being well informed:

er - are you really trying to say that this shit isn't real? Do you really not understand the power these organisation possess and weild? Proabably not, because of an a priori assumption that "this shit is bullshit..." lol without once puting any real investigation into it.

that's like, if someone fired a machine gun at a can on full auto, and shot the whole clip, and eventually hit the can, and you said "hey, you're a pretty good shot"

basically what i'm saying is spouting a bunch of crazy bullshit and eventually copying and pasting something that makes sense doesn't make someone well-informed

Carlos

10-30-2007, 11:51 AM

well you obvious haven't followed the thread:

Eric's first few posts were links, his first 'piece' was this (http://beastieboys.com/bbs/showpost.php?p=1522092&postcount=7)
which is what i quoted from, cos i didn't wanna quote the whole lot.. lol. Please tell me what in this post is "...a bunch of crazy bullshit" - as you seem to agree with it in your last post??!!

and the list of names is startling to say the least, and shows quite clearly that Eric is well informed on certain subjects: you can't shoot a gun if you don't know what it is! Doesn't mean you will shoot it well though ;)

now maybe you were talking bout his first few links - which is clear you are judging without even lookin at, just on the subject: and therefore in no way being objective.. which is fine if your that way inclined. But it is like sayin, I don't like you - it means fuck all! It is based on your personal feeling, not on objectivity and reason.

The most annoying thing is that not one person has replied to the actual content in any of the videos Eric has provided - only your apriori assumption of what they entail.
Fair enough if you can't be bothered, cos you have decided it doesn't merit investigation (move on to the next thread) - but what gives you the right to be so fuckin arrogant to try and tell other people not to... stunning self importance.

----

this is a bit of a tangent, but will prove a point: here's a little vid from NASA (http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=6824781342026209092&q=nasa+tether&total=165&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=1) (this was streamed and recorded on VHS direect from NASA's sattelites)
the info on right gives a good background to what is goin on..

now I have no idea what the fuck they are, but it clearly chows there are things in this universe that we are not even close to understanding, and the arrogance of our race is so great that people will be ridiculed if they question the staus quo. The above video is clear evidence that we are not alone (in some form) - some of the objects are clearly over 2miles in diameter: simple physics, as the tether{white stick} is 12 miles long, and we can see the objects passing behind the tether.
Oh and before you lap up the NASA explanation (just cos it suits you, and not due to any scientific reasoning) that it was ice particles, inanimate objects don't swarm, and change direction from each other (if there was a force exerted on them by the shuttle, then they would all move in the same direction)... so to answer Knucles, no i wouldn't right off that link, although the typical Alien branding is a MAJOR turn off.. and my hunch is that it'll be mostly hype and speculation.. but until i watch it then i will hold judgement. Again call me old fashioned but i like to actually judge something for myself, without hysterically jumping on a bandwagon of arrogant psuedo-intellectualism.

Bob

10-30-2007, 12:30 PM

well you obvious haven't followed the thread:

Eric's first few posts were links, his first 'piece' was this (http://beastieboys.com/bbs/showpost.php?p=1522092&postcount=7)
which is what i quoted from, cos i didn't wanna quote the whole lot.. lol. Please tell me what in this post is "...a bunch of crazy bullshit" - as you seem to agree with it in your last post??!!

and the list of names is startling to say the least, and shows quite clearly that Eric is well informed on certain subjects: you can't shoot a gun if you don't know what it is! Doesn't mean you will shoot it well though ;)

now maybe you were talking bout his first few links - which is clear you are judging without even lookin at, just on the subject: and therefore in no way being objective.. which is fine if your that way inclined. But it is like sayin, I don't like you - it means fuck all! It is based on your personal feeling, not on objectivity and reason.

The most annoying thing is that not one person has replied to the actual content in any of the videos Eric has provided - only your apriori assumption of what they entail.
Fair enough if you can't be bothered, cos you have decided it doesn't merit investigation (move on to the next thread) - but what gives you the right to be so fuckin arrogant to try and tell other people not to... stunning self importance.

by "bunch of crazy bullshit" i meant this thread as a whole, not that particular post. i don't care what's in that post, maybe it makes sense, maybe it doesn't, i've dismissed everything ericg has to say on principle already. he's not well-informed, he's a nut, and just because he may occasionally say something that may or may not have some basis on reality (i honestly don't care so i'm not going to bother trying to get into it) doesn't make him well informed.

it's like if there's some nutjob in a sandwich board standing on a street corner, and 99% of what he says is gibberish, and then he occasionally blurts out a truth or two, this is not a well-informed individual, this is a schmuck who believes everything he wants to hear, some of which may or may not incidentally have some credibility or at least may be worth debating. are you going to stand there and hear him out and consider the merits of everything he has to say? you have fun living your life that way, it must be very satisfying

did i tell other people not to investigate what he's saying? if i ever said that i take it back, feel free to spend the required hours to read this post and figure out what the fuck it's about, i won't stop you. i'm just taking offense to the fact that you called ericg a well-informed individual, that's an affront to information. this is the guy who cited david icke without being aware of the lizardman theory. david icke IS the lizard man theory, sure he probably has things to say beyond that, but no well-informed person doesn't know that.

ericg is not a man worth talking to. even you've called him out on his "presentation style", that's what i and everyone else have been trying to do since the thread's beginning. his response? either "fuck you sheeple, i'm not going to connect the dots for you" or beastie boys lyrics. no. ericg is not well informed.

yeahwho

10-30-2007, 02:53 PM

That's not my link. It's an ericg special.

It must be hard living life without a bullshit sensor.

Very astute observation.

Which leads me into this link, "The Real Ring of Power (http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6823272731861659685&q=ring+of+power&total=1384&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=7)" as told from Father to Son.

Knuckles

10-30-2007, 07:31 PM

jumping on a bandwagon of arrogant psuedo-intellectualism.

That made me lol.

Bob

10-30-2007, 09:17 PM

Do you really need to see this (http://www.secretspacedvd.com/) video before mocking it?

hahaha i didn't notice that before

well carlos, for just $35 you can watch SECRET SPACE SPACE VOLUME II: ALIEN INVADERS and evaluate its credibility and get back to us about it, i'm dying to know

and if you could also check out SECRET SPACE VOLUME I: THE ILLUMINATI CONQUEST OF SPACE and THE ILLUMINATI and THE ILLUMINATI VOL. 2: THE ANTICHRIST CONSPIRACY i would really be interested in what noble truths our well-informed friend has uncovered, i just don't have the money right now you see

ericg

10-31-2007, 12:24 AM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8rZxmCejD0

ericg

10-31-2007, 01:26 AM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5ulGiPp0LQ

Hillary Clinton Votes for War Again
Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

Yesterday, by a vote of 76-22, the Senate passed the Kyl-Lieberman amendment in support of military actions against Iran. This is the second such endorsement of the president by a senate majority in just three months. In July, the Lieberman amendment to "confront Iran" passed with the far stronger majority of 97-0.

The original draft of Kyl-Lieberman had asked U.S. forces to "combat, contain, and roll back" the Iranian menace within Iraq. But the words "roll back" were all too plainly a coded endorsement of hot pursuit into Iran; and the senators did not want to go quite so far. To assure a larger majority the language was accordingly trimmed and blurred to say "that it should be the policy of the United States to stop inside Iraq the violent activities and destabilizing influence of the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran, its foreign facilitators such as Lebanese Hezbollah, and its indigenous Iraqi proxies."

The inclusion of Hezbollah deserves some notice. It is part of a larger attempt, already apparent in the Lebanon war of 2006, to manufacture an "amalgam" of all the enemies of Israel and the United States throughout the region, and to treat them all as one enemy. Those who believe in the amalgam will come to agree that many more wars by the United States and Israel are needed to crush this enemy.

More provocative is a secondary detail of the amendment, which received less notice from the mainstream media. Kyl-Lieberman approves the listing of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard of Iran as a "foreign terrorist organization. " Now, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard is the largest branch of the Iranian military. By granting Vice President Cheney's wish (a distant dream in 2005) to put the Iranian guard on the U.S. terrorist list, the Senate has classified the army of Iran as an army of terrorists. The president, therefore, as he follows out the Cheney plan has all the support he requires for asserting in his next speech to an army or veterans group that Iran is a nation of terrorists.

It was said during the Vietnam War that "a dead Vietnamese is a Viet Cong." It will assuage the conscience for U.S. bombers of Iran to know that a dead Iranian is a terrorist. The Senate, by this classification, has absolved the bombers in advance.

Hillary Clinton voted in favor of the Kyl-Lieberman amendment to press the army toward war with Iran. This was an important step, for her, and a vote as closely considered as her vote to authorize the bombing and occupation of Iraq.

Here are the senators who voted against Kyl-Lieberman:

Biden (D-DE) Bingaman (D-NM) Boxer (D-CA) Brown (D-OH) Byrd (D-WV) Cantwell (D-WA) Dodd (D-CT) Feingold (D-WI) Hagel (R-NE) Harkin (D-IA) Inouye (D-HI) Kennedy (D-MA) Kerry (D-MA) Klobuchar (D-MN) Leahy (D-VT) Lincoln (D-AR) Lugar (R-IN) McCaskill (D-MO) Sanders (I-VT) Tester (D-MT) Webb (D-VA) Wyden (D-OR)

John McCain and Barack Obama did not vote.

It is a remarkable fact that the war meditated against Iran, like the war on Iraq, is sought most keenly by a vice president and president who went further than most of their generation to avoid serving their country in Vietnam. The fact becomes the more remarkable in view of the contempt shown by both men for those who did not cheer and avoid, but opposed the Vietnam war by conscientious dissent. The same is true across the range of non-combatant neoconservative war architects and propagandists. Psychological compensation of an astonishing kind (to say no more) is at work in this display of rashness disguised as courage in the later careers of our war leaders behind the lines. For several years now, the mainstream press and media have said as little as possible about it.

Two votes against Kyl-Lieberman were issued from veterans with considerable experience and firsthand knowledge of war, Chuck Hagel and Jim Webb. If these two men were now to sharpen their dissidence, if they could make their reasons articulate and see the present as a time that calls them to the sustained work of opposition-- we might have the beginnings of a potent resistance which will never come from Harry Reid.

What of the absence of Barack Obama? In a speech in Iowa on September 12, he addressed by anticipation the matter before the Senate in Kyl-Lieberman: "We hear eerie echoes of the run-up to the war in Iraq in the way that the President and Vice President talk about Iran. They conflate Iran and al Qaeda. They issue veiled threats. They suggest that the time for diplomacy and pressure is running out when we haven't even tried direct diplomacy. Well George Bush and Dick Cheney must hear--loud and clear--from the American people and the Congress: you don't have our support, and you don't have our authorization for another war."

It is baffling that a man who spoke those words two weeks ago could not find the time or the resolve to cast his vote in a conspicuous test for authorizing war on Iran. This seems to be one more demonstration of Obama's tendency never to take a step forward without a step to the side. As for his own message about Iran, it has not been "loud and clear," but muffled, wavering, experimental.

With Hillary Clinton, we know where we stand. Yesterday she voted to bring the country a serious step closer to war against Iran. And she did so for the same reason that she voted to authorize the war on Iraq. She thinks the next war is going to happen. She hopes the worst of its short-term effects on America will have died down before the election. She suspects the media and voters will show more trust for a candidate who supported than for one who opposed the war. She wants a ponderous establishment of American troops and super-bases to remain in the Middle East for years to come. If she wins the presidency, she will inherit the command of that army and those bases, and she believes she can manage their affairs more prudently than George W. Bush.

Hillary Clinton is consistent. Every move is calculated, her actual intentions are masked, but the total drift is easy to comprehend. It is not so with Obama. How can he expect anyone to back a man who will not back himself?

U.S. Undermines Non-nuclear Treaty
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/171065_nuclear29.html

ericg

10-31-2007, 02:21 AM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8rZxmCejD0

ericg

10-31-2007, 02:21 AM

One in Ten Schools Are "Dropout Factories"
The Associated Press

Go to Original

Washington - It's a nickname no principal could be proud of: "Dropout Factory," a high school where no more than 60 percent of the students who start as freshmen make it to their senior year. That dubious distinction applies to more than one in 10 high schools across America.

"If you're born in a neighborhood or town where the only high school is one where graduation is not the norm, how is this living in the land of equal opportunity?" asks Bob Balfanz, the researcher at Johns Hopkins University who defines such a school as a "dropout factory."

There are about 1,700 regular or vocational high schools nationwide that fit that description, according to an analysis of Education Department data conducted by Johns Hopkins for The Associated Press. That's 12 percent of all such schools, no more than a decade ago but no less, either.

While some of the missing students transferred, most dropped out, Balfanz says. The data tracked senior classes for three years in a row - 2004, 2005 and 2006 - to make sure local events like plant closures weren't to blame for the low retention rates.

The highest concentration of dropout factories is in large cities or high-poverty rural areas in the South and Southwest. Most have high proportions of minority students. These schools are tougher to turn around, because their students face challenges well beyond the academic ones - the need to work as well as go to school, for example, or a need for social services.

Utah, which has low poverty rates and fewer minorities than most states, is the only state without a dropout factory. Florida and South Carolina have the highest percentages. About half of high schools in those states classify as dropout factories.

"Part of the problem we've had here is we live in a state that culturally and traditionally has not valued a high school education," said Jim Foster, a spokesman for South Carolina's Department of Education. He noted that South Carolina residents once could get good jobs in textile mills without a high school degree, but that those jobs are now much harder to come by.

Federal lawmakers haven't focused much attention on the problem. The No Child Left Behind education law, for example, pays much more attention to educating younger students. But that appears to be changing.

House and Senate proposals to renew the five-year-old No Child law would give high schools more federal money and put more pressure on them to improve, and the Bush administration supports the idea.

The current law imposes serious consequences on schools that report low scores on math and reading tests, such as having to replace teachers or principals, but it lacks the same kind of teeth when it comes to graduation rates.

Nationally, about 70 percent of U.S. students graduate on time with a regular diploma. For Hispanic and black students, the proportion drops to about half.

The legislative proposals would:

- Make sure schools report their graduation rates by racial, ethnic and other subgroups and are judged on those. That's to ensure schools aren't just graduating white students in high numbers, but also are working to ensure minority students get diplomas.

- Get states to build data systems to keep track of students throughout their school years and more accurately measure graduation and dropout rates.

- Ensure states count graduation rates in a uniform way. States have used a variety of formulas, including counting the percentage of entering seniors who get a diploma. That measurement ignores the fact that kids who drop out typically do so before their senior year.

- Create strong progress goals for graduation rates and impose sanctions on schools that miss them. Most states currently lack meaningful goals, according to The Education Trust, a nonprofit that advocates for poor and minority children.

The current law requires testing in reading and math once in high school, and those tests take on added importance because of serious consequences for a school that fails. Critics say that creates a perverse incentive for schools to encourage kids to drop out before they bring down a school's scores.

"The vast majority of educators do not want to push out kids, but the pressures to raise test scores above all else are intense," said Bethany Little, vice president for policy at the Alliance for Excellent Education, an advocacy group focused on high schools. "To know if a high school is doing its job, we need to consider test scores and graduation rates equally."

Little said some students pushed out of high schools are encouraged to enroll in programs that prepare them to take the GED exam. People who pass that test get certificates indicating they have high-school level academic skills. But the research shows getting a GED doesn't lead to the kind of job or college success associated with a regular diploma.

Loretta Singletary, 17, enrolled in a GED program after dropping out of a Washington, D.C., high school that she describes as huge, chaotic and violent. "Girls got jumped, boys got jumped, teachers (were) fighting and hitting students," she said.

She said teachers had low expectations for students, which led to dull classes. "They were teaching me stuff I already knew ... basic nouns, simple adjectives."

Singletary said she loved science but wasn't offered it and her complaints to administrators went unanswered. "I was interested in experiments," she said. "I didn't have science in 9th or 10th grade."

A GED classmate of Singletary's is 23-year-old Dontike Miller, who attended and left two D.C. high schools on the dropout factory list. Miller was brought up by a single mother who used drugs, and he said teachers and counselors seemed oblivious to what was going on in his life.

He would have liked for someone to sit him down and say: "You really need to go to class. We're going to work with you. We're going to help you," Miller said. Instead, "I had nobody."

Teachers and administrators at Baltimore Talent Development High School, where 90 percent of kids are on track toward graduating on time, are working hard to make sure students don't have an experience like Miller's.

The school, which sits in the middle of a high-crime, impoverished neighborhood two miles west of downtown Baltimore, was founded by Balfanz and others four years ago as a laboratory for getting kids out on time with a diploma and ready for college.

Teachers, students and administrators at the school know each other well.

"I know teachers that have knocked on people's doors. They want us to succeed," 12th-grader Jasmine Coleman said during a lunchtime chat in the cafeteria.

Fellow senior Victoria Haynes says she likes the way the school organizes teachers in teams of four, each assigned to a group of 75 students. The teachers work across subject areas; English and math teachers, for example, collaborate on lessons and discuss individual students' needs.

"They all concentrate on what's best for us together," Haynes said. "It's very family-oriented. We feel really close to them."

Teachers, too, say it works.

"I know the students a lot better, because I know the teachers who teach them," said 10th-grade English teacher Jenni Williams. "Everyone's on the same page, so it's not like you're alone in your mission."

That mission can be daunting. The majority of students who enter Baltimore Talent Development in 9th grade are reading at a 5th or 6th grade level.

To get caught up, students have 80-minute lessons in reading and math, instead of the typical 45 minutes. They also get additional time with specialists if needed.

The fact that youths are entering high schools with such poor literacy skills raises questions about how much catch-up work high schools can be expected to do, say some high-school principals.

"We're at the end of the process," says Mel Riddile, principal of T.C. Williams High School, a large public school in Alexandria, Va., which is not on the dropout factory list. "People don't walk into 9th grade and suddenly have a reading problem."

ericg

10-31-2007, 02:22 AM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FnkdfFAqsHA

ericg

10-31-2007, 05:48 PM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PpMdTmVMpo

ericg

10-31-2007, 07:34 PM

http://www.worldhealth.net/p/the-radiation-poisoning-of-america.html

ericg

10-31-2007, 07:37 PM

Bill HR 1955 has already passed the house.
Now It's in the senate. S. 1959

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/vote.xpd?vote=h2007-993
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=s110-1959

Let them know - NOOOOO.

ericg

10-31-2007, 07:38 PM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBm9ZyIg3I0

ericg

10-31-2007, 07:45 PM

How to Help Sherry Peel Jackson RIGHT NOW!!! - former irs agent from "America freedom to fascism"
Body: For those that don't know, SPJ is a former IRS agent who realized there was truly no legal requirement for citizens to pay taxes, and has recently gone to trial for not filing tax returns. Just yesterday the Jury, apparently uneducated and ignorant to the whole situation, found SPJ guilty of four counts of Willful Failure To File!!! What a horrible thing as she has been such a great fighter for Truth and Freedom for all of us. She sent an email blitz out today to the effect that an outpouring of positive support letters to the judge may help to sway the decision in sentencing, or even cause the judge to throw the case out! It's a longshot but a possibility, so if you reading this right now could take just a few moments and a stamp to send out either an original plea letter or one listed below, it could really make a difference!!!

Remember, keep it only positive and supporting, as any negativity or harsh words will surely screw her over.

Thank You.

From Sherry Jackson Peel

I was found guilty.

I am still in shock but we must move on. I was told by a friend that has a sister that works in the courts that people can flood the judge with letters about me and how they feel about me in order to try and get a reduced sentence. I don’t know if it is true or not, but if you want to write the judge please just talk about how you feel about me and my beliefs. Please don’t put any arguments or negative comments in the letter. This will surely hurt me if you do that. The judge is The Honorable Orinda Evans, United States District Court, Northern District of Georgia, 75 Spring Street, Atlanta, Georgia 30303.

SAMPLE

Your Name

Your Address

October 31, 2007

Honorable Orinda Evans

United States District Courthouse

75 Spring Street

Room 1988

Atlanta, GA 30303

RE: The United States v. Sherry Peel Jackson

CASE NO: 1:07-CR-108

Dear Judge Evans,

I am writing on behalf of the above-referenced the case.

(here is my suggestion--but change the words a bit so they aren't getting carbon copies.)

I am shocked to hear of Sherry Jackson even being charged with a crime. She has been an upstanding citizen in every way possible and is of the highest character possible. She did extensive research and learned the truth about our tax system and has shared that truth with everyone. I don't think telling the truth is a crime. If she were dishonest, she would have let it stay covered up and hidden when she found out. But she isn't.

This is a travesty of justice for her to be punished for wanting to know the truth and share it with others. I thought this was America, not Communist China or Russia.

The IRS was able to stop her, and that is a crime in itself, to cover up the truth about what they are doing. But it doesn't have to go further with laying punishment on someone who deserves a medal. In the name of all that's good and right, I pray that you will make her sentence the least possible available.

I thank you for your consideration of her good character and that she was only trying to correct a wrong that she discovered. Republican Senator Ron Paul from Texas also knows the truth about the IRS and that is why, as a Presidential candidate, he is trying to eliminate this illegal and immoral institution that acts outside and above the law, as part of his campaign.

Sincerely,

"Cowardice asks the question: is it safe? Expediency asks the question: is it political? Vanity asks the question: is it popular? But conscience asks the question: is it right? And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor political, nor popular - but one must take it simply because it is right." Martin Luther King, Jr.

"I had reasoned this out in my mind, there was one of two things I had a right to, liberty or death; if I could not have one, I would have the other." Harriet Tubman

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1656880303867390173

ericg

10-31-2007, 07:48 PM

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4675077383139148549
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4430543376785758889

ericg

10-31-2007, 07:50 PM

http://www.sprword.com/mustwatch.html

ericg

10-31-2007, 11:01 PM

OpEdNews
Original Content at http://www.opednews.com/articles/genera_dave_lin_071031_the_air_force_cover_.htm

October 31, 2007
The Air Force Cover-Up of that Minot-Barksdale Nuclear Missile Flight
By Dave Lindorff

“It makes the hair stand up on the back of my neck.”
---Pentagon official

There is something deeply disturbing about the Air Force’s official report on the Aug-29-30 “bent spear” incident that saw six nuclear warheads get mounted on six Advanced Cruise Missiles and improperly removed from a nuclear weapons storage bunker at Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota, then get improperly loaded on a B-52, and then get improperly flown to Barksdale AFB in Louisiana—a report that attributed the whole thing to a “mistake.”

According to the Air Force report, some Air Force personnel mounted the warheads on the missiles (which are obsolete and slated for destruction), and another ground crew, allegedly not aware that the missiles were armed with nukes, moved them out and mounted them on a launch pylon on the B-52’s wing for a flight to Barksdale and eventual dismantling. Only on the ground at Barksdale did ground crew personnel spot the nukes according to the report. (Six other missiles with dummy warheads were mounted on a pylon on the other wing of the plane.)

The problem with this explanation for the first reported case of nukes being removed from a weapons bunker without authorization in 50 years of nuclear weapons, is that those warheads, and all nuclear warheads in the US stockpile, are supposedly protected against unauthorized transport or removal from bunkers by electronic antitheft systems—automated alarms similar to those used by department stores to prevent theft, and even anti-motion sensors that go off if a weapon is touched or approached without authorization.

While the Air Force report doesn’t mention any of this, what it means is that if weapons in a storage bunker are protected against unauthorized removal, someone—and actually at least two people, since it’s long been a basic part of nuclear security that every action involving a nuclear weapon has to be done by two people working in tandem—had to deliberately and consciously disable those alarms.

Since the Air Force report does not explain how this hurdle to unauthorized removal of the six nukes could have been surmounted by “mistake,” the report has to be considered a whitewash, at best, or a cover-up.

That leaves us speculating about what actually happened, and about who might have authorized the removal of those nukes from storage, and why the Defense Department would be covering up the true story. We know that the loading of nuclear-armed missiles or bombs onto an American bomber has been barred since 1991, even for practice and training purposes. We know also that the carrying of nuclear weapons by bombers flying over US airspace has been banned for 40 years. So if the evidence suggests strongly that the removal of the nukes from the bunker was done intentionally and with some kind of authorization from higher authorities, then the loading of nukes onto the plane, and the flight of those nukes to Barksdale have to also be assumed to have been authorized.

This possibility has been dismissed out of hand by the Air Force and Defense Department. The very idea is, in fact, not even discussed in the Air force report released in mid-October.

Yet we are left with the unresolved question of how the weapons could have been moved out of the bunker accidentally.

The Air Force has not been forthcoming about the automated alarm protections on American nuclear weapons, refusing to confirm or deny that they even exist. But we can know that they are in place for several reasons. One is that since writing about this incident in ghd current edition of American Conservative Magazine ("The Mystery of Minot," Oct. 24, 2007 ed.) and in several online venues, I have been contacted by several active-duty and retired military people who have assured me that such electronic protections are in place. A second is that an article in the Oct. 31 issue of the New York Times, reporting on the early completion of a project by the National Nuclear Security Administration, to secure Russian nuclear weapons, said that the measures implemented at 25 classified sites on 12 Russian nuclear bases included “measures that have long been part of American efforts” to secure nuclear weapons, and that these included “alarm and motion detection systems,” as well as “modern gates, guard houses and fighting positions, “ and also “detectors for explosives, radiation and metal.”

Ask yourselves, would American nuclear weapons be equipped with lesser security systems than those that the NNSA is providing for Russian weapons?

Of course not!

And yet we’re asked to believe that some low-ranking ground crew personnel at Minot AFB simply walked out of a nuclear weapons bunker with six nuclear armed Advanced Cruise Missiles, not knowing what they were carrying, and labored for eight hours to mount those missiles and their launch pylon on the wing of a B-52 strategic bomber without ever noticing that they were armed with nuclear weapons. We’re asked to believe that none of those electronic alarms and motion sensors built into the system went off during that whole process.

When I mentioned the automated alarm and motion sensors to Lt. Col. Jennifer Cassidy, a public affairs person at the Department of the Air Force, and asked her how the movement of the six nukes could have occurred without those alarms being disabled, she said, “It’s an intriguing question, and it makes the hair stand up on the back of my neck.”

As it should.

So why isn’t it making the hair stand up on the back of the necks of members of Congress?

Incredibly, to date, there has been no demand for public hearings into this frightening incident.

Congress appears ready and willing to accept the Air Force whitewash at face value: It was an accident. It won’t happen again.

That is not good enough!

We need honest answers to some hard questions. Among them:

* Who disabled the alarm systems on those weapons and on the bunker itself?

* Who mounted six nuclear weapons on the noses of six cruise missiles and put those missiles onto a B-52 launch platform?

* Who authorized them to perform this operation?

* Who moved the armed weapons out of the Bunker at Minot AFB and mounted them on the wing of a B-52 bound for Barksdale AFB? (Barksdale, it should be noted, bills itself as the main staging base for B-52s being flown to the Middle East Theater.)

* Were the six missiles flyable? Were they fueled up and ready to fire, or were they not fueled at the time of the Minot-Barksdale flight?

* Was there targeting information in the missile’s guidance computers and if so, what were those targets?

* What happened to the three military whistleblowers who blew the whistle on this incident and reported it to a journalist at the newspaper Military Times?

* Why hasn’t the Air Force or the FBI investigated the 6-8 untimely deaths including three alleged suicides, one of a Minot weapons guard, one of an assistant defense secretary, and one of a captain in the super-secret Air Force Special Commando Group, as well as alleged fatal vehicle “accidents” involving four ground crew and B-52 pilots and crewmembers at Minot and Barksdale? Could any of this strange cluster of deaths have been related to the incident? The Air Force “investigation” didn’t even mention these incidents, and my investigation, reported in the Oct. 24 issue of the magazine American Conservative ("The Mystery of Minot", Oct. 24, 2007 issue), found that none of the police investigators or medical examiners in those incidents had even been contacted by Air Force or other federal investigators.

The Secretary of Defense appears to have been upset about this incident. Secretary Robert Gates ordered an unprecedented stand-down of all air bases in mid-September to check out and account for the entire nuclear inventory, and a general was dispatched immediately to Minot after the discovery of the wayward nukes on August 30 to investigate what had happened. Following a subsequent Air Force investigation, 70 people at Minot and Barksdale AFBs were removed from their posts and decertified from handling nuclear weapons, including five officers, one of them the Minot base commander.

* But a base commander does not have the authority to order nuclear weapons to be loaded on a plane and flown. So who issued that order and why has no one at a senior level in Washington been sacked?

There is speculation that the order may have come via an alternate chain of command.

Vice President Dick Cheney is known to be pressing within the administration for a war with Iran, to be launched before the end President Bush’s second term of office. According to some reports, Cheney has even, on his own authority (or lack thereof), urged Israel to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities, in hopes that Iran might retaliate, thus drawing the US into a war.

Could the nation’s war-mongering VP have used his neo-con contacts in the Defense Department or some of the Armageddon-believers in the Air Force to bypass the official chain of command and spring those nukes from their bunker?

Was there a plan to use one or more of those nukes—W80-1 warheads that can be calibrated to detonate with an explosive power ranging anywhere from 150 kilotons down to just 5 kilotons—against Iran? The Advanced Cruise Missile, a stealth weapon almost impossible to spot on radar, is designed to be launched from a remote location by a B-52, and then to fly close to the ground to its target, using terrain maps and GPS guidance. It is also designed to penetrate hardened sites, such as Iran’s nuclear processing and research facilities.

Or was there a plan for a so-called “false-flag incident, “where a small nuke—made to resemble a primitive weapon of the type a fledgling nuclear power might construct—might be detonated at a US target abroad, or even within the US?

These are terrible and terrifying questions to have to ask, but when you have six nuclear weapons go missing, when the military investigation into the incident is so clearly a whitewash or cover-up, and when you have a vice president who is openly pressing for an illegal war of aggression against a nation that poses no threat to the US, and who, in fact, appears to be conducting his own treacherous foreign policy behind the back of the president and the State Department, they are questions that must be asked, and that demand answers.

In a couple of weeks, Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, is planning on calling for a Privilege of the House vote in Congress on moving his Cheney impeachment bill (H Res. 333) to a hearing in the House Judiciary Committee, where it has been stalled by House Democratic leaders since being filed last April 24. Such a hearing should demand answers from the vice president and his staff about his treasonous efforts to push the country into yet another war in the Middle East. It should also grill Air Force personnel about the true nature of the Minot nuclear incident.

Every member of the House of Representatives should have to take a stand on this issue.

The Democratic House leadership, under Speaker Nancy Pelosi, can be expected to try to table Kucinich’s privilege motion, which would prevent such a vote.

Americans should demand that Pelosi and other Democratic leaders let Kucinich’s privilege motion go forward, and should insist that every member of Congress put their position on the line. Every American should demand that their representative to Congress support the start of impeachment hearings on Vice President Cheney.

We need to know if the Vice President’s office was behind the flight of those six warheads.

We need to know in what other treasonous, conspiratorial actions the Vice President has been engaged in his unremitting effort to expand the war from Iraq and Afghanistan into Iran.
_________________
DAVE LINDORFF is a Philadelphia-based investigative reporter and political columnist. His latest book, co-authored by Barbara Olshansky, is “The Case for Impeachment” (St. Martin’s Press, 2006). His work is available at www.thiscantbehappening.net

Authors Website: http://www.thiscantbehappening.net

Authors Bio: Dave Lindorff, a columnist for Counterpunch, is author of several recent books ("This Can't Be Happening! Resisting the Disintegration of American Democracy" and "Killing Time: An Investigation into the Death Penalty Case of Mumia Abu-Jamal"). His latest book, coauthored with Barbara Olshanshky, is "The Case for Impeachment: The Legal Argument for Removing President George W. Bush from Office (St. Martin's Press, May 2006). His writing is available at http://www.thiscantbehappening.net

ericg

11-01-2007, 12:02 AM

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2500924140588760933

Carlos

11-02-2007, 05:26 PM

lol.. eric don't take offence bud... but you come accross like one of those crazy guys with a sandwich baord on a street corner.. even I who I'm sure would find some of you links interesting have no desire to check them - it's a real turn off to just spam links and large text.

trust me, you need to do a lot bette than that if you are trying to convince anyone of anything.

However I think I have found a video that kinda sums up this thread: goes over a wide area, whilst keeping to a tight train of thought. From how christianity has been used as a tool for manipulation, to current mechanisms used by the banks. Whilst also having a very tight section on 911. Was shown last month at a major US film festival.
Seriously, a must for any free thinking person (at least watch it, watching something does not mean you automatically endorse it) Bob it should help you understand at least what eric i trying to get at (at least from what i can make out :D )

Zeitgeist the Movie (http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=5547481422995115331&q=zeitgeist&total=1769&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=0)

Lyman Zerga

11-02-2007, 05:34 PM

by "bunch of crazy bullshit" i meant this thread as a whole, not that particular post. i don't care what's in that post, maybe it makes sense, maybe it doesn't, i've dismissed everything ericg has to say on principle already. he's not well-informed, he's a nut, and just because he may occasionally say something that may or may not have some basis on reality (i honestly don't care so i'm not going to bother trying to get into it) doesn't make him well informed.

it's like if there's some nutjob in a sandwich board standing on a street corner, and 99% of what he says is gibberish, and then he occasionally blurts out a truth or two, this is not a well-informed individual, this is a schmuck who believes everything he wants to hear, some of which may or may not incidentally have some credibility or at least may be worth debating. are you going to stand there and hear him out and consider the merits of everything he has to say? you have fun living your life that way, it must be very satisfying

did i tell other people not to investigate what he's saying? if i ever said that i take it back, feel free to spend the required hours to read this post and figure out what the fuck it's about, i won't stop you. i'm just taking offense to the fact that you called ericg a well-informed individual, that's an affront to information. this is the guy who cited david icke without being aware of the lizardman theory. david icke IS the lizard man theory, sure he probably has things to say beyond that, but no well-informed person doesn't know that.

ericg is not a man worth talking to. even you've called him out on his "presentation style", that's what i and everyone else have been trying to do since the thread's beginning. his response? either "fuck you sheeple, i'm not going to connect the dots for you" or beastie boys lyrics. no. ericg is not well informed.

bob, you turn me on

ericg

11-02-2007, 09:45 PM

".. or are ya thirsty for more?"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpkSeVgvA0o
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-QcTOjLaKc
http://www.youtube.com/?v=-ol-0c5M3aE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_vOfkQ7zAI

ericg

11-02-2007, 10:10 PM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzNTRwxlRKg

ericg

11-03-2007, 06:35 AM

Behind the Facade of Incompetence

By Charles Sullivan

11/02/07 "ICH" -- -- It is clear that the US media moguls would have us believe that the catastrophic invasion and occupation of Iraq was a sincere effort to promote freedom and democracy in the Middle East, gone awry. But we must remember that everything associated with capitalism is about marketing: making the people believe that things and events are the opposite of what they really are, and creating artificial wants that neither benefit the individual nor society, while simultaneously embellishing corporate profits.

This understanding would have been equally evident in the mainstream media's buildup to the war had we a less propagandized, better read, and more informed citizenry. Even the politically naïve should have known that Saddam Hussein's threat to the US, so vividly hyped in the media, was pure marketing propaganda.

But the majority of the people bought it, and now we have no choice but to live with our purchase. Short of a major social upheaval, we are going to be in Iraq for a very long time, and the death toll will continue to rise, especially for the Iraqis—the unwilling recipients of our corporate benevolence delivered through carpet bombs, terror, and torture. For these are the undeniable legacy of our foreign policies, and the illegal, amoral, acquisition of property by blunt force trauma.

If we are to survive as a republic, we must appreciate that capitalism and its cousin, global corporatism—not Saddam Hussein, not Communism or Socialism, nor Islamic terrorists, are the greatest threats to democracy. Zionism and Christian fundamentalism, which attempt to provide the flimsy moral basis for our Middle East policy, also pose significant obstacles to world peace by denying justice to others and promoting ethnic cleansing.

It is beguiling that we have yet to learn this fundamental lesson, that we know so little about our own history, and the role that mass ignorance plays in determining the future.

The narcotic of state sponsored propaganda has a powerful and hypnotic effect on our collective senses, and it is rending asunder the fabric of what is supposed to be a free and civil society. We believe what we are told and accept what we are given, without demanding truth, justice or accountability.

It is imperative for the purveyors of war to maintain a cloak of secrecy and a façade of public support where, if the truth were known, none would exist. It is necessary to keep the truth concealed in order to throw the public off the scent of the corruption that is the guiding principle of corporate governance and plutocracy, fomented by morally bankrupt men and women; a system that causes irreparable harm and suffering to its innocent victims and then profits from the misery and suffering it inflicts.

These days it is popular to describe the events occurring in Iraq as the result of incompetence, mismanagement, miscalculation, and benevolent bungling; to characterize them as a well intentioned mistake on the road to freedom and democracy, rather than the moral abomination they are. What we have in Iraq is not the result of any of these phenomena. It is the intended consequence of cold calculation to bomb Iraq into submission, to thoroughly disorient its people, and to apply economic shock therapy before they can recognize what is being done to them.

The intent is to invade sovereign nations either militarily, economically, or both; and to force unbridled capitalism on them. This means, of course, that we must first overthrow the existing governments—many of them democracies, and replace them with ruthless dictatorships willing to betray their own people, and amenable to opening up their countries to corporate exploitation and privatization.

So called free market capitalism requires corrupt leadership on the receiving end that is willing to accept bribes while becoming a puppet to the US. This is how some of the must brutal regimes in the world came into power. Corporate America is always beating the drums of war in search of profits and ever increasing shares of the world's markets. Enough is never enough—they want it all.

Aside from overthrowing popularly elected governments, the unspoken objective of mature capitalism, guided by the doctrine of economic shock therapy, is to turn once sovereign nations into totally deregulated corporate states, answerable to no one.

This objective will be accomplished by privatizing the nationalized infrastructure, inviting in foreign investors, removing tariffs that protect local business and cooperatives from predatory multinational corporations, and downsizing the workforce; by eliminating social spending, and removing all forms of corporate controls. In short, by conducting a fire sale of each nation's stolen assets and auctioning them off at bargain basement prices to wealthy multinational investors.

The intent is to create an unfettered corporate state in which the market, driven solely by profit, is the final arbiter of all things; an Orwellian world in which human rights, labor laws, environmental protections, and social justice do not even exist, much less enter into market equations.

Aided by the World Bank and the IMF, we are rapidly arriving at a state of global corporate fascism—the free market reform of manic capitalism, greed on steroids; a horrible economic monster unleashed upon unsuspecting people the world over, masquerading as democracy and free trade. And it is occurring in blatant contradiction to everything that is free, decent, and fair; a monstrosity utterly devoid of humanity and empathy for those struggling to survive.

But behind the marketing façade of a beneficent capitalism that is more oxymoronic than real, the skeleton of Reaganism, free marketry, and trickle down economics is exposed for all to see. We are witnessing naked greed unleashed upon the world like a swarm of locusts the size of North America. The fabulously wealthy are realizing obscene profits, while the majority of the world's people are forced into economic servitude, many of them living in abject poverty, scratching out a bleak existence on sweatshop wages under horrendous conditions.

Economic slavery and burdensome debt, not freedom and democracy, is what we are imposing upon Iraq, aided by the most powerful military in history and, all too often, with the blessings of an oblivious and propagandized citizenry. Aside from the fierce resistance to the occupation, the US is achieving all of its major objectives in Iraq.

Like flies circling piles of stinking excrement, the lords of unfettered capitalism are buzzing around the bloated corpse of what is left of the world. And they have no intentions of stopping at Iraq. Iran and Syria are waiting in the wings: war that will not end in our lifetime.

If the world were as enamored with capitalism as its adherents proclaim, there would be no need to masquerade it as anything other than what it is—economic self interest for the privileged, driven by insatiable greed, funded by the public treasure. There would be no need to impose it on the world through high tech militarism and occupation, preceded by elaborate propagandistic media blitzes and tricks. All people would seek it out, as they seek water to slake their thirst and nourishment for their bodies.

So we must ask ourselves: When has it ever been in the pubic interest to over feed the rich and starve the poor? When has it ever been in the public interest to destroy the earth for the sake of profits? When has it ever been in the public interest to promote war and injustice over peace and shared prosperity?

Just people everywhere must resist evil or run the risk of being complicit in it. Neutrality, indifference and apathy, are untenable responses to what is being done in our name. Somehow, we must awaken from this media induced cultural stupor. We must do so under the prying eyes of government and private security contractors who are protecting corporate investors from democracy, and from people like us. Each of us is being diminished just as the Declaration of Independence states: "harass our people and eat out their substance."

Every citizen is faced with a simple choice: organize or perish. The storm clouds of World War Three are looming on the horizon. These are extraordinary times that demand something from every one of us.

Charles Sullivan is a nature photographer, free-lance writer, and community activist residing in the Ridge and Valley Province of geopolitical West Virginia. He welcomes your comments at csullivan@phreego.com .