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How private firms have cashed in on the climate of fear since 9/11

Paul Harris
Guardian
Mon, 05 Sep 2011 20:05 UTC
A US homeland security helicopter
© US Coast Guard/AFP/Getty Images
A US homeland security helicopter patrol over New York in 2003.

The past ten years have seen the growth of a national security industrial complex that melds government and business

Charles Smith always enjoyed visiting US troops aboard. Though a civilian, he had worked for the army for decades, helping to run logistical operations from the Rock Island arsenal near Davenport, Iowa.

He helped keep troops supplied, and on trips to Iraq made a point of sitting down with soldiers in mess halls. "I would always ask them: what are we doing for you?" Smith told the Guardian.

Smith eventually got oversight of a multibillion-dollar contract the military had struck with private firm KBR, then part of the Halliburton empire, to supply US soldiers in Iraq. But, by 2004, he noticed problems: KBR could not account for a staggering $1bn (£620m) of spending.
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Gear

Sarah Palin 'Big Announcement' Flakes Out

William Browning
Yahoo News! Contributor Network
Sun, 04 Sep 2011 00:00 UTC
Image
© Associated Press/Charlie Neibergall
Timothy Jacques of Bellvue, Nebraska, stands in the rain while waiting for former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to speak to Tea Party members during the Restoring America event, Saturday, Sept. 3, 2011, in Indianola, Iowa.
For all the tea party supporters who showed up in Iowa to hear what Fox News called a "major announcement" from Sarah Palin, perhaps her message should have been "psych." Palin spent a majority of her 40-minute speech thrashing the current administration for its policies and little else.

Only about 2,000 people showed up to hear a Tea Party of America public figure speak about how bad things are in America. At the Restoring America event, Palin said many things she would do. Bloomberg reports Palin wouldn't approve any bailouts yet get rid of corporate income taxes. The former governor of Alaska also said the tea party has been "mocked."

One thing Palin didn't say was whether or not she was running for president. Despite many signs in the crowd saying "Run Sarah, Run" she was coy about her political ambitions. The night before her speech, Palin said she could see more room for candidates yet she liked the current field running in the GOP primaries for 2012.
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Light Saber

Stuxnet, EPIC FAIL: Iranian nuclear power station begins generating electricity


The Guardian
Sun, 04 Sep 2011 17:02 UTC
Image
© Bagher Nasir/AP
The reactor building of Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant, 750 miles south of Tehran.
Long-delayed Bushehr plant joins national grid, according to state TV

Iran's first nuclear power plant has started adding electricity to the national grid after years of delays, according to the state news agency.

"The Bushehr nuclear power plant joined the national grid on Saturday at 11.29pm (6.59pm GMT) with the power of around 60 megawatts (MW)," the Isna news agency said.

Hamid-Khadem Qaemi, a spokesman for the country's Atomic Energy Organisation, told Iran's Arabic TV station al-Alam that the plant would be officially inaugurated by 12 September, by which time it would be operating at 40% capacity. The agency was not immediately available to comment.

The $1bn (£616m), 1,000MW plant on the Gulf coast is the first of what Iran hopes will become a network of nuclear facilities that will reduce its reliance on its abundant fossil fuels.
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Coffee

He Who Gets Slapped: The Progressive Perpetuation of Past and Present Evil

Chris Floyd
Empire Burlesque
Sun, 04 Sep 2011 15:56 UTC
iraq isahaqi massacre,
© 9q9q.com
Five years ago, I wrote several articles about a horrific massacre of Iraqi civilians in Ishaqi. Credible evidence and eyewitness testimony indicated that American soldiers, in the course of a raid, had executed unarmed civilians -- including several small children -- then called in an airstrike to destroy the house, and the evidence of these murders.

At the time, these articles were criticized by some for putting the "worst case" construction on the evidence. After all, in the "fog of war" -- that clapped-out rhetorical trope which has hidden a multitude of sins down through the years -- who could know what really happened? Yeah, some mistakes might or might not have been made -- crossfire, collateral damage, etc. -- but surely no one could believe that American soldiers would deliberately do such a thing. My take -- and that of this blog's co-founder, Rich Kastelein, who put together a devastating flash film on the incident -- was just the usual overblown, knee-jerk, anti-war hissy fit, etc.

But thanks to a recent WikiLeaks revelation, we now know that at least two other groups of knee-jerk, anti-war freaks were also pursuing the "worst-case" interpretation of the massacre: UN investigators, who delivered a detailed report on the evidence to the American occupation forces -- and the invaders themselves. It turns out that American authorities regarded the UN evidence very seriously; so seriously that they took immediate, decisive action .... to cover it all up.
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Cowboy Hat

UK: Bosses' Bonuses Up by 187% Since 2002


BBC News
Mon, 05 Sep 2011 15:23 UTC
Bank notes

The Commission says complicated bonus structures can mask real rises in pay
Average bonuses for directors of FTSE 350 companies have risen by 187% since 2002, without a corresponding rise in share prices, new research suggests.

The High Pay Commission said on Monday that average annual bonuses were worth 48% of salary in 2002, but are now 90%.

Commission chairman Deborah Hargreaves said it was a "myth" that big bonuses meant companies performed better.
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Bell

Gerald Celente: Economy is Going to Get Much Worse


RTAmerica
Sat, 03 Sep 2011 15:19 UTC
A recent report reveals that the US created zero new jobs last month. The last time this happened was in 1945.


The unemployment rate is still at 9.1% and projected numbers for the next year show the average unemployment rate at about 9%. With these numbers, many Americans question if President Obama's jobs creation plan, due to be unveiled next week, will have any effect on the economy. Gerald Celente, director at Trends Research Institute, helps us peer into the future.
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Vader

Cheney: US Different if Hillary Clinton President


The Associated Press
Sun, 04 Sep 2011 00:00 UTC
Image
© The Associated Press / Richard Drew
Former Vice President Dick Cheney, left, is interviewed on the Fox & friends television program, about his book in My Time, in New York Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2011.
Hillary Rodham Clinton isn't president, but Dick Cheney says that if she were in the White House rather than Barack Obama, then things might be different today in the country.

Cheney isn't getting into specifics, but he does think that "perhaps she might have been easier for some of us who are critics of the president to work with."

The former vice president tells Fox News Sunday that it's his sense that the secretary of state is "one of the more competent members" of the Obama administration and it would be "interesting to speculate" about how she would have performed as president.

Clinton lost the 2008 Democratic nomination to Obama, who went on to beat Republican John McCain in the general election. Obama named Clinton as the country's top diplomat.
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Binoculars

Tony Blair is godfather to Rupert Murdoch's daughter

Anita Singh
The Telegraph UK
Mon, 05 Sep 2011 07:57 UTC
Image
© Unknown
The former prime minister was reportedly present in March last year when Murdoch's two daughters by his third wife were baptised on the banks of the Jordan.

The information was not made public and its disclosure in an interview with Mrs Murdoch in Vogue will prove highly embarrassing for Mr Blair.

His close ties to the Murdochs could explain his reluctance to condemn the News International phone hacking scandal.

In July, it was reported that he asked Gordon Brown to put pressure on Tom Watson, the Labour MP who helped expose the scandal, to drop his investigation.

Mr Blair's spokesman categorically denied the allegation.
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People

US: police again in the crosshairs of Anonymous


V3
Fri, 02 Sep 2011 01:29 UTC
anony123
While police in the UK continue to make arrests of suspected Anonymous and LulzSec members, over on this side of the pond law enforcement groups don't seem to be faring as well.

First the group hit police agencies in Arizona, then they turned their attention to the police who patrol the Bay Area Rapid Transit system. Now, it seems cops in Texas are the target of the hacktivist group.

Anonymous is currently taking aim at the Texas police chiefs association. The site was defaced by hackers not once, but twice on Thursday. In addition to defacing the site, Anonymous also says it has obtained information from police systems.

The group posted the following message on the defaced web site:
"For every defendant in the anonymous "conspiracy" we are attacking two top Texas police chiefs, leaking 3GB of their private emails and attachments. Mind you, we don't expect a sane response. Even a few insults would have been better than the way you cowards hide behind protocol, innuendo, and your badge."
      Read More...
Display

UK: Plods to get dot-uk takedown powers - without court order

Kevin Murphy
The Register
Fri, 02 Sep 2011 01:37 UTC
Why? 'Cos we're the bleedin' law, you slaag

Police in the UK could get new powers to suspend internet domain names without a court order if they're being used for illegal activity, under rules proposed to .uk registry manager Nominet.

A Nominet volunteer policy team has recommended the creation of an "expedited" process for shutting down addresses when the police say "the urgent suspension of the domain name is necessary to prevent serious and immediate consumer harm".

The proposed rules, if adopted, would apply to any address ending in .uk, such as example.co.uk.

Shutting down a domain name effectively shuts down the associated website and email.

In order for a domain to be grabbed under the policy, a law enforcement agency would have to file a declaration with Nominet that a seizure would be "proportionate, necessary, and urgent".
      Read More...
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