I was catching up with some of my friends this past weekend, and the subject of the oil leak came up, and I was surprised by the direness of their prognostications. They are what I would call "Mainstream California Conservative" in the sense they do not buy Fox news, but are counter-culturally aware, a group of cross-cultural sports fans who like to bash conspiracy theory but hate Rush Limbaugh. They are plugged directly into mainstream media 'only,' and they were saying stuff along the lines of: "The end of the world;" "The cause of a world-wide depression and collapse and war and totalitarianism, etc."

On the one side I am happy to see that they begin to understand the danger of the potential tyranny before us all, but I am also concerned for them because their hearts really are heavy and they really are afraid. As if a lightning bolt hit them, I could not believe I heard them say how the corporate model they formerly swore by is out of control, and how our entire system is FUBAR and we are totally screwed by the selfish rich, they've been working on their plan for 50 years etc., creating a faceless corporate clan to hide behind. (Oh, in this case the choice of what word to fill in for the R in FUBAR for them was 'repair,' not 'recognition.')

Before their research into corporate psychopathy, Paul Babiak and his colleagues raised several questions in need of answers. They are equally relevant to the study of political psychopathy and can be rephrased as follows:

- How could a psychopath outshine other candidates and achieve success in politics?
- Why would a psychopath want to enter politics?
- How long could a psychopath successfully operate in such an environment?

Jim Kouri, who served on the National Drug Task Force, has trained police and security officers throughout the United States, and is currently the fifth vice-president of the National Association of Chiefs of Police, answers the first question in an editorial for examiner.com:

Quite simply, most [psychopathic] serial killers and many professional politicians must mimic what they believe are appropriate responses to situations they face such as sadness, empathy, sympathy, and other human responses to outside stimuli. ... If violent offenders are psychopathic, they are able to assault, rape, and murder without concern for legal, moral, or social consequences. This allows them to do what they want, whenever they want. Ironically, these same traits exist in men and women who are drawn to high-profile and powerful positions in society including political officeholders.

A note from the SOTT.net editors: SOTT.net recently published an English translation of Dr André Rousseau's analysis of the seismic data recorded on 9/11 during the impacts and collapses of the WTC towers. His paper is one more contribution to what is becoming a large library of scientific evidence that the official story of what occurred on 9/11 is completely bogus.

However, while the paper has now appeared in various places on the net, we have not been surprised to see numerous comments by anonymous, online personae warning of the "dubious" nature of SOTT's intentions and research. One of these comments, found on the popular website 9/11 Blogger, decries our coverage of UFOs. After all, if the 9/11 Truth Movement is to retain its "credibility" it should avoid being associated with other so-called "fringe conspiracists". Ironically, many UFO researchers avoid 9/11 research for the selfsame reason.

Our approach is radically different. The mainstream media rarely cover 9/11 Truth sincerely. Neither do they cover UFOs without a tone of ridicule. And yet in both cases, where there is smoke, there is fire. 9/11 is a real issue, a real conspiracy, as is the reality of UFOs. SOTT devotes itself to covering the truth no matter where it lies. As we demonstrate in our monthly Connecting the Dots series, SOTT asserts the reality that consciousness and matter are inextricably linked, that individuals, events, and realities are all connected in ways our present science can only begin to fathom.

Of course, this approach inevitably leads to accusations of being a "cult", another defamatory label applied to SOTT in responses to our publication of Rousseau's paper. One comment links to this ridiculous thread at truthaction.org. Our research stands on its own, which is the truth that ad hominem attacks are designed to subvert.

The same above commentator finds fault in our position on the research of Jim Hoffman, one of whose articles was referenced in Rousseau's study. Many have accused SOTT of ad hominem attacks for our views on COINTELPRO in the 9/11 Truth Movement, such as Daniel Hopsicker, Mike Ruppert, Christopher Bollyn, and Jim Hoffman. However, such statements are not ad hominem attacks. We base our conclusions on the validity of others' research in a field that has, by definition, a high probability of being infiltrated by government agents. Some of their research may very well be sound (and often is, as all good disinformation contains seeds of truth), but other lines of research may betray an important vectoring of information away from areas where critical research may prove too "sensitive". One such area is the Pentagon Strike.

Joe Quinn's analysis of Hoffman's position on Flight 77 and the Pentagon is still relevant. And as David Ray Griffin, arguably one of the most respected 9/11 researchers, wrote in his recent book, The New Pearl Harbor Revisited, "the case against the official account of Flight 77 and the Pentagon has become considerably stronger since the publication of NPH [The New Pearl Harbor, 2004].

Since the original article was written, Craig Ranke and Aldo Marquis of Citizen Investigation Team have investigated many of the claims by eyewitnesses to the Pentagon strike. Along with a paper recently published by Pilots for 911 Truth, they have shown conclusively that the flight path suggested by the damaged light poles and generator trailer was physically impossible.

Israel's self-fulfilling prophecy moved one step closer to its tragic conclusion last month as its façade of normalcy slipped and the world glimpsed the true nature of the Zionist project in the Middle East. The massacre of innocents aboard the Mavi Marmara has galvanised global citizens to end the Siege of Gaza once and for all. But Israel's lunacy is altogether more dangerous following the UN's official acknowledgment that Israel is armed to the teeth with nuclear weapons. Its willingness to use them "by way of deception" strengthens the likelihood of a false-flag nuclear attack being carried out to avenge humanity's non-existent "victimisation" of the "Light unto the Nations."

We will examine the latest ridiculous case of "homegrown terrorism" in the US which took place on the eve of momentous discussions on nuclear disarmament in New York City, as well as the framing of North Korea for the sinking of the South Korean warship Cheonan. Was Israel involved in both events? The hysteria these two attacks generated as well as their timing certainly indicates that somebody is blowing smoke to distract people from moves on the grand chessboard. The clownish Times Square car bomb was not the real terrorist act in New York last month. Financial terrorists held the US government hostage until it reversed its decision to break up organised crime on Wall Street. Is the eurozone debt crisis similarly contrived?

The devastation in the Gulf of Mexico is more than Obama's "Hurricane Katrina." It is a crime against Nature that could easily have been averted. The Earth will continue to bleed oil until enough people wake up from their slumber. The methane gas explosion at the Deepwater Horizon oil rig is another wake-up call to the dangers of our pervasive and persistent wishful thinking about the world around us, our role in it and the consequences of giving away our power to those least capable of using it responsibly. At the same time, Nature plays its part as the planet continues to open up and methane bubbles up to the surface. There were at least three volcanic eruptions in May which dwarfed last month's hyped performance from Eyjafjallajokull. Many more have been placed on 'alert' status.

Major events of global significance are taking place on an almost daily basis now. While some could be considered "natural events", reflecting back to us the chaotic state of our world, others are willfully perpetrated to intensify chaos and distract attention from the desperate maneuvers of our intra-species predator to retain control of an environment that is rapidly changing. No deed is too abhorrent for them to purposely commit, no lie too big for them to utter. The people of Thailand may have lost the battle against its pathocratic government, but their struggle for justice against the forces of fascism is mirrored in the wave of righteous anger demonstrated by Greeks who will not submit quietly to the diktats of the faceless financial terrorists, as well as the shock-waves of revulsion at Israel's barbarity that reverberated around the world.

Let's Connect the Dots of May's mayhem...

As many of you know, the state of Israel boarded the recent humanitarian mission to Gaza, killed several people on board, injured others, hijacked the boats and subsequently took all 700 people to a prison facility in southern Israel. These are the facts of the matter.

Ever since the event a plethora of lies, justifications and paramoralistic nonsense has been spouted from the mouths of the Israeli authorities and American mainstream media pundits. The biggest of all, and most easily disprovable, is that the flotilla contained weapons bound for Gaza to be used against Israeli's.

Israel has published pictures of "weapons" and "war material" that they confiscated from the freedom flotilla, this cash of "deadly weapons" comprises kitchen knives, pocket knives, assorted poles, angle grinders, gas masks and some flak jackets. What? No guns??

But wait, kitchen knives on board a ship that was feeding hundreds of people on a week-long voyage? Shocking! Assorted long poles...on a ship?? Outrageous! Gas masks and bullet proof vests in the possession of people who had planned to disembark in Gaza, the world's biggest open-air prison where innocent people are regularly assaulted with tear gas and shot at by IDF troops? Unthinkable! And the angle grinders! Good lord, now there's a deadly anti-personnel weapon to beat them all!

It's not unjustifiable to consider Israel as the absolute incarnation of fraudulence, relentlessness and brutality. Since its establishment, the Zionist regime has carried out actions that contravene the international regulations and cancel out human rights in one way or another. Only a brief look into the account of Israel's bloody interaction with the Palestinian people over the past 60 years shows us that this fabricated regime does not deserve "the right to exist", as U.S. and European officials periodically remind us.

Monday's assault of the Israel Defense Forces on the flotilla of humanitarian aid which was heading to the besieged Gaza Strip from Turkey left at least 16 dead and many others wounded. Never mind that Israel's criminal action violated the 4th Geneva 1949 Convention. Just imagine for a single moment that Iran had carried out the carnage instead of Israel. Simply replace the two names and then read the news as reported by CNN: "The Free Gaza Movement, one of the organizers of the aid, said that Iranian commandos dropped from a helicopter onto the deck of one of the ships early Monday and immediately opened fire on unarmed civilians."

"This is the Seventh Sign: You will hear of the sea turning black, and many living things dying because of it."

White Feather, a Hopi of the ancient Bear Clan.

On Wednesday 21st April an explosion rocked an offshore oil drilling platform in the Gulf of Mexico, sending a column of fire into the sky and claiming the lives of 11 oil workers. 52 miles southeast of Venice, Louisiana, Deepwater Horizon was built in 2001 by Hyundai Heavy Industries Shipyard in South Korea. It was owned by Houston based Transocean Ltd, under contract to British Petroleum Plc. Almost immediately a federal lawsuit was filed on behalf of one of the victims in New Orleans, Louisiana, alleging the companies connected to the oil rig explosion were negligent.

The mainstream media has been performing consistently in downplaying just how catastrophic this disaster is, for marine life in the Gulf of Mexico, for inhabitants along the coast and, depending on how this plays out, possibly for the entire planet. Never before has the blind greed of so few been so immediately damaging and obvious to so many. Let us hope that the shock, revulsion and anger generated by this truly catastrophic event inspires masses of people to see how the psychopaths that rule our world guide humanity's destructive trajectory towards oblivion for all life on Planet Earth.

As early as May 9 it was announced that FEMA evacuation protocol for forest fires in and around Tampa, Florida could be activated at a moment's notice in the event of the oil slick approaching Florida's coastline. One proposal is to undergo a 'controlled burn' of surface oil in the Gulf to prevent the oil reaching Florida's coast. This would result in highly toxic fumes blowing ashore. In fact, toxic fumes have already been reported elsewhere as Gulf residents complain of breathing difficulties and nausea:

Oil is semi-volatile, which means that it can evaporate into the air and create a heavy vapor that stays near the ground -- in the human breathing zone. When winds whip up oily sea water, the spray contains tiny droplets -- basically a fume -- of oil, which are small enough to be inhaled deep into the lungs. We know that's happening in the Gulf Coast, because people are reporting a heavy oily smell in the air. Already my colleagues in Louisiana are reporting that people in the coastal community of Venice, Louisiana are suffering from nausea, vomiting, headaches, and difficulty breathing.

The following eyewitness account came to our attention yesterday:

Hi all,

Making this quick, don't feel well. About 4:15pm or so eastern, coming back from Tampa, Florida north on Veteran's Expressway...about 7 miles perhaps from SR 54...it sprinkled some gray watery and solid black oil on my car. Thought it was bugs, but so fast did not make sense and windshield wipers just smeared it. Got out of car at store and looked on the paint and solid black dots on my car...I touch? huh? it's wet? it's OIL!!!!!

I had several folks verify it before I sprayed it off and it came off easier than the few love bugs. Two hours later still wet like OIL! nope, not water, smell it, OIL!!!

Arthur Miller wrote, "An era can be said to end when its basic illusions are exhausted." It's becoming increasingly clear that we are living through such a time. The information age is dissolving many of the lies of corporate capitalism. The rapid exchange of knowledge on the Internet has made the excesses of globalization transparent. It's high time for pointing out the pink elephants and debunking the myths of the system. So here's some more dirt under the fingernails of the American Empire: fluoride. For half a century in North America the commonly held belief has been that fluoride is good for our teeth. This is a PR lie concocted by the most infamous "mad man" of Madison Avenue, Edward Bernays, the nephew of Sigmund Freud. The truth is that fluoride is poison. Yet on account of the longevity of the lie, to this day there is poison in our toothpaste and in our drinking water.

In most of North America, if you turn on the faucet in the kitchen or the bathroom, the water that pours out will be laced with hydrofluorosilicic acid. It's designated a Class 2 poison by the EPA, an acute toxin worse than lead and almost as bad as arsenic. According to the National Cancer Institute it's a known carcinogen. Hydrofluorosilicic acid is a byproduct of the Florida phosphate fertilizer industry. It comes straight from the stacks of industrial plants. It's illegal to dump it into freshwater lakes and rivers because it's toxic to life. Yet it's being trucked in oil tankers all over the United States and Canada to be sold to municipalities that pump it into our tap water. Yet enough scientific evidence has mounted against fluoride that three U.S. judges have ruled in federal court that fluoridation represents an "unreasonable risk" to the public, and the public is beginning to get wind of the danger.