THE MONTHLY SEARCH FOR TRUTH IN NEWS

Signs of The Times News Round Up

September 2005


THIS MONTH’S TOPICS: 

Hurricane Katrina’s Aftermath and U.S. Domestic Policy

U.S. Educational System

Creeping Totalitarianism

Bush Administration in Crisis

Supreme Court Chief Justice Nominee John Roberts

U.S. Foreign Policy

Venezuela

Israel and Palestine

China

Britain and Australia

Civil Unrest in France

Economy

Internet

Disasters

Science and Oddities



HURRICANE KATRINA AND U.S. DOMESTIC POLICY

 

Hurricane Katrina's aftermath: from natural disaster to national humiliation

“The catastrophe that is unfolding in New Orleans and on the Gulf coast of Mississippi has been transformed into a national humiliation without parallel in the history of the United States   The reactionary mythology of America as the ‘Greatest Country in the World’ has suffered a shattering blow … With at least 100,000 people trapped in a city without power, water or food and threatened with the spread of disease and death, the government has proven incapable of establishing the most elementary framework of logistical organization…  The president blanched when ABC interviewer Dianne Sawyer asked about a suggestion that the major oil companies be forced to cede a share of the immense windfall profits they have reaped from rising prices over the past six months to fund disaster relief. He responded by counseling the American people to "send cash" to charitable organizations.  In other words, there will be no serious financial commitment from the government to save lives, care for the sick and needy, and help the displaced and bereft restore their lives. Nor will there be any national, centrally financed and organized program to rebuild one of the country's most important cities - a city that is uniquely associated with some of the most critical cultural achievements in music and the arts of the American people.  Above all, the suffering of millions will not be allowed to impinge on the profit interests of a tiny elite of multi-millionaires whose interests the government defends…  Congress has been virtually silent on the catastrophe in the south. It has nothing to say, having voted to support Bush's extreme right-wing agenda of massive tax cuts for the rich, huge outlays for war in Iraq and Afghanistan and an ever-expanding Pentagon budget, and billions to finance the Homeland Security Department.”

 

Questions grow over rescue chaos

“In New Orleans , state officials have described the chaotic aftermath of Hurricane Katrina as a national disgrace.  ‘Why is it that the most powerful country on the face of the Earth takes so long to help so many sick and so many elderly people?’   …John Rhinehart, the administrator of a New Orleans hospital without power and water, said: ‘I'm beginning to wonder if the government is more concerned about the looting than people who are dying in these hospitals.’”  The news shows us again and again that in the U.S. , things are more important than people.  Why else would “all the resources of the U.S. government” be mobilized in response to the 3000 sudden, violent, bloody deaths, yet, not a thing is said or done about the 3000 sudden, violent, bloody deaths that drunk drivers cause every two months?  It’s not the lives that matter. 

 

People of the Dome

“Some tourists in the Monteleone Hotel paid $25,000 for 10 buses. The buses were sent (I guess there were many buses available, if you paid the price!) but the military confiscated them to use not for transporting people in the Dome but for the military. The tourists were not allowed to leave. Instead, the military ordered the tourists to the now-infamous Convention Center…  On Wednesday a number of Greens tried to bring a large amount of water to the SuperDome. They were prevented from doing so, as have many others. Why have food and water been blocked from reaching tens of thousands of poor people?  They even refused to allow voluntary workers who had rescued over 1,000 people in boats over the previous days to continue on Thursday, using the several gunshots (and who knows who shot off those rounds?) to say "It's too dangerous". The volunteers didn't think the gunshots were dangerous to them and wanted to continue their rescue operations and had to be "convinced" at gunpoint to ‘cease and desist.’  There is something sinister going down -- it's not just incompetence or negligence.  How could FEMA and Homeland Security not have something so basic as bottled drinking water in the SuperDome, which was long a part of the hurricane plan? …  We need to understand that the capability has been there from the start to drive water and food right up to the convention center, as those roads have been clear -- it's how the National Guard drove into the city.” 

 

A Can't-Do Government

“I don't think this is a simple tale of incompetence. The reason the military wasn't rushed in to help along the Gulf Coast is, I believe, the same reason nothing was done to stop looting after the fall of Baghdad . Flood control was neglected for the same reason our troops in Iraq didn't get adequate armor.  At a fundamental level, I'd argue, our current leaders just aren't serious about some of the essential functions of government. They like waging war, but they don't like providing security, rescuing those in need or spending on preventive measures. And they never, ever ask for shared sacrifice  we all know what happened to those vital resources. They had been cut back, stripped down, gutted, pilfered - looted - to pay for a war of aggression, to pay for a tax cut for the wealthiest, safest, most protected Americans, to gorge the coffers of a small number of private and corporate fortunes, while letting the public sector - the common good - wither and die on the vine…  For more than 30 years, the corporate Right has waged a relentless and highly focused campaign against the common good, seeking to atomize individuals into isolated "consumer units" whose political energies - kept deliberately underinformed by the ubiquitous corporate media - can be diverted into emotionalized "hot button" issues (gay marriage, school prayer, intelligent design, flag burning, welfare queens, drugs, porn, abortion, teen sex, commie subversion, terrorist threats, etc., etc.) that never threaten Big Money's bottom line.”

 

Bush vows to step up Katrina aid

“The BBC's Matt Frei, in New Orleans , says conditions in the convention centre, where up to 20,000 people are stranded, are the most wretched he has seen anywhere, including crises in the Third World .”

 

New Orleans in Anarchy With Fights, Rapes

"’They have M-16s and they're locked and loaded,’ Gov. Kathleen Blanco said of 300 National Guard troops who landed in New Orleans fresh from duty in Iraq. ‘These troops know how to shoot and kill, and they are more than willing to do so, and I expect they will.’  Tourist Debbie Durso of Washington , Mich. , said she asked a police officer for assistance and his response was, 'Go to hell - it's every man for himself.' … Donald Dudley, a 55-year-old New Orleans seafood merchant, complained that when he and other hungry refugees broke into the kitchen of the convention center and tried to prepare food, the National Guard chased them away. ‘They pulled guns and told us we had to leave that kitchen or they would blow our damn brains out,’ he said."

 

Rapes, killings hit Katrina refugees in New Orleans

"They killed a man here last night," Steve Banka, 28, told Reuters. "A young lady was being raped and stabbed. And the sounds of her screaming got to this man and so he ran out into the street to get help from troops, to try to flag down a passing lorry of them, and he jumped up on the truck's windscreen and they shot him dead."  Wade Batiste, 48, recounted another tale of horror.  "Last night at 8 p.m. they shot a kid of just 16. He was just crossing the street. They ran him over, the New Orleans police did, and then they got out of the car and shot him in the head," Batiste said…  One National Guard soldier who asked not to be named for fear of punishment from his commanding officer said of the lack of medical attention at the centre, ‘They (the Bush administration) care more about Iraq and Afghanistan than here.’"

 

Sonic 'Lasers' Head to Flood Zone

“Representatives of both companies say that within days, they will ship some units of their respective products to areas hit by Hurricane Katrina, so authorities can use the tools for crowd control, aid distribution and rescue operations…  When a subject is at close range in MAD's sonic path, and it is set to high volume, the sound can be excruciating.”

 

Law Officers, Overwhelmed, Are Quitting the Force

“…at least 200 New Orleans police officers have walked away from their jobs and two have committed suicide…”

 

The Two Americas 

“Last September, a Category 5 hurricane battered the small island of Cuba with 160-mile-per-hour winds. More than 1.5 million Cubans were evacuated to higher ground ahead of the storm. Although the hurricane destroyed 20,000 houses, no one died.  What is Cuban President Fidel Castro's secret? According to Dr. Nelson Valdes, a sociology professor at the University of New Mexico , and specialist in Latin America , ‘the whole civil defense is embedded in the community to begin with. People know ahead of time where they are to go.  Cuba 's leaders go on TV and take charge,’ said Valdes. Contrast this with George W. Bush's reaction to Hurricane Katrina. The day after Katrina hit the Gulf Coast , Bush was playing golf… Merely sticking people in a stadium is unthinkable’ in Cuba , Valdes said. ‘Shelters all have medical personnel, from the neighborhood. They have family doctors in Cuba , who evacuate together with the neighborhood, and already know, for example, who needs insulin.’ They also evacuate animals and veterinarians, TV sets and refrigerators, ‘so that people aren't reluctant to leave because people might steal their stuff,’ Valdes observed…  After Hurricane Ivan, the United Nations International Secretariat for Disaster Reduction cited Cuba as a model for hurricane preparation…  ‘On a fundamental level,’ Paul Krugman wrote in yesterday's New York Times, ‘our current leaders just aren't serious about some of the essential functions of government. They like waging war, but they don't like providing security, rescuing those in need or spending on prevention measures. And they never, ever ask for shared sacrifice.’  When Hurricane Ivan hit Cuba , no curfew was imposed; yet, no looting or violence took place. Everyone was in the same boat.

 

Sniper Fire Halts Hospital Evacuation

“The evacuation of patients from Charity Hospital was halted Thursday after the facility came under sniper fire twice. [...]  ‘A single sniper or two snipers shouldn't have to shut down a hospital evacuation for two hours now,’ Dr. Ruth Berggren told CNN. ‘I look outside, I'm not seeing any military.’"

 

Gunmen Attack Contractors on La. Bridge

“Police shot and killed at least five people Sunday after gunmen opened fire on a group of contractors traveling across a bridge on their way to make repairs, authorities said… Fourteen contractors were traveling across the Danziger Bridge under police escort when they came under fire, said John Hall, a spokesman for the Army Corps of Engineers….”

 

Five dead were army workers: report

“Associated Press reports that at least five people shot dead by police as they walked across a New Orleans bridge yesterday were contractors working for the US Defence department.  A spokesman for the Army Corps of Engineers said the victims were contractors on their way to repair a canal.”

 

Reuters Photojournalist Recounts Disaster in New Orleans

 

Dozens Found Dead at New Orleans Hospital

 

Cover-up: toxic waters 'will make New Orleans unsafe for a decade'

 

Love Canal-type landfill submerged in New Orleans floodwaters

 

Mayor to feds: 'Get off your asses'

“…we authorized $8 billion to go to Iraq lickety-quick. After 9/11, we gave the president unprecedented powers lickety-quick to take care of New York and other places.  Now, you mean to tell me that a place where most of your oil is coming through, a place that is so unique when you mention New Orleans anywhere around the world, everybody's eyes light up -- you mean to tell me that a place where you probably have thousands of people that have died and thousands more that are dying every day, that we can't figure out a way to authorize the resources that we need? Come on, man.” 

 

IN BUSH'S WORLD, PR EQUALS ACTION

“The last couple of weeks we’ve been learning some truly awful, unbearable lessons. But one of the lessons has been perversely prosaic: PR only goes so far. Not only have we been parsing anew the limits of public relations, but the limits of people who have become perilously, mindlessly dependent on PR in place of action. Their leadership limits, their moral limits…”

 

Barbara Bush: Things Working Out 'Very Well' for Poor Evacuees from New Orleans

“Barbara Bush said: ‘Almost everyone I've talked to says we're going to move to Houston .’  Then she added: ‘What I'm hearing which is sort of scary is they all want to stay in Texas . Everyone is so overwhelmed by the hospitality. And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this--this (she chuckles slightly) is working very well for them.’"

 

White House: Mrs. Bush Comment 'Personal'

“Barbara Bush was making "a personal observation" when she said poor people at a relocation center in Houston were faring better than before Hurricane Katrina struck, President Bush's spokesman said Wednesday…” 

 

Barbara Bush: It's Good Enough for the Poor

“Finally, we have discovered the roots of George W. Bush's "compassionate conservatism…  On the tape of the interview, Mrs. Bush chuckles audibly as she observes just how great things are going for families that are separated from loved ones, people who have been forced to abandon their homes and the only community where they have ever lived, and parents who are explaining to children that their pets, their toys and in some cases their friends may be lost forever. Perhaps the former first lady was amusing herself with the notion that evacuees without bread could eat cake…"

 

U.S. military smuggled white vacationers out of New Orleans Superdome squalor

“Jenny Sachs, of Sheffield [ UK ], told how soldiers had to smuggle her out of the Superdome in secret.  She was one of about 30 Britons who, realising they could not escape the city, had fled to the stadium for shelter...  She said people had been raped and that others were beaten up.  ‘A guy was brought in who had seven stab wounds and was covered in blood.’  The military told all non-US citizens to stay together for safety, Ms Sachs added.  They later told them they would be secretly smuggled out in groups of 10 under cover of darkness as it had become too dangerous for them to remain in the stadium, she told BBC News.  ‘When we were leaving, people were going 'Where are you going?' and giving us looks.’ …”

 

Daley 'shocked' as feds reject aid

Chicago Sun-Times:  ‘We are ready to provide more help than they have requested. We are just waiting for their call,’ said Daley, adding that he was "shocked" that no one seemed to want the help.  Meanwhile, U.S. Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) said he would call for congressional hearings into the federal government's preparations and response…  Obama said he expects his counterparts in Louisiana , Mississippi or Alabama will call for congressional hearings, but he is ready if they do not. ‘It's heartbreaking and infuriating and, I think, is embarrassing to the American people.’  Daley said the city offered 36 members of the firefighters' technical rescue teams, eight emergency medical technicians, search-and-rescue equipment, more than 100 police officers as well as police vehicles and two boats, 29 clinical and 117 non-clinical health workers, a mobile clinic and eight trained personnel, 140 Streets and Sanitation workers and 29 trucks, plus other supplies. City personnel are willing to operate self-sufficiently and would not depend on local authorities for food, water, shelter and other supplies, he said.”  It’s very clear from the many reports of aid rejection and prevention that the federal government wanted complete control over this situation for some unstated purpose. 

 

Hurricane Katrina - Our Experiences

Bradshaw and Slonsky are paramedics frorm California that were attending the EMS conference in New Orleans The much-promised federal, state and local aid never materialized and the windows at Walgreen's gave way to the looters…  What you will not see, but what we witnessed,were the real heroes and sheroes of the hurricane relief effort: the working class of New Orleans …”  This article contains numerous surprising anecdotes of first-hand experience in the disaster zone. 

 

Surviving in New Orleans

“…we noticed a man with a rifle and duffel bag walk up to the door to the Mall. We see him try the door and find it locked. Then he simply smashed out the door with the butt of his rifle and walked in. … Some time passed, and then the person with the rifle returns again. This time we notice he is a cop, and he is with four other cops, and they all have arms and duffel bags. And their only purpose is to get whatever they can…”  Read more for an experience of surviving the famous Convention Center. 

 

Hurricane Expected to Cost Government Up to $100 Billion

 

Katrina 'set to slow US economy'

 

Hurricane Katrina to Increase Joblessness

 

Summary Box: Katrina Wipes Out Job Gains

 

Weather Modification Research and Technology Transfer Authorization Act of 2005 (Introduced in Senate)

“…SEC. 2. PURPOSE. It is the purpose of this Act to develop and implement a comprehensive and coordinated national weather modification policy…  SEC. 9. EFFECTIVE DATE. This Act shall take effect on October 1, 2005. 

 

 

Halliburton Hired To Do Storm Cleanup

“The Navy has hired Houston-based Halliburton Co. to restore electric power, repair roofs and remove debris at three naval facilities in Mississippi damaged by Hurricane Katrina.  Halliburton subsidiary KBR will also perform damage assessments at other naval installations in New Orleans as soon as it is safe to do so.”  Surprise, surprise. 

 

Firms with Bush ties snag Katrina deals

“Companies with ties to the Bush White House and the former head of FEMA are clinching some of the administration's first disaster relief and reconstruction contracts in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.  At least two major corporate clients of lobbyist Joe Allbaugh, President George W. Bush's former campaign manager and a former head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, have already been tapped to start recovery work along the battered Gulf Coast .” 

 

Katrina clean-up contracts spark controversy

Major contracts for the Hurricane Katrina clean-up have been awarded without bidding or with limited competition, prompting controversy in the United States   Two major companies in particular have raised questions – the Shaw Group and Kellogg, Brown & Root, a subsidiary of Halliburton, formerly headed by Vice President Dick Cheney.  When you do something like this, you do increase the vulnerability for fraud, plain waste, abuse and mismanagement,’ Richard Skinner, inspector general for the Department of Homeland Security, told the New York Times.  We are very apprehensive about what we are seeing.’ 

 

Heritage Foundation Capitalizes on Katrina

Washington , DC 's premier right wing think tank puts forward a laundry list of conservative proposals to rebuild the Gulf Coast …” 

 

Let's all be clear about one thing

“…President Bush has now put us on notice, the Gulf Coast reconstruction effort is going to be run as a patronage and political operation… Karl Rove runs political operations and manages coalitions through patronage. That's what he does. And that's what this is about…”

 

Memos Show Oil Companies Closed Refineries To Hike Profits

This is a tactic straight out of the Enron playbook.  the industry's own internal memos show the intentional shrinking of American refinery capacity in the 1990s was the oil companies' own idea to pump up profits.  Take this internal Texaco strategy memo: ‘The most critical factor facing the refining industry on the West Coast is the surplus of refining capacity, and the surplus gasoline production capacity. (The same situation exists for the entire U.S. refining industry.) Supply significantly exceeds demand year-round. This results in very poor refinery margins and very poor refinery financial results. Significant events need to occur to assist in reducing supplies and/or increasing the demand for gasoline.  The memo went on to discuss a sucessful campaign in Washington State to shrink refined supply by removing other additives in the gasoline that filled gas volume…  The fact that President Bush received $2.6 million from the oil industry for his reelection in 2004 should make regulation of the nation's gas supply one of the Democrats' most important talking points.

 

New World Orleans: Microcosm for the "New America"

“Imagine an America where everyone is displaced. It's survival of the fittest as all law and order has broken down. Martial law has been declared with 24 hr curfews, Posse Comitatus has been overturned and there are troops on the streets shooting anyone who disobeys their orders. Thousands and thousands of people are starving but the authorities will not allow aid in any significant amounts. Large crowds are quelled with the use of sonic lasers, whilst overhead drone aircraft monitor the area, checking for any anomalous activity… It is no longer some distant possibility on the horizon that our children may have to endure and fight against, it is here, it is now. New Orleans is a testing ground for this exact scenario, all this is going on there now. We are witnessing in New Orleans , the construction of a microcosm for a "New America " and a New World Order  In particular FEMA, which has endlessly drilled for such situations, has been a key hindrance...  FEMA has done nothing to aid the situation, in fact there have been reports that FEMA has cut emergency communication lines and has been turning back fuel and water supplies being sent by outside agencies such as Wal Mart. This is because the Federal Government wants complete control over the situation.  Even American Red Cross officials have said that FEMA authorities would not allow them to deliver aid.  ’There are supplies sitting in Baton Rouge for the folks in New Orleans , but the National Guard has the city surrounded and is not letting anyone in or out. They are turning away people with supplies, claiming it is too dangerous...Our goverment is KILLING the people of New Orleans.’ … There have also been suggestions that part of the levee around N.O. was dynamited after the first section broke in an attempt to prevent Uptown (the rich part of town) from being flooded  Reports and comments from officials today have indicated that President Bush's visit is nothing more than a staged photo op…  Martial law was declared in New Orleans midday Tuesday 30th August. Posse Comitatus has been overturned and the National Guard has authorization to shoot and kill anyone they deem to be ‘hoodlums’…  Some of the most sophisticated military equipment used in the Iraq war to quell the insurgency is now being used in New Orleans . We have continually highlighted how such equipment was developed specifically for domestic use and now this has come to pass. Five Silver Fox ‘unmanned aerial vehicles,’ or UAVs, equipped with thermal imaging technology to detect the body heat of storm survivors, have been deployed in New Orleans .  Also being deployed are acoustic devices for crowd control and disaster communications, sonic Laser equipment that is currently in use in Iraq   Whilst the disaster evolves it has already been decided who will restore order and who will reap the profits of the lucrative cleanup contracts. Dick Cheney affiliated Halliburton have again been rewarded that task  FEMA Outsourced the disaster plans to political cronies and major donors.  A disaster has been turned into a drill for martial law. 

 

Old-Line Families Escape Worst of Flood And Plot the Future

The power elite of New Orleans -- whether they are still in the city or have moved temporarily to enclaves such as Destin, Fla., and Vail, Colo. -- insist the remade city won't simply restore the old order. New Orleans before the flood was burdened by a teeming underclass, substandard schools and a high crime rate. The city has few corporate headquarters.  The new city must be something very different, Mr. Reiss says, with better services and fewer poor people. ‘Those who want to see this city rebuilt want to see it done in a completely different way: demographically, geographically and politically,’ he says…  Some black leaders and their allies in New Orleans fear that it boils down to preventing large numbers of blacks from returning to the city and eliminating the African-American voting majority…  Calvin Fayard, a wealthy white plaintiffs' lawyer who lives near Mr. O'Dwyer, says the mass evacuation could turn a Democratic stronghold into a Republican one.” 

 

Blackwater Mercenaries Deploy in New Orleans

“Heavily armed paramilitary mercenaries from the Blackwater private security firm, infamous for their work in Iraq , are openly patrolling the streets of New Orleans . Some of the mercenaries say they have been "deputized" by the Louisiana governor; indeed some are wearing gold Louisiana state law enforcement badges on their chests and Blackwater photo identification cards on their arms…  Some of the men now patrolling the streets of New Orleans returned from Iraq as recently as 2 weeks ago.  Few realize that the second largest fighting force in Iraq after the US military is not the British military, but American mercenaries, chiefly employees of Blackwater.  There are thousands of them that the US government uses in part to make up for shortfalls in military recruiting.  You hear these men referred to in the news media as “civilian contractors.”  They make a lot of money.  "After bragging about how he drives around Iraq in a ‘State Department issued level 5, explosion proof BMW,’ he said he was ‘just trying to get back to Kirkuk (in the north of Iraq ) where the real action is.’ Later we overheard him on his cell phone complaining that Blackwater was only paying $350 a day plus per diem. That is much less than the men make serving in more dangerous conditions in Iraq .  ‘This is a trend," he told us. "You're going to see a lot more guys like us in these situations.’"

 

If We Understand New Orleans; we understand the Bush strategy

New Orleans provides us with a reliable template for judging what the Bush administration will do in the event of a massive "casualty-producing" terrorist attack. However depressing, this is useful information…” 

"FEMA won't accept Amtrak's help in evacuations.''
"FEMA turns away experienced firefighters.''
"FEMA turns back Wal-Mart supply trucks.''
"FEMA prevents Coast Guard from delivering diesel fuel.''
"Homeland Security won't let Red Cross deliver food.''
"FEMA bars morticians from entering New Orleans .''
"FEMA blocks 500-boat citizen flotilla from delivering aid.''
"
FEMA fails to utilize Navy ship with 600-bed hospital on board.''
"FEMA to Chicago : Send just one truck.''
"FEMA turns away generators.''
"FEMA first responders urged not to respond.''

The deployment of mercenaries to the region should be of particular concern to Americans. Currently, more than 40,000 National Guardsman from Louisiana and Mississippi are serving in Iraq . It would have been quite simple to return them to their home states to meet the needs of the tragedy. Instead, the Bush administration chose to use exorbitantly-paid mercenaries.”

 

Former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury on New Orleans: "Americans Are Being Brainwashed"

“Mentality is ‘like that of the brown shirts that followed Hitler’ … Roberts agreed that FEMA has deliberately withheld aid, and cut emergency communication lines, and automatically made the crisis look worse in order to empower the image of a police state emerging to ‘save the day’ … ‘The power of the Federal Government is now greater than at any time, it'll never go back and the Posse Comitatus Act has been eroding ever since it was passed in 1878...’ Roberts urged listeners to look at the Patriot Act, which suspends Habeas Corpus, where they can now suspend you indefinitely, a massive erosion of civil liberties…”.

 

 

New Orleans collects dead as officials dodge blame

“Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld toured a medical facility at New Orleans ' international airport on Sunday. He spoke and shook hands with military and rescue officials but walked right by a dozen refugees lying on stretchers just feet away from him, most of them extremely sick or handicapped…  Critics have said the Federal Emergency Management Agency has lost its effectiveness since it became part of the Homeland Security Department in a post-September 11 reorganization. … Rice was slammed by critics on the Internet after she attended a New York performance of the Monty Python musical "Spamalot" on Wednesday, a day after New Orleans flooded…  The Washington Post reported on Sunday that Bush administration officials were blaming state and local authorities for the disaster response problems.

 

Generals recommend national plan for emergencies

“Bush weighs military's role in large disasters…”

 

Bush to investigate handling of disaster without finger-pointing

“The President says his inquiry will only be to determine ‘what went right and what went wrong…  ‘What I intend to do is to lead an investigation to find out what went right and what went wrong, but the enquiry won't be pointing the finger at anyone. We want to make sure that we can respond properly if there's a WMD attack or another major storm.’"

 

Brown Shifts Blame for Katrina Response

Brown described FEMA as a politically powerless arm of Homeland Security, which he said had siphoned more than $77 million from his agency over the past three years. Additionally, he said Homeland Security cut FEMA budget requests - including one for hurricane preparedness - before they were ever presented to Congress…”

 

Time for a Truth & Justice Commission -- Back Inside New Orleans

“I asked Okra, in his house off of Piety Street , what the biggest problem has been. He said, "It's been the police - they've lost the last restraints on their behavior they had, and gotten a license to go wild. They can do anything they want. I saw one cop beat a guy so hard that he almost took his ear off. And this was someone just trying to walk home…"

 

New Orleans Police Chief Resigns

 

UP IN FLAMES

“Tons of British aid donated to help Hurricane Katrina victims to be BURNED by Americans…  HUNDREDS of tons of British food aid shipped to America for starving Hurricane Katrina survivors is to be burned.  US red tape is stopping it from reaching hungry evacuees.  Instead tons of the badly needed Nato ration packs, the same as those eaten by British troops in Iraq , has been condemned as unfit for human consumption.  And unless the bureaucratic mess is cleared up soon it could be sent for incineration.  One British aid worker last night called the move "sickening senselessness" and said furious colleagues were "spitting blood".”

 

Vice President Cheney heckled on hurricane tour

"Go f--- yourself Mr. Cheney!" the unidentified man shouted. The man then repeated: "Go f--- yourself!"

 

Chertoff: Katrina scenario did not exist

“However, experts for years had warned of threat to New Orleans … Last week, Michael Brown, head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, told CNN his agency had recently planned for a Category 5 hurricane hitting New Orleans .” 

 

Brown pushed from last job: Horse group: FEMA chief had to be 'asked to resign'

“…before joining the Federal Emergency Management Agency as a deputy director in 2001, GOP activist Mike Brown had no significant experience that would have qualified him for the position.”

 

Agencies were drilled for 'worst-case scenario'

“In a five-day, tabletop exercise last summer, emergency preparedness officials faced an imaginary "worst-case scenario" in which a hurricane hit the New Orleans, Louisiana, area.   A fictional Category 3 Hurricane Pam, with "winds of 120 mph, up to 20 inches of rain... and a storm surge that topped the levees," was the picture presented to officials from 50 federal, local and volunteer organizations, according to a Federal Emergency Management Agency dispatch from July 23, 2004.”

 

'Weather nerd' in Indiana warned New Orleans mayor

"’At the risk of being alarmist, we could be 3-4 days away from an unprecedented cataclysm that could kill as many as 100,000 people in New Orleans,’ Brendan Loy, who is 23 and has no formal meteorological training, wrote on Aug. 26…  He called for Mayor Nagin to issue an evacuation order days before the mayor issued one…”

 

FEMA Head Bears the Brunt of Katrina Anger

The vilification of federal disaster chief Michael Brown, emerging as chief scapegoat for whatever went wrong in the government's response to Hurricane Katrina, has ratcheted into the stratosphere…  But the dim view of Brown's qualifications by senators seems to have emerged only in hindsight. Members of both parties seemed little troubled by his background at 2002 Senate hearings that led to his confirmation as deputy FEMA chief…  Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job,’ the president told him last week…”

 

Bush tours New Orleans as emergency chief quits

“Michael Brown's departure from FEMA is long overdue, and his resignation is the right thing for the country and for the people of the Gulf Coast states…”

 

The Politics of False Claims

“How Michael Brown Helped Bush Win Florida   Homeland Security sources told the Post that after the hurricanes that Brown ‘and his allies [recommended] him to succeed Tom Ridge as Homeland Security secretary because of their claim that he helped deliver Florida to President Bush by efficiently responding to the Florida hurricanes.’  the most interesting charge against Brown is that he helped speed up payments in Florida and purposely bypassed FEMA's lengthy reviews process for distributing funds in order to help Bush secure votes in the state during last year's presidential election."  Read the article.  In plain language, relief money was given away to people who did not sustain damage.  This amounted to buying votes. 

 

Bush administration 'negligent" over Katrina: Chinese press

“…People's Daily, the ruling Communist Party's mouthpiece, said there was no excuse for Bush's slow reaction to the unfolding tragedy…”

 

Neither Compassionate, Nor Conservative

The worst storm in our history proved perfect for exposing this president because in one big blast it illuminated all his failings: the rampant cronyism, the empty sloganeering of 'compassionate conservatism,' the lack of concern for the 'underprivileged' his mother condescended to at the Astrodome, the reckless lack of planning for all government operations except tax cuts, the use of spin and photo-ops to camouflage failure and to substitute for action…”

 

Post-Katrina military response slowed by state-federal dispute: report

 

I just got back from a FEMA Detainment Camp

I'm afraid the camp is not going to be used as the kind people of the churches who own the cabins believe it was going to be used. Jesse Jackson was right when he said "refugees" was not the appropriate word for the poor souls dislocated due to Katrina. But he was wrong about why it is not appropriate. It's not appropriate because they are detainees, not refugees.”  Long, but valuable story, with photos, about one of the many FEMA camps, of which most people are unaware. 

 

The Power of FEMA

Not only is it the most powerful entity in the United States , but it was not even created under Constitutional law by the Congress. It was a product of a Presidential Executive Order. No, it is not the U.S. military nor the Central Intelligence Agency, they are subject to Congress… These Executive Orders have been on record for nearly 30 years and could be enacted by the stroke of a Presidential pen:  [various executive orders allow] the government to take over all modes of transportation and control of highways and seaports…  seize and control the communication media…  take over all electrical power, gas, petroleum, fuels and minerals…  take over all food resources and farms…  mobilize civilians into work brigades under government supervision…  to take over all health, education and welfare functions…  to operate a national registration of all persons…  to take over all airports and aircraft, including commercial aircraft…  to relocate communities, build new housing with public funds, designate areas to be abandoned, and establish new locations for populations…  to take over railroads, inland waterways and public storage facilities…  to put all Executive Orders into effect in times of increased international tensions and economic or financial crisis…  to enforce the plans set out in Executive Orders, to institute industrial support, to establish judicial and legislative liaison, to control all aliens, to operate penal and correctional institutions, and to advise and assist the President…  assigns emergency preparedness function to federal departments and agencies, consolidating 21 operative Executive Orders issued over a fifteen year period…  to establish control over the mechanisms of production and distribution, of energy sources, wages, salaries, credit and the flow of money in U.S. financial institution in any undefined national emergency. It also provides that when a state of emergency is declared by the President, Congress cannot review the action for six months.  I made the acquaintance of a guy in the army about five years ago whose job involved organizing his base to respond to emergencies. He told me that FEMA was the one government that he feared because of its virtually absolute power and the fact that, once in control, it was unanswerable even to the president. Read the full article: they cantake over the whole economy, seize foreign property, divide the populace based on race, discover the identities of those who oppose martial law.  They have a network of secret underground bunkers for members of government built with US tax money.  It goes on and on.  ”The scenarios established to trigger FEMA into action are generally found in the society today, economic collapse, civil unrest, drug problems, terrorist attacks, and protests against American intervention in a foreign country.” 

 

California Earthquake Could Be the Next Katrina

“U.S. Geological Survey seismologist Lucy Jones remembers attending an emergency training session in August 2001 with the Federal Emergency Management Agency that discussed the three most likely catastrophes to strike the United States .  First on the list was a terrorist attack in New York . Second was a super-strength hurricane hitting New Orleans . Third was a major earthquake on the San Andreas fault . Sounds almost scripted.  The article imagines the infrastructure collapse of such an event and how the chaos could reach Katrina level.  However, it fails to mention at all how would people “escape” from an earthquake zone in which the roads were broken. 

 

Major L.A. quake could be worse than Katrina

 

Quake Will Kill Children and Elderly in California

 

11 Ohio children found locked in cages

“Police in northern Ohio on Monday have found 11 children locked in cages less than three-and-a-half feet high inside a home, but the parents told authorities they kept the kids in locked cages for their own protection…”  If you find this odd, then so should you find the PATRIOT Act. 

 

 

U.S. EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM


The U.S. school system is among the worst in the developed world. Unfortunately, the powers that be prefer this state of affairs.The system produces plenty of programmed automatons, ignorant of the world outside the U.S. (geography was virtually dropped from primary education decades ago), incapable of critical thinking, believing that the American way of everything is the best. Soviet students under Stalin and Kruschev were taught the same ideal. Such minds are great for the powerful who remain unthreatened by questions and easily able to maintain the status quo.It’s great for the  military services, too,  where there’s no draft.  

 

Army Faces Worst Recruiting Slump in Years

“The Army has not published official figures yet, but it apparently finished the 12-month counting period that ends Friday with about 73,000 recruits. Its goal was 80,000. A gap of 7,000 enlistees would be the largest - in absolute number as well as in percentage terms - since 1979, according to Army records.  The Army National Guard and the Army Reserve, which are smaller than the regular Army, had even worse results  ‘The future looks even grimmer. Recruiting is going to get harder and harder,’ Moskos said.” 

 

Students Score Below Average on Tests

“Across the country, in reading, only 30 percent of fourth-graders and eighth-graders reach at least the key level, proficient, which means competency over difficult material. In math, 31 percent of fourth-graders and 27 percent of eighth-graders do at least that well. In almost every case, the city students did worse. That means less than three out of 10 students achieved at the level they should have, based on federal standards. [...]” China graduates 8 to 10 times as many engineers annually as the U.S.   India

 

Studies: Don't Believe Homework Hype

“The image of students lugging home heavy packs of books may be familiar in many homes, but two new studies offer a different picture: The nation's homework load is light. [...] Most students have less than an hour of homework a night, according to a Brookings analysis of a broad range of homework research…  Only about one in 10 high school students does a substantial amount of homework - more than two hours a night…  The figure has held fairly stable for 50 years. [...]”

 

The Educational System Was Designed to Keep Us Uneducated and Docile

“By the turn of the century, America 's new educrats were pushing a new form of schooling with a new mission (and it wasn't to teach). The famous philosopher and educator John Dewey wrote in 1897: ‘Every teacher should realize he is a social servant set apart for the maintenance of the proper social order and the securing of the right social growth.’  In his 1905 dissertation for Columbia Teachers College, Elwood Cubberly - the future Dean of Education at Stanford - wrote that schools should be factories ‘in which raw products, children, are to be shaped and formed into finished products...manufactured like nails, and the specifications for manufacturing will come from government and industry.’ Much more to read in this recommended article. 

 

The Underground History of American Education

“The National Adult Literacy Survey represents 190 million U.S. adults over age sixteen with an average school attendance of 12.4 years… Forty-two million Americans over the age of sixteen can’t read.  Fifty million can recognize printed words on a fourth- and fifth-grade level…  Fifty-five to sixty million are limited to sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-grade reading…  About 3.5 percent of the 26,000-member sample demonstrated literacy skills adequate to do traditional college study, a level 30 percent of all U.S. high school students reached in 1940, and which 30 percent of secondary students in other developed countries can reach todayNinety-six and a half percent of the American population is mediocre to illiterate where deciphering print is concerned. This is no commentary on their intelligence, but without ability to take in primary information from print and to interpret it they are at the mercy of commentators who tell them what things mean. A working definition of immaturity might include an excessive need for other people to interpret information for us…”

 

History of Modern [American] Education

“The real makers of modern schooling weren't at all who we think. Not Cotton Mather.  Not Horace Mann.  Not John Dewey.  Andrew Carnegie, the steel baron... John D. Rockefeller, the duke of oil... Henry Ford, master of the assembly line which compounded steel and oil into a vehicular dynasty... and J.P. Morgan, the king of capitalist finance... Men like these, and the brilliant efficiency expert Frederick W. Taylor, who inspired the entire "social efficiency" movement of the early twentieth century, along with providing the new Soviet Union its operating philosophy and doing the same job for Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany; men who dreamed bigger dreams than any had dreamed since Napoleon or Charlemagne, these were the makers of modern schooling.  Traditional forms of instruction in America , even before the Revolution, had three specific purposes:  To make good people - To make good citizens - And to make each student find some particular talents to develop to the maximum.  The new mass schooling which came about slowly but continuously after 1890, had a different purpose, a "fourth" purpose.  The fourth purpose steadily squeezed the traditional three to the margins of schooling; in the fourth purpose, school in America became like school in Germany , a servant of corporate and political management.  We should reveal the mechanism of mind control training, habits, and attitudes. Children were literally trained in bad habits and bad attitudes!  Teachers and principals, “scientifically”certified in teachers college practices, were made unaware of the invisible curriculum they really taught. The secret of commerce, that kids drive purchases, meant that schools had to become psychological laboratories where training in consumerism was the central pursuit.  Since bored people are the best consumers, school had to be a boring place, and since childish people are the easiest customers to convince, the manufacture of childishness, extended into adulthood, had to be the first priority of factory schools. Naturally, teachers and administrators weren't let in on this plan; they didn't need to be. If they didn't conform to instructions passed down from increasingly centralized school offices, they didn't last long. In the new system, schools were gradually re-formed to meet the pressing need of big businesses to have standardized customers and employees…”  Much more – recommended reading. 

 

AGAINST SCHOOL

How public education cripples our kids, and why.  I taught for thirty years in some of the worst schools in Manhattan , and in some of the best, and during that time I became an expert in boredom.

 

Why Don't Americans Care?

“Do you know who Halliburton is? Dick Cheney? How about Karl Rove? Alas, most Americans don't.  Let's be honest. Percentage-wise, few people in America really give much of a crap about what's going on in the hallowed halls of politics and power…  This country is simply jam-packed with millions of people who have no time for, or interest in, politics, or media, or environmental policy, or education, or global issues, or which presidential candidate lied his ass off about which aspect of his military career and which Orange Alert is totally bogus and how many soldiers are dying for what imbecilic war…  Fact is, in the past decade, TV-news ratings -- cable and network, combined -- has shrunk to a fraction of its former numbers. Newspaper subscriptions have been either flat or dropping for just about as long. Newsmagazines, radio, historical nonfiction: flat or dropping fast. Even the Internet… draws far more people to its porn and gossip and shopping departments than any e-news  Voter turnout, comparatively, in Italy , Spain , the U.K. , or Germany ? Anywhere from 75 to 92 percent, every time. The sad fact is, the United States ranks 139th out of 172 countries in voter turnout  Alarming numbers of American high school students can't even identify the current vice president, much less name a half dozen presidents from history. Far too many citizens can't name the capital of their own home state or recognize their own senators, much less discern how Bush's environmental policy is poisoning their water or how Ashcroft wants to scan their email and tap their phones and suck the pith from their souls. A whopping 49 percent of Americans aged 18-25 can't find New York on a map, and 11 percent can't even locate the United States   Is it clearer now why most Americans simply believe what their leaders say, hate whom they’re told to hate, fight with whom they’re told to fight – and they don’t have any idea why other than what they’re told.  They assume that their leaders are smarter than they are, honorable and decent.  People are horrified at gang initiations that require the initiate to kill someone that they don’t even know.  Yet, our leaders tell our armed forces to go and kill people they don’t even know, may never even have heard of, and they do it, and Americans cheer.  That’s an staggering amount of power. And evidence indicates strongly that men without conscience wield it every day.

 

The War on Teachers and Students: The Devil in New England

“Police states don't exist without help and acquiescence... Most recently, a cop in the small town of Barre ...took it upon himself to do some reconnaissance in the Bush war on the world.  According to the Times-Argus (the daily paper that serves this region of Vermont), office John Mott had heard that one of the history teachers at the local high school was encouraging his students to think critically about the war on Iraq and other controversial actions of the Bush administration. The teacher, Tom Treece, is a pacifist who has made it clear that he opposes the current administration's warmongering. Although most of the high school's students don't seem to have a problem with Treece's stance and vocal support of it, certain citizens do. Indeed, some of them have gone so far as to form a small citizen's group called Citizens Advocating Responsible Education (CARE), to oppose Treece's teaching. An underlying motive of the group is to scuttle the school district's budget  if young people can think critically about their government and its actions, they might want to change it…”

 

Americans have not learnt the lessons of history

“…I had a conversation in Washington that summed up what was bound to go wrong for America in Iraq . I was talking to a mid-ranking official in the US Treasury about American plans for the post-war reconstruction of the Iraqi economy. She had just attended a meeting on precisely that subject. ‘So what kind of historical precedents have you been considering?’ I asked. ‘The post-Communist economies of Eastern Europe ,’ she replied. ‘We have quite a bit of experience we can draw on from the 1990s.’  When I suggested that the problems of privatisation in Poland might not prove relevant on the banks of the Euphrates , she seemed surprised. And when I suggested that she and her colleagues ought at least to take a look at the last Anglophone occupation of Iraq , her surprise turned to incredulity. Not for the first time since crossing the Atlantic , I was confronted with the disturbing reality about the way Americans make policy. Theory looms surprisingly large. [...] The lessons of history come a poor second, and only recent history - preferably recent American history - gets considered.  There was amazement last year when I pointed out in the journal Foreign Affairs that in 1917 a British general had occupied Baghdad and proclaimed: ‘Our armies do not come into your cities and lands as conquerors or enemies, but as liberators.’ By the same token, scarcely any American outside university history departments is aware that within just a few months of the formal British takeover of Iraq , there was a full-scale anti-British revolt. What happened in Iraq last week so closely resembles the events of 1920 that only a historical ignoramus could be surprised. 

 

Half of Europe's Citizens Know 2 Languages

In the United States , by contrast, 9 percent of Americans speak both their native language and another language fluently…”

 

America Is Bankrupt

“A recent trip to the United States – after a three-year absence – showed me how far the country and its people have deteriorated in a short period of time. Americans are bankrupt. They are bankrupt at every possible level: spiritually, morally, educationally…  People who would rank as the vilest of trolls on any Internet chat room are now on the air as TV and radio hosts, spewing forth hatred and even barefaced lies…  Substance and logic all take a back seat to name-calling.  The worst culprits are the talk radio show hosts…  Americans are always boasting about how they are the richest and the freest, etc., etc. But from the eyes of this American son, America 's twilight has fallen. It is getting dark. I cannot see any way out of the disaster you folks are headed for. The problems are too numerous, the needed debate unheard, and the psyche already destroyed.

 

'Intelligent Design' Court Battle Begins

Dover is believed to be the nation's first school system to mandate students be exposed to the intelligent design concept. Its policy requires school administrators to read a brief statement before classes on evolution that says Charles Darwin's theory is "not a fact" and has inexplicable "gaps." It refers students to an intelligent-design textbook for more information… Eight families sued, saying that the district policy in effect promotes the Bible's view of creation, violating the constitutional separation of church and state.”  Creationists (the proponents of “intelligent design”) insist that the genealogies in the Bible trace back to Adam and Eve, and that the earth is thus only about 6000 years old.  They claim that there is no evidence for the theory of evolution. 

 

Societies worse off 'when they have God on their side'

“According to the study, belief in and worship of God are not only unnecessary for a healthy society but may actually contribute to social problems.  The study counters the view of believers that religion is necessary to provide the moral and ethical foundations of a healthy society…  ‘In general, higher rates of belief in and worship of a creator correlate with higher rates of homicide, juvenile and early adult mortality, STD infection rates, teen pregnancy and abortion in the prosperous democracies.  The United States is almost always the most dysfunctional of the developing democracies, sometimes spectacularly so.’ …  The study concluded that the US was the world's only prosperous democracy where murder rates were still high, and that the least devout nations were the least dysfunctional.  Consider that Jesus told people to focus not on him, but on his message.  Consider how similar that message is to that of other major religions.  Now contrast that with Christian believers of today, who insist that only belief in Jesus will save your soul.  Seems that Christianity has morphed into the opposite of what Jesus intended.  Now, it makes perfect sense for people who believe in the same concepts like peace and love to be not only at each other’s throats, but spending all their resources to kill each other. 

 

The Roman Catholic Church of Corruption

“The larger than usual headline of the Philadelphia Inquirer lastThursday read, “An ‘Immoral’ Cover-up.” A grand jury indicted the Philadelphia archdiocese in a 418-page report detailing rampant pedophilia and sexual abuse as well as decades of well planned, sinister cover-up orchestrated by two Philadelphia cardinals…  Here are just a few of the documented examples of what predator priests did  Aside from ordering an “Apostolic Visitation,” the revered Pope John Paul II did virtually nothing about the church’s sex scandal or its predator priests…” 

 

CREEPING TOTALITARIANISM


A dumbed-down public education system turns out generations of people who don’t know the lessons of history.  For manipulative leaders, that’s a perfect populace – clueless and easily swayed.  Crimes, cover-ups, false-flag operations, phony pretexts, inventing imaginary foes, harassing peaceful protestors – anything goes with a public that just can’t think by itself. 

 

A little bit of German history from the University of South Florida 's "A Teacher's Guide to the Holocaust":

With Adolf Hitler's ascendancy to the chancellorship, the Nazi Party quickly consolidated its power. Hitler managed to maintain a posture of legality throughout the Nazification process.

 

Domestically, during the next six years, Hitler completely transformed Germany into a police state. Germany steadily began rearmament of its military, in violation of the 1919 Treaty of Versailles . Internationally, Hitler engaged in a "diplomatic revolution" by skillfully negotiating with other European countries and publicly expressing his strong desire for peace.

Starting in 1938, Hitler began his aggressive quest for Lebensraum,or more living space. Britain , France , and Russia did not want to enter into war and their collective diplomatic stance was to appease the bully Germany . Without engaging in war, Germany was able to annex neighboring Austria and carve up Czechoslovakia . At last, a reluctant Britain and France threatened war if Germany targeted Poland and/or Romania . [...]

 

On February 27, 1933, the Reichstag building went up in flames. Nazis immediately claimed that this was the beginning of a Communist revolution. This fact leads many historians to believe that Nazis actually set, or help set the fire. Others believe that a deranged Dutch Communist set the fire. The issue has never been resolved. This incident prompted Hitler to convince Hindenburg to issue a Decree for the Protection of People and State that granted Nazis sweeping power to deal with the so-called emergency. This laid the foundation for a police state.

 

How Hitler Became a Dictator

“…how was Goering so certain that the fire had been set by communist terrorists? Arrested on the spot was a Dutch communist named Marinus van der Lubbe. Most historians now believe that van der Lubbe was actually duped by the Nazis into setting the fire and probably was even assisted by them, without his realizing it.  Why would Hitler and his associates turn a blind eye to an impending terrorist attack on their national congressional building or actually assist with such a horrific deed? Because they knew what government officials have known throughout history - that during extreme national emergencies, people are most scared and thus much more willing to surrender their liberties in return for ‘security.’ And that's exactly what happened during the Reichstag terrorist crisis… The day after the fire, Hitler persuaded President Hindenburg to issue a decree entitled, "For the Protection of the People and the State." Justified as a "defensive measure against Communist acts of violence endangering the state," the decree suspended the constitutional guarantees pertaining to civil liberties…  Within a month, the Nazis had transferred jurisdiction over treason cases from the Supreme Court to a new People's Court, which, as Shirer points out, soon became the most dreaded tribunal in the land. It consisted of two professional judges and five others chosen from among party officials, the S.S. and the armed forces, thus giving the latter a majority vote. There was no appeal from its decisions or sentences…  The Nazis also implemented a legal concept called Schutzhaft or "protective custody" which enabled them to arrest and incarcerate people without charging them with a crime…”

 

But Then It Was Too Late

This must-read account of one German’s description of living through the creeping fascism of the Nazi years illuminates how a criminal government manipulates the masses and exerts its will.  "’What no one seemed to notice,’ said a colleague of mine, a philologist, ‘was the ever widening gap, after 1933, between the government and the people…  What happened here was the gradual habituation of the people, little by little, to being governed by surprise; to receiving decisions deliberated in secret; to believing that the situation was so complicated that the government had to act on information which the people could not understand, or so dangerous that, even if he people could understand it, it could not be released because of national security…  This separation of government from people, this widening of the gap, took place so gradually and so insensibly, each step disguised (perhaps not even intentionally) as a temporary emergency measure or associated with true patriotic allegiance or with real social purposes…  The dictatorship, and the whole process of its coming into being, was above all diverting. It provided an excuse not to think for people who did not want to think anyway… Each step was so small, so inconsequential, so well explained or, on occasion, ‘regretted,’ that, unless one were detached from the whole process from the beginning, unless one understood what the whole thing was in principle, what all these ‘little measures’ that no ‘patriotic German’ could resent must some day lead to, one no more saw it developing from day to day than a farmer in his field sees the corn growing. One day it is over his head  you speak privately to your colleagues, some of whom certainly feel as you do; but what do they say? They say, ‘It's not so bad’ or ‘You're seeing things’ or ‘You're an alarmist.’ And you are an alarmist. You are saying that this must lead to this, and you can't prove it. These are the beginnings, yes; but how do you know for sure when you don't know the end, and how do you know, or even surmise, the end? … you see that everything, everything, has changed and changed completely under your nose. The world you live in – your nation, your people – is not the world you were in at all. The forms are all there, all untouched, all reassuring, the houses, the shops, the jobs, the mealtimes, the visits, the concerts, the cinema, the holidays. But the spirit, which you never noticed because you made the lifelong mistake of identifying it with the forms, is changed.  Now you live in a world of hate and fear, and the people who hate and fear do not even know it themselves…  Once the war began, the government could do anything ‘necessary’ to win it… 

 

9/11--Who Done It? - Part I --CM/P

Read for 29 questions that cast doubt on the “official” story of 9/11. 

 

Incoming FDNY chaplain questions 9/11 story

“An imam slated to be sworn in Friday as the second Muslim chaplain in Fire Department history said he questioned whether 19 hijackers were responsible for the Sept. 11 terror attacks, and suggested a broader conspiracy may have brought down the Twin Towers and killed more than 2,700 people…  I've heard professionals say that nowhere ever in history did a steel building come down with fire alone," he said. "It takes two or three weeks to demolish a building like that. But it was pulled down in a couple of hours…”

 

Fire Dept Tape Invalidates Key Points Official 911 Story (from 2003)

“Most people -- or certainly many people, especially in the U.S. -- believe the complete structural failure and total collapse of the World Trade Center towers was caused by the combustion of large quantities of jet fuel, dispersed and ignited after "hijacked" jets crashed into each tower on Sept. 11, 2001. That is the scenario promulgated to the far corners of the globe by official U.S. government sources.  Interestingly, jet fuel -- somewhat similar to common kerosene and not much different than charcoal lighter fluid -- burns at roughly 875 degrees. Whether a little or a lot of fuel is burned, it still burns at roughly the same temperature. Now: Think about all the kerosene burning in all those kerosene heaters (and lanterns), constructed primarily of thin, low-grade, steel sheet metal. Think about all those kerosene heaters burning merrily away, with temperatures perhaps approaching 875 degrees at the hottest. Think about how parts of all those kerosene heaters would then turn into bubbling pools of melted steel before the horrified eyes of countless poor souls who had no idea the fuel used in their heaters would actually "MELT" the heaters themselves.  Of course, this does NOT happen -- which gives us a pretty good idea that what had been sold far and wide by the U.S. government and innumerable media outlets as the "cause" of the trade center towers' collapse is in fact absolute fiction and fantasy, without the slightest shred of scientific fact or collaborative evidence and testimony to support such monstrous and utter nonsense…”  Read on for much, much more, including interesting transcripts of FDNY communications recorded at the time of the disaster. 

 

Congressman says Pentagon employee ordered to destroy hijacker data

“A Pentagon employee was ordered to destroy documents that identified Mohamed Atta as a terrorist two years before the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, a congressman said Thursday.  The employee is prepared to testify next week before the Senate judiciary committee and was expected to identify the person who ordered him to destroy the large volume of documents  Weldon has said Atta, the mastermind of the Sept 11 attacks, and three other hijackers were identified in 1999 by a classified military intelligence unit known as Able Danger, which determined they could be members of an al-Qaida cell.”  So, do you believe that it makes sense to identify terrorists and then destroy documents on them?  Do you wonder what is being hidden? 

 

Pentagon blocking September 11 inquiry: Senator

The Republican chairman of the Senate judiciary committee accused the Pentagon on Wednesday of stonewalling an inquiry into claims that the U.S. military identified four September 11 hijackers more than a year before the 2001 attacks.  The Defense Department barred several witnesses from testifying at a judiciary committee hearing and instead sent a top-level official who could provide little information on al Qaeda-related intelligence uncovered by a secret military team code-named Able Danger.”

 

Mahmoud Ahmad and The Secret Cult of 9-11.

 

Lawmakers Ask CIA to Open Sept. 11 Report

“The leaders of the House Intelligence Committee want CIA Director Porter Goss to provide a public version of his agency's hard-hitting report on the failures leading up to Sept. 11, 2001…  Such bids for disclosure could put Goss in a tight spot. As a chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, he helped lead a congressional inquiry into the attacks and requested the inspector general's investigation.” 

 

Tight Constraints on Pentagon's Freedom Walk

“Event Remembering 9/11, Troops to Be Kept 'Sterile,' Limited to Preregistered  Officers are prepared to arrest anyone who joins the march or concert without a credential and refuses to leave, said Park Police Chief Dwight E. Pettiford.  The event, the America Supports You Freedom Walk, is billed as a memorial to victims of the 2001 terrorist attacks and a show of support for those serving in the military, topped off with a concert by country singer Clint Black, known for his pro-troops anthem, ‘Iraq and Roll.’ … One restricted group will be the media, whose members will not be allowed to walk along the march route.”  There isn’t even a pretense anymore that the government considers “freedom” to be something quite different from the traditional concept.  Whenever you hear “freedom” spoken by the president, substitute “ US government control” and you may get closer to his meaning.  America means freedom” and “ America is bringing freedom to Iraq .” 

 

The Silent Coup 

“Over the past five years the relationship between government and industry has been transformed. Now, an assortment of K street Corporate shills write legislation, develop tax proposals, and formulate foreign policy, sometimes in their industry’s self-interest, sometimes at the behest of a few right wing ideologues in Congress or the Administration…”  Mussolini himself defined fascism primarily as the marriage of corporate and government power. 

 

A Brief History of U.S. Interventions: -- 1945 to the Present

Read about over 30 destabilization campaigns. 

 

Negroponte Says Terror Database Is Working

 

American Herods & The Fallacy Of A Free Press

“Many writers and essayists on the Internet--that last bastion of a truly free press--have thoughtfully and passionately compared George W Bush to imperial leaders throughout history. Everyone from Richard Nixon to Adolf Hitler to Nicolo Machiavelli…  If we Americans realize that those in power are never hindered by any feelings of conscience or guilt, if we realize that our rulers freely act in their own self interest, (unless forced to do so by popular outcry), that they conduct policy as insatiable predators would, we begin to see them with a new clarity  When we realize that the Biblical Herods wielded limited but absolute power backed by imperial Rome , we realize that the Bushes, Clintons , Johnsons and Nixons wield limited power within a framework of power brokers…  Likewise our "free press," never seems to ask the pertinent question of any crime: Who benefits? Who benefits when a Paul Wellstone or well-respected critic dies "accidentally?" Who benefits when a 47 story building falls mysteriously? And who benefits when a country is invaded? Who profits?...   

 

Behind America's façade

“As if by accident, the US media, which are the legitimising arm of corporate public relations, reported the truth. For a few days, a select group of liberal newspaper readers were told that poverty had risen an amazing 17 per cent under George W Bush; that an African American child born within a mile of the White House had less chance of surviving its first year than a baby in urban India . That the United States now ranked 43rd in the world for infant mortality, 84th for measles immunisation and 89th for polio. That the world's largest public oil company, ExxonMobil, would make $30bn in profits this year, having received a huge slice of the $14.5bn in "tax breaks" that Bush's new energy bill guarantees his elite cronies…  western foreign policy is formulated ‘through a self-righteous, one-way, moral/legal screen [with] positive images of western values and innocence portrayed as threatened, validating a campaign of unrestricted political violence . . .’ This is the filter through which most people get their serious news…  It is the reason why America 's destruction of 35 democracies in 30 countries (the historian William Blum's latest count) is unknown to the American public  In his classic work The Grand Chessboard, Zbigniew Brzezinski, the godfather of US policies and actions in Afghanistan and Iraq, writes that, for America to dominate the world, it cannot sustain a genuine, popular democracy, because "the pursuit of power is not a goal that commands popular passion . . . Democracy is inimical to imperial mobilisation." He describes how he secretly persuaded President Carter in 1976 to bankroll and arm the jihadis in Pakistan and Afghanistan as a means of ensuring US cold war dominance. When I asked him in Washington , two years ago, if he regretted that the consequences were al-Qaeda and the attacks of 11 September 2001, he became very angry and did not reply; and a crack in the Facade closed. It is time that those of us paid to keep the record straight tore it down completely.”

 

U.S. agency blocks photos of New Orleans dead

“The U.S. government agency leading the rescue efforts after Hurricane Katrina said on Tuesday it does not want the news media to take photographs of the dead as they are recovered from the flooded New Orleans area.”  Governments know well how to manage the press.  Imagine how quickly support for the Iraq war would evaporate if every one of the 100,000+ resulting dead bodies were shown on TV.  How many war dead have you seen on TV?  In magazines?  Even if you’ve seen 100, that means that you haven’t viewed 99.9% of the carnage.  ”The Bush administration also has prevented the news media from photographing flag-draped caskets of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq, which has sparked criticism that the government is trying to block images that put the war in a bad light.” 

 

ABC, CBS Secretly Searching for Anchors

 

Why Katrina Won't Change The Media -- The news media's fake transformation

 

FBI, Michigan Police Tag Peace, Affirmative Actions Groups as 'Terrorists'

“An FBI document, released on August 29 by the ACLU, shows extensive monitoring of a whole bunch of organizations, ranging from the Aryan World Church and the Christian Identity movement to animal rights groups, an anti-war collective, and a leading pro-affirmative action coalition…  ‘I was shocked," she says. "I was really disturbed that the FBI is misusing its power this way. They're trying to squash dissent, and they're doing that by monitoring anti-war groups and other groups against the Bush Administration.’ … ‘This document confirms our fears that federal and state counterterrorism officers have turned their attention to groups and individuals engaged in peaceful protest activities,’ said Ben Wizner, an ACLU staff attorney."

 

Pentagon Revises Nuclear Strike Plan

“Strategy Includes Preemptive Use Against Banned Weapons…  At a White House briefing that year [2002], a spokesman said the United States would "respond with overwhelming force" to the use of weapons of mass destruction against the United States, its forces or allies, and said ‘all options’ would be available to the president…  The first example for potential nuclear weapon use listed in the draft is against an enemy that is using ‘or intending to use WMD’ against U.S. or allied, multinational military forces or civilian populations.  Another scenario for a possible nuclear preemptive strike is in case of an ‘imminent attack from adversary biological weapons that only effects from nuclear weapons can safely destroy.’”

 

Confessions Of An Economic Hit Man

“John Perkins' book "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man" explains American foreign policy better than any of the academic tomes you might read on the subject…  In a nutshell, the game is played this way: People like Perkins work for consulting firms, and their job is to entice a foreign head of state to go deeply in debt. They do this by greatly exaggerating the economic returns on big projects such as dams and electrification systems…  The payoff comes in two ways. The foreign country hires American contractors to build the systems, and they make big profits. Then, mired in debt, the head of state will do what the United States government tells him to do. If he proves too independent or too honest to accept bribes, then he will be removed from power, either in a coup or in an accident  I believe Perkins is telling the truth, because I have observed through the years that the United States hates any honest nationalist leader. Let some guy try to benefit his own people instead of catering to multinational corporations, and the U.S. government and the propaganda machine will crank up and paint him as a villain. After the American people have been sufficiently indoctrinated, the poor guy won't be around much longer.  We did that to Mohammed Mossadegh, a democratically elected nationalist who thought Iran 's oil should benefit Iranians. We painted him as a communist, and the CIA engineered a coup that replaced him with the Shah. In case you're curious, that's why so many Iranians hate us. We did it to a Guatemalan patriot, Jacobo Arbenz, when he tried to implement land reform and thus ran afoul of the United Fruit Co., which orchestrated the campaign that led to his overthrow by the U.S. Omar Torrijos, a Panamanian reformer, and Jaime Roldos, president of Ecuador who locked horns with big oil companies, both died in planes that exploded.  Read that again, “the United States hates any honest national leader.”  The risk of an honest national leader is that he will reveal the truth about the way the US does business.  Consider what is happening to Hugo Chavez of Venezuela now.  People fear the U.S. with good reason. We talk about spreading democracy, but what we do is extend empire and make war  We were a great and much-loved country when we were a republic. Since we've become an empire, we're hardly loved at all and, in fact, are hated by many people in the world. Unless we find a way to return to our republican roots, we will go the way of all empires - simultaneously accumulating enemies and bankrupting ourselves in an eventually futile attempt to defeat them.

 

US destination address required for passengers travelling to the US

“From 4 October 2005, the United States government requires all visitors to provide a US destination address prior to their departure.”  So, as the US badgers China to become more “free,” the US itself becomes less free.  China requires a destination address when you visit. 

 

FAA to propose cameras, wireless devices in planes

"’The purpose of monitoring is to identify anyone requesting entry to the flight deck and to detect suspicious behavior or potential threats,’ the FAA said in a notice to be published on Wednesday…  Pilots have strongly objected to that use for cameras because of privacy concerns.

 

Air travellers face biometric screening

 

Brain imaging ready to detect terrorists, say neuroscientists

“MRI scans can pick up lies, but raise ethical issues…”

 

About 200 go on hunger strike in Guantanamo

“…as many as 200 prisoners -- more than a third of the camp's population -- have refused food in recent weeks to protest conditions and prolonged confinement without trial…” 

 

The Gitmo Hunger Strikers

“Let Them Die or Let Them Go…  If the Pentagon allowed the media to visit Guantanamo , they would see the emaciated, skeletal victims of Bush's war on terror, the proof that America now oversees Nazi-like death camps. 

 

The People with the Blood-Soaked Hands

“Will Neocon Fanaticism Destroy America ?  The "cakewalk war" is now two and one-half years old. US casualties (dead and wounded) number 20,000. As 20,000 is the number of Iraqi insurgents according to US military commanders, each insurgent is responsible for one US casualty.  US troops in Iraq number about 150,000. Obviously, US troops have not inflicted 150,000 casualties on the Iraqi insurgents. US troops have perhaps inflicted 150,000 casualties on the Iraqi civilian population, primarily women and children who are the "collateral damage" of the "righteous" and "virtuous" US invasion that is spreading civilian deaths all over Mesopotamia in the name of democracy…”

 

Sheehan's Anti-War Campaign Now in D.C.

“Anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan pledged Wednesday to "force change to happen" during protest speeches outside the White House and Capitol. Sheehan arrived in Washington after a three-week cross-country bus tour that began near President Bush's ranch in Crawford , Texas . She is expected to participate in an anti-Iraq war rally Saturday that organizers hope could draw tens of thousands of people…”

 

Anti-War Demonstrators March on Washington

“The rally stretched through the day and into the night, a marathon of music, speechmaking and dissent on the National Mall. Police Chief Charles H. Ramsey, noting that organizers had hoped to draw 100,000 people, said, ‘I think they probably hit that.’”  Did the allegedly “liberal media” show this rally to you on TV?  What?  No?  ”Thousands of people attended smaller rallies in cities on the West Coast, including Los Angeles, San Diego, San Franciso and Seattle.  In Washington , a few hundred people in a counter demonstration in support of Bush's Iraq policy lined the protest route near the FBI building. The two groups shouted at each other, a police line keeping them apart. Organizers of a pro-military rally Sunday hoped for 10,000 people.” 

 

Police forcibly break up Cindy Sheehan rally

“The New York City Police Department forcibly broke up this afternoon's rally for Cindy Sheehan, moving in as Cindy was speaking at about 3 p.m. in Union Square …” 

 

Sheehan arrested during White House protest

“Sheehan and several dozen other protesters sat down on the footpath after marching along the pedestrian walkway on Pennsylvania Avenue . Police warned them three times that they were breaking the law by failing to move along, then began making arrests…”

 

'Peace Mom' Cindy Sheehan Meets McCain

“’He tried to tell us what George Bush would have said,’ Sheehan, who protested at the president's Texas home over the summer, told reporters. ‘I don't believe he believes what he was telling me.’”

 

Manipulating the Public Mind

A sea of humanity descended upon the nation's capital yesterday to voice its opposition to the invasion and occupation of Iraq . My wife and I, along with a sizable contingent from West Virginia , were among the teeming throngs that flowed through the streets of the District of Columbia like a raging river in the aftermath of a storm.

 

Harvard Will Cooperate With U.S. Military

“…Harvard has reversed, at least for now, its policy of barring the Pentagon from using the law school's career services office for recruiting…  Last week, three law schools, including New York Law School, were listed in the federal register as ineligible for federal funds for denying full cooperation to military recruiters, according to Kent Greenfield, a Boston College law professor active in the case opposing the law.”

 

Universities asked to inform on students (from June 2004)

“The Norwegian Police Security Service (PST) has asked the employees at the universities to keep track of all suspicious students and researchers…  This reminds me of Eastern Germany in the old days,’"

 

Goss Plans To Expand CIA Spying And Analysis

 

Former White House Official Arrested

“A former Bush administration official was arrested Monday on charges he made false statements and obstructed a federal investigation into his dealings with lobbyist Jack Abramoff, according to court documents and government officials. David Safavian, then-chief of staff of the General Services Administration and a former Abramoff lobbying associate, concealed from federal investigators that Abramoff was seeking to do business with GSA when Safavian joined him on a golf trip to Scotland in 2002, according to an FBI affidavit and the officials.”

 

Official: British troops freed in jailbreak

“…British armored vehicle escorted by a tank crashed into a detention center Monday in Basra and rescued two undercover troops held by police, an Iraqi Interior Ministry official told CNN…  The official said two unknown gunmen in full Arabic dress began firing on civilians in central Basra , wounding several, including a traffic police officer. There were no fatalities, the official said.  The two gunmen fled the scene but were captured and taken in for questioning, admitting they were British marines carrying out a "special security task," the official said…”  This story makes sense considering the common phenomenon of “false-flag operations,” in which operatives of one government carry out some sort of attack then ensure that another government or organization is blamed for it.  Clearly, British special forces dressed as Arabs suggests such an operation. 

 

So what were two undercover British soldiers up to in Basra?

The search for answers to those questions reveals that the picture the British public has been allowed to gain of our occupation of southern Iraq - one of relative tranquillity and co-operation compared to the bloody mayhem further north - is at best misleading, at worst deliberately distorted…  It is not impossible that one or both of the men are not British. Special forces from Australia and New Zealand , for example, often work closely with the SAS. They could even be "civilian contractors" of the kind hired by the CIA, usually ex-special forces. But it is their mission that is more significant.  ‘Being in civilian clothing, wearing Arab clothes, made them look like spies. In Iraq , when you mention the word spy, people really get agitated. Even under Saddam Hussein, people were patriotic, they didn't like foreign spies in their country. So this image is very much of clandestine and secretive action.’” 

 

The Galloway phenomenon 

Galloway went on to remind people that the families of those who died on 9/11 did not suffer any greater pain than did the relatives of Iraqis and Afghans who died from American and British bombings… In the spirit of George Galloway's passionate plea for the lives of both the Iraqi people and the soldiers sent to kill them, we must pull the rug out from beneath the feet of those who shed crocodile tears for the continuing deaths of American troops while calculating the slaughter of foreigners…”

 

Who's Blowing Up Iraq? 

“New evidence that bombs are being planted by British Commandos…  In more than two years since the United States initiated hostilities against Iraq , there has never been a positive identification of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Never…  Al-Zarqawi may simply be a fantasy dreamed up by Pentagon planners to put a threatening face on the Iraqi resistance.

 

Al-Zarqawi, An American False Flag Operative (from 2004)

 

How US fuelled myth of Zarqawi the mastermind

“Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the terrorist leader believed to be responsible for the abduction of Kenneth Bigley, is 'more myth than man', according to American military intelligence agents in Iraq .  Back home this stuff was gratefully received and formed the basis of policy decisions. We needed a villain, someone identifiable for the public to latch on to, and we got one." [...]

 

Al-Qaida denies aide to Zarqawi killed in Iraq

An internet statement denied on Tuesday reports that the right-hand man of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the most wanted militant in Iraq , has been killed by US forces…”

 

The 'myth' of Iraq's foreign fighters

“Report by US think tank says only '4 to 10' percent of insurgents are foreigners…” 

 

When nature and man conspire to expose the lies of the powerful, the truth will out

 

The Enemy and the Nuremberg Principles

Read about the principles and about how, unfortunately, under their definition, the current US administration has perpetrated “crimes against peace.”

 

Why Is George W. Bush Above the Law?

“We're not talking mistakes, here. We're not talking poor judgment or failed policies. We're not talking politics as usual, with its underhanded array of pork and perks. But we are talking about very serious violations of the public trust, and very possibly the law, perpetrated by the elected leader of this nation and his handlers…  In every one of the scandals in question, calls for a nonpartisan, independent commission were thwarted by the very people accused of misdeeds and crimes. Something is really wrong when an American president who is accused of misconduct can determine who will delve into the facts behind his own actions? Something also is really wrong when incriminating evidence can be redacted and withheld from the public by the very people incriminated by that evidence… George Bush has had a free pass to do as he pleased for nearly five years now. He and his henchmen have not been held accountable for any crime against the people of this country or the world. He is above the law.  George Bush and his entire band of brigands have perfected their sting. They use it because it works. They use it because they can. They use it because we allow them to.” 

 

ABC News Anchor Peter Jennings Dies at 67

 

Brokaw urges Montanans: Seek common ground

"Our national leaders and their hired guns create fears and exploit them," Brokaw said. "Politics always has been a rough business, but now it's a cold, take-no-prisoners attitude.”

 

Emotional Rather blasts 'new journalism order'

Dan Rather said Monday that there is a climate of fear running through newsrooms stronger than he has ever seen in his more than four-decade career…  Addressing the Fordham University School of Law in Manhattan , occasionally forcing back tears, he said that in the intervening years, politicians "of every persuasion" had gotten better at applying pressure on the conglomerates that own the broadcast networks. He called it a "new journalism order  He said this pressure -- along with the "dumbed-down, tarted-up" coverage, the advent of 24-hour cable competition and the chase for ratings and demographics -- has taken its toll on the news business."

 

Bush ally quits as Congress leader over finance indictment

DeLay, widely considered one of the most powerful political operators in Washington , has faced a series of ethics allegations.  The 58-year-old former pest exterminator, who comes from Sugarland , Texas , is known as ‘The Hammer’ for his sometimes ruthless approach to politics.  He has masterminded Republican election victories as well as pushing through White House goals in Congress. DeLay was also instrumental in Republicans taking control of the Texas legislature from the Democrats…  The Republican party has faced mounting political sleaze charges in recent months.  Bill Frist, the leader of the Republican majority in the Senate, acknowledged last week that he has been questioned by federal investigators over possible insider trading involving shares in a health fund started by his family…”

BUSH ADMINISTRATION IN CRISIS

 

As White House Anxiety Grows, Bush Tries to Quell Political Crisis

“Faced with one of the worst political crises of his administration, President Bush abruptly overhauled his September schedule on Saturday as the White House scrambled to gain control of a situation that Republicans said threatened to undermine Mr. Bush's second-term agenda and the party's long-term ambitions.  In a sign of the mounting anxiety at the White House, Mr. Bush made a rare Saturday appearance in the Rose Garden before live television cameras to announce that he was dispatching additional active-duty troops to the Gulf Coast . He struck a more somber tone than he had at times on Friday during a daylong tour of the disaster region, when he had joked at the airport in New Orleans about the fun he had had in his younger days in Houston…  Donald P. Green, a professor of political science at Yale University , said: ‘The possibility for very serious damage to the administration exists. The unmistakable conclusion one would draw from this (mishandling Hurricane Katrina aftermath) was this was a massive administration failure.’”

 

Eye of the Political Storm

“…a new NEWSWEEK Poll suggests the post-Katrina political storm may just be rising. And her ultimate casualty could be President George W. Bush  most Americans, 52 percent, say they do not trust the president ‘to make the right decisions during a domestic crisis’… Amazingly, a new disaster might help Bush more than hurt him. As Jeff Wells noted, Bush governs from disaster to disaster and each new disaster blots out memory of previous ones. How many people talk about Enron any more? " 

 

Now They Tell Us

“Amid a slew of stories this weekend about the embattled presidency and the blundering government response to the drowning of New Orleans , some journalists who are long-time observers of the White House are suddenly sharing scathing observations about President Bush that may be new to many of their readers.  Is Bush the commanding, decisive, jovial president you've been hearing about for years in so much of the mainstream press?  Maybe not so much.  Judging from the blistering analyses in Time, Newsweek, and elsewhere these past few days, it turns out that Bush is in fact fidgety, cold and snappish in private. He yells at those who dare give him bad news and is therefore not surprisingly surrounded by an echo chamber of terrified sycophants. He is slow to comprehend concepts that don't emerge from his gut. He is uncomprehending of the speeches that he is given to read. And oh yes, one of his most significant legacies -- the immense post-Sept. 11 reorganization of the federal government which created the Homeland Security Department -- has failed a big test.”  It’s astonishing that the truth of Bush’s personality, which shines through to all with eyes to see, is invisible to so many.  Throughout his presidency we have read, time and again, of his bilious, foul-mouthed disposition, the “dry drunk” behavior of a non-recovered addict that he exhibits, and psychological analyses (albeit at a distance) from professionals who agree that he is a disturbed individual, unable to feel or to care as a “normal” person, and unable to admit mistakes.  What is it about the mainstream media that has caused them to suppress and hide this data for so long?  “…for whatever reason, critical observations and insights that for so long have been zealously guarded by mainstream journalists, and only doled out in teaspoons if at all, now seem to be flooding into the public sphere…  “’Bush can be petulant about dissent; he equates disagreement with disloyalty. After five years in office, he is surrounded largely by people who agree with him.’ … ‘Bush's bubble has grown more hermetic in the second term, they say, with fewer people willing or able to bring him bad news -- or tell him when he's wrong.’…” 

 

Bush's UN-doing

“Yesterday's images of Bush at the U.N. tell us a lot about what we already know.  But they also start to tell us about what we can expect. We know Condi is the teacher and Bush is her pupil. We also know Bush is monitored for every word that comes out of his mouth…  Previously visible only in snippets (usually clamped down by those all too familiar pursed lips), the hurricane battered Bush can now seem outwardly brooding; bored; withdrawn and distracted: and also sarcastic and snide.  (And, judging by the hostility coming out of his wife and mother, perhaps the whole family may be starting to show its true colors.)

 

George Bush in Hell

Robert Novak, of all people, wrote a column last week chronicling his experience watching rich Republicans at an Aspen retreat bash the idiocy of Bush administration policies on Iraq , Hurricane Katrina, stem-cell research and more…  We can either go completely off the deep-end and finally constitute the Fascist Republic of Cheney, or we can turn to the left, toward some semblance of rational policymaking. The latter seems far more likely, especially as America increasingly regains its senses after a long bout of temporary insanity…  I'll confess to more than a little schadenfreude as I contemplate the ugly situation staring Republicans officeholders in the face right now. They are tethered to a sinking ship, and have only two lousy options to choose from as November 2006 approaches. One is to stay the course and drown. The other is to start renouncing Bush and his policies, appear to voters as the complete hypocrites and political whores many will prove to be, and then still drown anyhow  Bush's one-note economic symphony has succeeded in producing precisely the cacophony of disaster that progressive commentators have predicted all along: massive deficits, little or no economic boost, a hemorrhaging of jobs overseas, and a vastly more polarized America of rich, poor and a disappearing middle class…  What if Diminutive George, just like LBJ before him, can't leave the completely scripted bubble his staff manufactures, just as such set-pieces become increasingly difficult to sustain?”   The writer doesn’t yet fully understand this Bush “bubble” – that he will never, ever, change course.  According to a forthcoming (December 2005) New Yorker article, author Seymour Hersh said that people close to the president describe him as living in a fantasy world of religious zeal and idealism – his own brand, of course – that he believes he’s right, feels no pain, and does not care how many people die along the way.  His inner circle shields him from what he doesn’t want to hear.  It seems unlikely that the Cheney-Rumsfeld-Rove cabal will wait to be burned at the stake, but that they will create or force some crisis that sparks enormous fear and demands full attention, which they will deal with for their own self-aggrandizement as a way to salvage their political power. 

 

Ignorance and abdication that amounts to madness

“All political leaders sometimes parry with the truth, but with Bush the disconnections are systematic… Is it possible that this administration is mad? Let us try to define the variant of madness…

 

 

SUPREME COURT CHIEF JUSTICE NOMINEE JOHN ROBERTS

 

Bush likely to steer US high court rightward, after death of chief justice

“President George W. Bush promised to quickly nominate a successor to Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist, whose death has given the president a chance to put a conservative stamp on the court for decades to come.”

 

Bush Nominates Roberts for Chief Justice

“The last time a president chose a chief justice outside the court was half a century ago, when Earl Warren was selected by President Dwight D. Eisenhower.”

 

How would Roberts, as chief justice, affect you?

Right to privacy.  he disparaged the notion that there is a constitutional right to privacy…

Abortion.  he signed a government brief urging reversal of Roe v. Wade…

Civil rights.  argued for standards that would make it easier for school districts to evade desegregation orders…

Powers of Congress.  Roberts parted company with the majority of conservative judges on his appeals court two years ago to take a swipe at the constitutional basis of the Endangered Species Act…

Freedom of speech.  argued that a federal law prohibiting flag burning did not violate the First Amendment

Freedom of the press. Roberts wrote a memo challenging the 1964 Supreme Court decision New YorkTimes v. Sullivan, a cornerstone of the freedom to report aggressively on public officials

Church-state entanglement. He argued for lowering the wall between church and state and allowing officially led prayers at public school graduations.

Women's rights. Roberts ridiculed the notion that women are subject to workplace discrimination or entitled to constitutional protection…”

 

Roberts Sidesteps Landmark Abortion Ruling

 

After Roberts, next Supreme Court fight takes shape

 

Roberts nomination advances

“His confirmation as the 109th Supreme Court justice is assured because most of the Senate's 55 Republicans are supporting him and Democrats have decided not to filibuster his nomination.”

 

First Bush Supreme Court pick Roberts sworn in as 17th US Chief Justice

 

Bush Drops 'Diversity' Hint About Nominee

“President Bush hinted on Monday that his next nominee for the Supreme Court would be a woman or a minority, saying that ‘diversity is one of the strengths of the country.’  The president also expressed optimism that the Senate would confirm John Roberts as chief justice this week - which seems virtually certain…  ‘I am deeply concerned that he and President Bush's next nominee will shift the Supreme Court close to the extreme right for many years to come," Dayton said.’” 

 

 

U.S. FOREIGN POLICY

The stream of reporting is endless, but Americans remain unaware thanks to the lack of objective, investigative news from the mainstream, corporate media.  The U.S. has established secret prisons around the world to which “threats” are kidnapped and disappear.  Torture is U.S. policy in prison camps in Iraq , Afghanistan , Cuba , and elsewhere.  The CIA has a secret “shadow army” that carries out assassinations and other destabilizing terrorist actions.  The army can’t get enough recruits.  There is no exit strategy from Iraq .  American economic “hit men” dupe foreign governments into getting into debt.  And little if any of it is new. 

 

Bush and "Skin Color"

From a speech by Bush at the Rose Garden May 2004:  ‘There's a lot of people in the world who don't believe that people whose skin color may not be the same as ours can be free and self-govern. I reject that. I reject that strongly. I believe that people who practice the Muslim faith can self-govern. I believe that people whose skins aren't necessarily -- are a different color than white can self-govern.’"

 

U.S. Influence 'Too Much'

U.S. influence in the process of drafting a constitution for Iraq is excessive and ‘highly inappropriate’, a United Nations official says…  ‘Firstly, the occupation authorities selected and affected the makeup of the commission that was charged with drafting Iraq 's transitional law, and its permanent constitution. Second, the occupation determined the limits and parameters within which the constitution was to be drafted. Third, the occupation authorities intervened directly in order to safeguard its interests in the context of the constitutional negotiations.’ … ‘One could argue the entire process is against the law… According to the 1907 Convention (the convention for the pacific settlement of disputes), the occupying power has a duty to maintain the legal system of the country it occupies. This is the first time ever that an occupying power has dismantled the internal law system of the country it occupies…‘"

 

America is Running Out of Time

Iraq War Winners: Al-Qaeda , Iran and Military Contractors…  The US is so short of troops that neoconservatives are advocating the use of foreign mercenaries paid with US citizenship  The war has brought soaring profits to the military industries and the firms with reconstruction contracts at the expense of 20,000 US military casualties and tens of thousands of Iraqi civilian casualties  The budget deficit is being financed by foreigners, primarily Asians who now hold enough US government debt to exercise power over US interest rates and the value of the dollar whenever they decide to use the power that Bush has placed in their hands…”

 

Downer: Hicks should face justice

“Australian terror suspect David Hicks will be dodging justice if he gets out of Guantanamo Bay via British citizenship, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer says.  Hicks, 30, has been in detention for nearly four years but hopes that British citizenship - through his British mother, could clear a path to freedom.”  They do not want to let anybody out of Guantanamo to tell the story of having been there. 

 

White House Wants Gitmo Appeal Rejected

“The Bush administration asked the Supreme Court on Wednesday to turn away a challenge to the military commissions the Bush administration created to put some detainees at Guantanamo Bay on trial for war crimes.  Lawyers for Salim Ahmed Hamdan are seeking Supreme Court review of an appeals court decision in which Judge John Roberts sided with the other two judges in favor of the Bush administration... Even if acquitted at trial, he will still be detained as an enemy combatant, the department said…” 

 

Who Did You Torture During The War, Daddy?  Or, We Are All Torturers Now

“Never miss the Saturday paper. Because it's the skimpiest and least-circulated edition of the week, it's the venue of choice for lowballing the stories the government can't completely cover up. September 24's New York Times, for example, contained the bombshell revelation that the U.S. government continues to torture innocent men, women and children in Iraq   An army captain and two sergeants from the elite 82nd Airborne Division confirm previous reports that Bagram and other concentration camps in U.S.-occupied Afghanistan are a kind of Torture University where American troops are taught how to abuse prisoners who have neither been charged with nor found guilty of any crime.”  In light of this information, how do you consider stories of American servicemen being charged with abuse of foreign prisoners?  Could they be promoted perhaps to give the impression that torture isn’t de facto policy? 

 

American Held in Iraq Tells of Torture

Hallums, who worked for a contractor supplying food to the Iraqi Army, was captured Nov. 1 during an armed assault on the Baghdad compound where he lived. According to a release from CBS, he said that his captors used beatings to force him to criticize President Bush in a videotape.”

 

Judge Orders Release of Abu Ghraib Photos

U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein ordered the release of certain pictures in a 50-page decision that said terrorists in Iraq and Afghanistan have proven they "do not need pretexts for their barbarism."  We all know that the West needs pretexts for its barbarism. 

 

Army Officer, Soldiers Charged in Abuse

“An Army officer and two more of his soldiers from a reserve unit have been charged in a prisoner abuse investigation in Afghanistan , the Army announced Tuesday…  A military jury spared Brand jail time, instead ordering a reduction in rank and pay.  I guess there’s a different standard for wife beaters and child abusers.  I’m sure they’d love to get off this easily for their misconduct. 

 

Captain Courageous -- Captain Ian Fishback blows the whistle on U.S. torture policy

“Quietly, firmly, relentlessly, the good captain laid out the list of atrocities committed at the order of the enemies of freedom: ‘Death threats, beatings, broken bones, murder, exposure to elements, extreme forced physical exertion, hostage-taking, stripping, sleep deprivation and degrading treatment.’ A catalogue of depravity, all of it designed -- with diabolical sophistry -- by self-exalted men cloaking their violent perversions with sham piety and righteous sputum. This was terrorism on a grand scale, chewing up the innocent and guilty alike.  The good man is of course Captain Ian Fishback, the born-again U.S. Army officer who has blown the whistle on the systematic abuse of captives rounded up in President George W. Bush's War on Terror, The New York Times reports. Fishback, frustrated after 17 months of trying to get the atrocities investigated through official channels, finally turned to Human Rights Watch -- and top Republican senators -- seeking redress for the bloody dishonor that Bush has brought upon America  the CIA, which set up its own ‘shadow army’ of non-uniformed combatants operating outside the law -- i.e., ‘terrorists,’ according to Bush's own definition -- while creating secret prisons all over the world. As one CIA op enthused to The Boston Globe: ‘We are doing things I never believed we would do -- and I mean killing people!’ A senior Bush official proudly pointed to the ultimate authority for this deadly system: "If the commander in chief didn't think it was appropriate, we wouldn't be doing it…’”

 

Troops tortured detainees, Human Rights Watch alleges

“Soldiers in the Army's elite 82nd Airborne Division vented their frustration by systematically torturing Iraqi detainees from 2003 into 2004, hitting them with baseball bats and dousing them with chemicals, a U.S. rights group alleges in a new report…  ‘Everyone in camp knew if you wanted to work out your frustration you show up at the PUC tent. In a way it was sport,’ he reportedly said. ‘One day (another sergeant) shows up and tells a PUC to grab a pole. He told him to bend over and broke the guy's leg with a mini-Louisville Slugger, a metal bat.’  The soldier said anything short of death was acceptable. ‘As long as no PUCs came up dead, it happened,’ he said. ‘We kept it to broken arms and legs.’ ..  These soldiers' firsthand accounts provide further evidence contradicting claims that abuse of detainees by U.S. forces was isolated or spontaneous,’ the report said.” 

 

Navy Secretly Contracted Jets Used by CIA

A branch of the U.S. Navy secretly contracted a 33-plane fleet that included two Gulfstream jets reportedly used to fly terror suspects to countries known to practice torture, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press...  The secrecy surrounding the deals makes it unclear why NELO issued them…” 

 

Torturous Silence on Torture

“Where do American religious leaders stand on torture? Their deafening silence evokes memories of the unconscionable behavior of German church leaders in the 1930s and early 1940s…”

 

US troops upload photos of dead Iraqis in exchange for porn

The US military said yesterday it was opening an investigation into reports that soldiers based in Iraq were posting gruesome photographs of dead Iraqis, including explicit shots of severed body parts and internal organs, on a Florida-based website in exchange for access to the site's pay-only archive of pornographySome of the graphic website images are accompanied by openly racist comments from the soldiers who posted them. ‘What every Iraqi should look like,’ is the commentary next to a picture of a corpse whose brains and entrails are spilling out. In another image, six men wearing US Marine uniforms are smiling for the camera as they point to a burned body at their feet. The caption: "’Cooked Iraqi.’"

 

US forces 'out of control', says Reuters chief

“Reuters has told the US government that American forces' conduct towards journalists in Iraq is "spiralling out of control" and preventing full coverage of the war reaching the public. The detention and accidental shootings of journalists is limiting how journalists can operate, wrote David Schlesinger, the Reuters global managing editor, in a letter to Senator John Warner, head of the armed services committee.  The Reuters news service chief referred to "a long parade of disturbing incidents whereby professional journalists have been killed, wrongfully detained, and/or illegally abused by US forces in Iraq" … US forces admitted killing three Reuters journalists, most recently soundman Waleed Khaled, who was shot by American soldiers on August 28 while on assignment in Baghdad. But the military said the soldiers were justified in opening fire. Reuters believes a fourth journalist working for the agency, who died in Ramadi last year, was killed by a US sniper. [...].”

 

Bush forecasts increased violence in Iraq

“’We can expect they'll do everything in their power to try to stop the march to freedom,’ Bush said.”

 

'This is ten times worse than under Saddam'

"It really makes you sad and angry when you find yourself a target. You see your friends and relatives getting killed daily without knowing who is doing that and why. What happened was just part of the deteriorating situation in Iraq . After the fall of the regime we thought Iraq was going to be a big workshop, then we ended up in a situation which is ten times worse than it used to be under Saddam."

 

Extended tours of some US military units eyed in Iraq: Pentagon

 

Iraqi women say freedoms are slipping away

’Women cannot walk freely out in the street,’ said activist Ban Jamil, who directs the Rasafa Branch of Assyrian Women Union, a local non-governmental organisation in Baghdad…  She blamed ‘imported extremist doctrines, which were never experienced in the past’ for the new restrictions.”

 

Bush Has No Exit Plan for Iraq, Say Americans

72 per cent of respondents believe their president has not developed a clear plan for getting American troops out of Iraq .”

 

To say we must stay in Iraq to save it from chaos is a lie

“This is a fiasco without parallel in recent British history. Iraqis must run their country: we've made enough mess of it already. Don't be fooled a second time. They told you Britain must invade Iraq because of its weapons of mass destruction. They were wrong. Now they say British troops must stay in Iraq because otherwise it will collapse into chaos. This second lie is infecting everyone…  Iraqis of my acquaintance are numb at the violence unleashed by the west's failure to impose order on their country. They are baffled at the ineptitude, the counter-productive cruelty of the arrests, bombings and suppressions…  Infrastructure is not being restored. Baghdad 's water, electricity and sewers are in worse shape than a decade ago. Huge sums - such as the alleged $1bn for military supplies - are being stolen and stashed in Jordanian banks…  The alleged reason for occupying Iraq was to build security and democracy. We have dismantled the first and failed to construct the second. 

 

Ending Tyranny, The Bush Way

“The U.S. has a long-standing (and accelerating) policy of arming, training and aiding some of the world's most repressive regimes.”  How’s that for promoting “freedom?”  Close anti-terrorism allies include the authoritarian Uzbekistan and the thinly veiled military dictatorship of Gen. Pervez Musharraf in Pakistan . In the Philippines , Colombia and elsewhere, U.S. weapons and military training have been turned against civilians. From Indonesia to the Sudan , U.S. geopolitical interests and access to resources are trumping concerns about human rights, ongoing conflict and the pressing need for development.”  The remainder of the article is about how the world’s biggest arms-producing country the US , profits from arming everyone in the world, both sides of various conflicts, etc., enabling and exacerbating chaos for profit.  ”It's time that President Bush begin to honor his pledge to "end tyranny in our world" as part of the war on terrorism by overhauling U.S. weapons transfer policy. Greater global security will follow.” 

 

Bush waives some arms export restrictions on Libya

“President George W. Bush on Wednesday waived some defense export restrictions on Libya to allow U.S. companies to participate in destroying Tripoli 's chemical weapons and to refurbish eight transport planes…  Bush waived defense export restrictions "to permit U.S. companies to possibly participate in Libya 's program to destroy its chemical weapons stockpile," a White House national security council spokesman said.  It also would allow for the refurbishment of eight C-130H transport planes purchased by Libya in the 1970s that never ended up in Tripoli 's possession, but have been held in storage in the United States , the spokesman said.”

 

U.S. deploys warfare unit to jam enemy satellites

“The top priorities of the space command are monitoring space and knowing the threats. Two other missions are defending satellites and conducting offensive operations against enemy spacecraft or ground signals that threaten U.S. satellites.”

 

Explosions in Karachi's KFC, McDonald's injure two

 

Bombs almost topple main power supply tower in Pakistan

 

Tension high in Belfast after worst violence in years

 

Clinton launches withering attack on Bush on Iraq, Katrina, budget

“… Clinton said the Bush administration had decided to invade Iraq "virtually alone and before UN inspections were completed, with no real urgency, no evidence that there were weapons of mass destruction…"

 

Florida tourists warned that locals could shoot them

“The Brady Campaign to Control Gun Violence, based in Washington DC , has pledged to ‘educate’ tourists by placing adverts in US cities, and in key overseas markets such as Britain .  "Warning: Florida residents can use deadly force," says one of the adverts. Another reads: ‘Thinking about a Florida vacation? Please ensure your family is safe. In Florida , avoid disputes. Use special caution in arguing with motorists on Florida roads.’“

 

VENEZUELA

US antagonism towards oil-rich Venezuela continues unabated. 

 

WHY PAT ROBERTSON ISN'T TREATED AS A TERRORIST

America 's fundamentalist carnival includes many fascinating acts. Pay your money, and you can watch preachers weeping and screaming, dismissing whole segments of humanity as evil, threatening murder, shaking down congregations for extra donations to named-after-themselves projects, or hitting people in the head to heal cancer. You will also see some monsters finally caught after years of molesting children or hear others advocating crimes against humanity such as using nuclear weapons…”

 

Venezuela's Chavez wants UN out of United States

"’Today we know there were never weapons of mass destruction in Iraq but despite that, and going over the head of the United Nations, Iraq was bombed and occupied. So the United Nations must be pulled out of the United States ,’ Chavez said.”

 

Chavez Revolts in UN: I will Speak as much as Bush

“As the world leaders were asked to speak for five minutes and when Chavez kept talking, the presiding diplomat passed him a note that his time was up. The Venezuelan leader threw the note on the floor and said, ‘If Bush could speak for 20 minutes at Wednesday's opening session, so can I,’ and spoke for 20 minutes. At the end, Chavez's remarks got the loudest applause of the summit.” 

 

Chavez: U.S. Plans to Invade Venezuela

“Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said Friday he has documentary evidence that the United States plans to invade his country…  He said U.S. soldiers recently went to Curacao, an island off Venezuela 's northwest coast. He described as a ‘lie’ the official U.S. explanation that they visited Curacao for rest and recreation.  ‘They were doing movements. They were doing maneuvers,’ Chavez said, speaking through a translator…  if the government of the United States attempts to commit the foolhardy enterprise of attacking us, it would be embarked on a 100-year war. We are prepared.’" 

 

U.S. Envoy Denies Plan to Invade Venezuela

“The United States is not planning to invade Venezuela , the U.S. ambassador to Venezuela said Thursday…”

 

President Chavez's Speech to the United Nations

“Your Excellencies, friends, good afternoon: The original purpose of this meeting has been completely distorted. The imposed center of debate has been a so-called reform process that overshadows the most urgent issues, what the peoples of the world claim with urgency: the adoption of measures that deal with the real problems that block and sabotage the efforts made by our countries for real development and life…”  Wow!  Chavez tells it like it is.  The truth is that superpowers, deliberately and for their own benefit, block and sabotage the growth and progress of the third world.  However, I don’t think I’ve ever heard it admitted in US media.  You didn’t hear it at Live 8, either.  ”It is unpractical and unethical to sacrifice the human race by appealing in an insane manner the validity of a socioeconomic model that has a galloping destructive capacity. It would be suicidal to spread it and impose it as an infallible remedy for the evils which are caused precisely by them…  In just seven years of Bolivarian Revolution, the people of Venezuela can claim important social and economic advances. One million four hundred and six thousand Venezuelans learned to read and write… the country will - in a few days - be declared illiteracy-free territory. And three million Venezuelans, who had always been excluded because of poverty, are now part of primary, secondary and higher studies. Seventeen million Venezuelans - almost 70% of the population - are receiving, and for the first time, universal healthcare... More than a million seven hundred tons of food are channeled to over 12 million people at subsidized prices, almost half the population. One million gets them completely free, as they are in a transition period. More than 700 thousand new jobs have been created, thus reducing unemployment by 9 points. All of this amid internal and external aggressions, including a coup d'etat and an oil industry shutdown organized by Washington . Regardless of the conspiracies, the lies spread by powerful media outlets, and the permanent threat of the empire and its allies, they even call for the assassination of a president. The only country where a person is able to call for the assassination of a head of state is the United States . Such was the case of a Reverend called Pat Robertson, very close to the White House: He called for my assassination and he is a free person. That is international terrorism!

 

Transcript: Hugo Chavez Interview

“In his first American broadcast interview since the Rev. Pat Robertson called for his assassination last month, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez told ABC News' Ted Koppel today that he has evidence of a United States plan to invade Venezuela…”

 

Venezuela condemns US ruling against extradition of wanted exile

 

U.S. Assassinates Puerto Rican Independence Figure

 

China Unlikely to Cut Venezuela's U.S. Oil

“Charles Shapiro, a senior Western Hemisphere specialist at the State Department, told a Senate panel looking at China 's role in Latin America that it would be economically painful for Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to make good on a reported threat to cut off oil shipments to the United States …”

 

 

ISRAEL AND PALESTINE

 

Evidence from Israeli soldiers forces inquiries into deaths of Palestinians

“The Israeli Defence Forces have opened 17 investigations into lethal shootings of Palestinians after former soldiers made a series of testimonies about incidents in which they say the deaths should have been prevented…  In one testimony, a former staff sergeant in an elite unit claims a brigade commander told his men that ‘every kid you see with a stone, you may shoot him’ on the grounds that a stone is a ‘murder weapon’ …”

 

Top Palestinian military aide Arafat killed

“The security chaos blighting the Gaza Strip claimed its highest-profile victim when local strongman Mussa Arafat, an advisor to Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas, was assassinated by militants…  After an hour-long gunfight between the assailants and his bodyguards, he was shot in front of his family and then dragged into the street where gunmen continued to pump bullets into his body.  His killers then fled, taking hostage his son, Manhal. 

 

'Eyeless in Gaza'

“Palestinians are the Navajos of the 21st century, forever to be marginalized after they are exterminated down to acceptable, zoo-like levels. Palestinians are the prototype for future Earth citizens ineligible for membership in corporate elysia, a herd that needs to be managed and occasionally culled.  Unless you understand that this has been the fate of the majority of humankind throughout history, you probably are unable to comprehend that this is the inevitable future forecast for all of us.” 

 

Israel general 'avoids UK arrest'

“The former head of Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip has told how he dodged arrest on war crimes charges after receiving a tip-off at Heathrow…  The warrant relates to the bulldozing of more than 50 houses in the Rafah refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, when Maj Gen Almog was head of Israel 's Southern Command.  It was seen as retaliation for an assault by Islamic militants on an Israeli Army post that left four soldiers dead.  Also under Maj Gen Almog's command, Israel dropped a one-ton bomb on a Hamas leader's home, killing the man, an assistant and 14 civilians, nine of them children.” 

 

Investigation urged after Israeli officer avoids arrest

Scotland Yard was urged yesterday to launch a criminal investigation into officials at the Israeli embassy in London who helped a retired Israeli general wanted in Britain for war crimes to escape arrest…” 

 

The Lethal Dinner - Who Murdered Arafat?

 

Israelis' "Blazing Synagogues" Fire Up Press Brigade

 

Israel presses forward with offensive, despite Palestinian truce pledge

 

Palestinian rockets hit Israel, none hurt:

 

ANALYSIS-New phase of conflict takes shape in Middle East

 

When the Truth Comes to Town -- What You Can't Say About Israel in Australia

 

Iran to have nuclear bomb in six months, says Israel

Israel is seeking to rally international support for a tough United Nations stand against Iran 's nuclear ambitions with a warning that it could have the knowledge to produce a nuclear bomb "within six months".

 

Russia opposes EU move against Iran

           

Europeans Drop Harsher Stance on Iran

 

Military action against Iran 'inconceivable', says Straw

 

Israelis urge U.S. to stop Iran's nuke goals

“The United States and its allies must act to stop Iran 's nuclear programs -- by force if necessary -- because conventional diplomacy will not work, three senior Israeli lawmakers from across the political spectrum warned yesterday. As a last resort, they said, Israel itself would act unilaterally to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear arms  Yosef Lapid, head of the centrist opposition Shinui Party in the Knesset, added that Israel "will not live under the threat of an Iranian nuclear bomb."  "We feel we are obliged to warn our friends that Israel should not be pushed into a situation where we see no other solution but to act unilaterally" against Iran, he said. It will not matter if the entire world warns against attacking Iran if Israel advises the US to do it. 

 

Is Pakistan Selling Out?

“General Musharraf and the Recognition of Israel ..  Musharraf's compact with his American mentors was transparent. The US would support the General, and he would join America 's 'war against global terrorism.' This compact has been hugely profitable for the General… The move to recognize Israel is merely the latest in the series of capitulations Pakistan has witnessed since September 11, 2001. It is an Israeli demand advanced through the agency of the US government…  Israelis look upon Pakistan as a target for attack and dismemberment, and this for two reasons. As the second largest Islamic country ­ by far the largest in West Asia ­ it could someday challenge Israeli ambitions in West and Central Asia . More urgently, Israel views Pakistan as a potential nuclear threat. In either case, Pakistan interests Israel primarily as a target ­ a target for its F-16s, missiles and nuclear arsenal. This proposition holds regardless of how cravenly Pakistan seeks to befriend Israel . Israel will not tolerate a united and nuclear-armed Pakistan . Let Pakistanis ignore this incontestable fact only at their peril…”

 

Jordan slams Sharon's claim to Jerusalem

Jordan 's Royal Committee for Jerusalem Affairs blasted both Sharon and the UN over what it called ‘a statement full of lies and falsehoods. How could this world organization allow a war criminal to review lies based on false claims and biblical legends in Palestine ,’ the committee wondered in an official statement released to the press.” Be careful what you say, Jordan , truth or not. 

 

Israel launches 'prolonged' offensive against Hamas

 

Israeli Roots of Hamas Are Being Exposed (from 2002)

 

Creating Terrorism - The Zionist Way

 

Saudi envoy claims link between Zionists and Al Qaeda (from 2004)

 

Al-Qaeda claims responsibility for London bombings

Oh, really?  ”Al-Qaeda deputy Ayman al-Zawahri said his terror network carried out the July 7 London bombings in a statement broadcast on an Arab satellite television station, marking the group's first direct claim of responsibility for the attacks that killed 52 people.” 

 

CHINA

There’s a trend in government and media to raise cold-war-era-style fears concerning China among the US population.  That news is spread throughout the sections on US foreign policy, the economy, and bird flu, but here are a few more. 

 

China outlines its terror problem

“A top Chinese counter-terrorism official said Monday East Turkistan forces in the country's far west posed the largest current and future terrorist threat.  The Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, China 's province in Central Asia , has had more than 260 incidents involving the three forces (terrorists, separatists and extremists) over the past decade, killing 160 people and wounding 440 others, according to Chinese government data. Zhao Yongchen, deputy director of the Anti-Terrorism Bureau under the Ministry of Public Security, says terrorist activities not only jeopardize China , but pose a threat to regional security and stability  The forces, Zhao claims, have become part of the worldwide terrorist network‘They have close ties and even align with terrorist groups including the Taliban, the Uzbekistan Islamic Liberation Movement and al-Qaida,’ he said.  The U.S. is setting the precedent for such “terror” claims by China and Russia, whose governments then carry out any action they wish in the name of “fighting terror,” so easily a catch-all excuse for government abuses.  Of course, Britain and Australia have, like the US , passed Draconian “anti-terror” legislation that strips rights from their citizens in the name of security. 

 

U.S. Forces Leaving Base in Uzbekistan

 

China says no double standard on terrorism

“A senior Chinese law enforcement official said there should be no double standards in the fight against terrorism, state-run media reported Tuesday…  He said efforts need to be made to prevent the spread of terrorist and extremist ideologies that promote violence, racism, nationalism and religious hatred.”  Maybe best to beware that these offenses will, of course, be defined, by governments. 

 

China seen world leader in clean energy

“’Already, 35 million homes in China get their hot water from solar collectors. That is more than the rest of the world combined,’ he said.”

 

 

BRITAIN AND AUSTRALIA

 

Britain now faces its own blowback

“Intelligence interests may thwart the July bombings investigation…”  No surprise, folks, more secrecy, because the truth is, as usual, unsavory.  During the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s, the US funded large numbers of jihadists through Pakistan 's secret intelligence service, the ISI  Less well known is evidence of the British government's relationship with a wider Islamist terrorist network The report estimates that about 200 Pakistani Muslims living in the UK went to Pakistan , trained in HUA camps and joined the HUA's contingent in Bosnia . Most significantly, this was "with the full knowledge and complicity of the British and American intelligence agencies".  As the 2002 Dutch government report on Bosnia makes clear, the US provided a green light to groups on the state department list of terrorist organisations, including the Lebanese-based Hizbullah, to operate in Bosnia - an episode that calls into question the credibility of the subsequent "war on terror".

 

Al-Qaeda claims responsibility for London bombings

Oh, really?  ”Al-Qaeda deputy Ayman al-Zawahri said his terror network carried out the July 7 London bombings in a statement broadcast on an Arab satellite television station, marking the group's first direct claim of responsibility for the attacks that killed 52 people.” 

 

FBI agent threatens former USDA federal agent, now staff reporter for The New Criminologist.

Haroon Aswat – the man British Police believe was behind the London bombings – was working for MI6, it has been confirmed by leading U.S. and French intelligence asset/agents…  As a deeply embedded intelligence source recently told TNC: ‘Bush and Blair are just puppets. Their strings are tugged by money, corruption, ego, by the Intel services. You don't even want to know the truth.’‘International terrorism is VERY BIG business,’ our source confirmed. ‘The U.S. and UK trade in terrorism like it is some kind of off-the-shelf commodity. Forget the destruction of lives to normal people, women and children.’

 

Woman arrested over Menezes leak

“A woman has been arrested over the leak of findings about the fatal police shooting of Brazilian Jean Charles de Menezes on the London Underground…  The leaked information contradicted much of what had previously been thought about Mr Menezes' death and led his family to demand the resignation of Metropolitan Police chief Sir Ian Blair  the leaked documents and photographs show the body of Mr Menezes, on the Tube where he was shot dead by police, wearing a denim jacket - not a bulky one as previously described.”

 

Blair apology to ejected heckler Security staff tackle hecklers

 

Anti-yob powers trigger police state gibe

“TONY BLAIR denied that he was creating a police state atmosphere in Britain after pledging to give officers any extra summary powers they needed to crack down on yobs. Mr Blair argued that traditional law was failing to protect the elderly from the fear of violence and intimidation. The Prime Minister also gave his strongest warning yet that ‘traditional civil liberties’ would not stand in the way of new anti-terrorism laws.” 

 

This is an act of censorship worthy of Joseph Goebbels

“The plan to draw up a list of historical events that people can be prosecuted for celebrating is a sign of a leader losing his grip…  The home secretary has promised the prime minister that he will lock away for five years anyone who "glorifies, exalts or celebrates" a terrorist act committed in the past 20 years…”

 

Blair's insistence a challenge for psychologists

“To hear Blair in full, shameless flight is to listen a man whose self-esteem seems also to have survived, miraculously intact, his catastrophic adventure abroad and flagging record at home, for he told us that he is now even more convinced of his rightness - on everything - than he was before. ‘Every time I've ever introduced a reform in government, I wish in retrospect I had gone further.’ [...]”

 

Australia tightens terror laws

“Australian Prime Minister John Howard has announced plans for tough new counter-terrorism laws including the detention and control of suspects and tighter citizenship requirements.  Suspects could be fitted with tracking devices and have their movements restricted through 12-month ‘control orders’ under the new legislation to be discussed at a summit meeting of state government leaders on September 27, he said.  The government would also create new offences including inciting violence against the community or Australian troops abroad, Howard said.  Australian states would also be urged to introduce longer periods of preventative detention without charge of up to 14 days.  Describing the changes as ‘significant’, Howard said police would be given greater powers to stop, question and search people.”

 

Australia to impose "draconian" anti-terror laws

“These laws will be unfair and could lead to the creation of a fascist state…” 

 

House arrest for terror suspects

“Powers pave way for secret new world. New laws raise fears of targeting, loss of rights.  Suspected terrorists as young as 16 will face house arrest for up to a year without being convicted of an offence under sweeping laws agreed to by all Australian governments…  Mr Howard said ‘these are unusual remedies for an unusual situation" to fight "this shadowy, elusive and lethal enemy’.  In other circumstances I would never have sought these new powers,’ he said. ‘But we live in very dangerous and different and threatening circumstances … I think all of these powers are needed.’”  So, Howard seeks greater power – nothing new about that for a political leader.  Note that it is he who is defining the times as dangerous and the enemy as elusive.

 

PM says video proves point

“A VIDEO claiming that Melbourne will be the target of an al-Qaeda attack reinforced the need for tough terrorism laws, according to Prime Minister John Howard.  But he said the man featured in the video had made similar threats before and not delivered…  ‘The best response to things like this is to redouble our protective efforts, which we are doing, but also to get on with life, which we are also doing.’”  Same old story – “give up more of your rights, so we can ‘protect’ you better.” 

 

'Hundreds' may pose terror threat, says Clarke

“Charles Clarke said today that hundreds of terror suspects were being closely watched in Britain and there was "no doubt" that the London bombers had links with foreign terrorists...  ‘There is no doubt of a series of international relationships that were engaged in. The extent to which there was some kind of command and control we don't know at the moment, but we are trying to find out precisely what that relationship is.’”  As usual, no specifics, only allegations of vague “relationships,” but the story is enough to create fear, to bring a sense of importance to the man making the claim, etc. 

 

EU ministers, under British pressure, examine terror response

“EU interior ministers are to meet to try to hone Europe 's response to terrorism, including nailing down a controversial deal to improve police access to telephone and Internet data…”

 

German Minister: Bush must be 'shot down'

“A conservative German minister in a southern state has caused uproar by saying U.S. President George W. Bush should be "shot down" for his handling of the crisis in hurricane-struck New Orleans .” 

 

Envoys walk out on Mahathir

KUALA LUMPUR : Three European diplomats walked out of the conference hall during Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad's speech when he criticised US and British policies on Iraq .  His comments that the American and British-led invasion of Iraq was based on lies that the country possessed weapons of mass destruction did not go down well with British High Commissioner Bruce Cleghorn, Hungarian ambassador Tamas Toth and Dutch deputy ambassador Luc Schillings, who got up and left…  Suhakam commissioner Prof Datuk Hamdan Adnan said the walkout was ‘very, very distasteful.  If they claim to subscribe to the democratic process, why can't they listen?’ he asked.”

 

Terrorism ruled out as Indonesian crash deaths rise to 150

MEDAN , Indonesia - Investigators are hunting for clues in the wreckage of the crashed jetliner in northern Indonesia as the airline ruled out terrorism in the disaster which killed at least 150 people.”

 

Engine failure suspected in Indonesian air crash

 

U.S. Submarine Collides With Cargo Ship in Gulf

“A U.S. Navy submarine collided early Monday with a Turkish merchant ship in the Gulf, the U.S. Navy reported. No one was hurt on either vessel.”

 

Theater fire kills 29 in Egypt

“A candle fell over and set fire to a crowded theater in the Egyptian town of Beni Suef on Monday night, killing at least 29 people and injuring 38…”

 

CIVIL UNREST IN FRANCE

 

Teenage girls started latest Paris fire, killing 16

“PARIS - Two teenage girls confessed Monday to starting a fire that killed sixteen people over the weekend, including three children, and injured more than 30 in an apartment block fire in a suburb south of Paris early Sunday -- the third fatal fire to hit the French capital in nine days…  Thousands of protesters marched through Paris on Saturday demanding urgent investment in low-cost housing for immigrants, and condemning the forced evacuation of two Paris squats late last week.”

 

Another Paris squat fire; this time no casualties

 

France's Sarkozy to Boost Surveillance Amid Threat of Attacks                  

Sarkozy is being molded into the next French leader.  "It's my duty to draw consequences from what happened in New-York , Madrid and London ,'' he said. "A high-level threat exists in France . We have to permanently adapt our legislation and our methods.''

 

France holds nine in anti-terrorist sweep

 

French tighten security after alert over Paris terror attack

“Monday's arrests were made in the Eure and Yvelines regions outside Paris . Police believe the suspects are linked to the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), Algeria 's largest outlawed rebel movement, which is aligned to al-Qaeda. It is said to have contacted al-Qaeda's leader in Iraq , Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, in July about carrying out attacks in France …”

 

Algerian group calls France 'enemy number one'

 

 

ECONOMY

 

US airline losses could hit $10 billion

 

Delta, Northwest file for bankruptcy

With the twin filings Wednesday, nearly half of the domestic industry's capacity is now on carriers operating in Chapter 11, according to an estimate from Bear Stearns.”

 

Katrina may cost insurers $60 bln

 

A Price To Be Paid For Folly

“…For all the deserved criticism the Bush administration has received for its tardy and ragged response to the storm's ravages on New Orleans and the Gulf Coast , the long-term costs to the nation of the reckless disregard both the president and Congress have shown toward paying the nation's bills may be even greater…”  Read the full article for some shocking numbers. 

 

Could Katrina kill the SUV?

“Sales of big SUVs dropped dramatically in August, hurting both American and Japanese manufacturers, which have been trying to edge into the segment over the past five years.  The decrease came despite a fierce price war among the Detroit Big Three -- General Motors, Ford and Chrysler -- which have offered customers the same price on autos that their own employees pay.” 

 

Automakers shift from bad to worse

"SUV sales aren't just slowing -- they're crashing to a halt…”

 

Britain set to run out of fuel warns CBI boss

“BUSINESSES could be forced to close down and lay off workers this winter because the country's energy reserves are so low, the director-general of the CBI warned yesterday.  "If we have a cold winter, we are going to throw the switch, businesses will shut down, people will lose their jobs," Sir Digby Jones said.  "If we don't sort out our decrepit supply system, we are, this winter, going to run out of fuel."” Let’s hope for Britain ’s sake that global warming doesn’t trigger the next ice too soon! 

 

The UK economy: Things can only get tougher

 

Natural gas prices to climb in B.C. area

“The bad news is that officials agree that prices will continue to increase for the foreseeable future.”

 

Red flag raised over gas price floor repeal

 

Gold settles at new 17-year peak

U.S. benchmark gold futures closed at a 17-year high on Friday as robust demand for bullion and jitters over inflation and the U.S. economy stoked a buying spree in the precious commodity for a second straight day…  ‘The inflation signals are getting to be stronger and stronger and that's what is attracting the buying,’ said Frank Aburto, a broker at Rosenthal-Collins Group in New York . ‘And it is not over yet.’ … America is particularly vulnerable at this time because its debt-to-asset and debt-to-GDP ratios as well as its national debt, the percentage of its national debt that is foreign held, its budgetary deficit and capital accounts deficit are all at their highest levels in American history.

 

Federal Reserve Boosts Interest Rates

“Analysts saw the quarter-point rate increase by the Fed on Tuesday and the explanation for why it was needed as a clear signal that the central bank is growing more concerned about inflation…”  This is the eleventh time in a row, all in fifteen months, that the Fed has raised rates.  ”While 30-year mortgage rates have stayed below 6 percent for most of this year at some of the lowest rates in four decades, that is expected to be coming to an end.”

 

Greenspan to French finmin: US lost deficit control

“U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan told France's Finance Minister Thierry Breton the United States has ‘lost control’ of its budget deficit, the French minister said on Saturday…  Breton said: ‘The situation that is creating tension today on the currency market ... is clearly the American deficit.’”

 

Merchants sue Visa, MasterCard, banks

“Four merchant groups have filed an antitrust lawsuit against Visa USA, MasterCard Inc. and dozens of major banks, saying they colluded to set excessive credit card fees…’The credit card interchange system serves as a hidden tax, both on merchants and consumers, and raises the costs of all products,’ said Hank Armor, chief executive of the National Association of Convenience Stores. ‘These credit card fees have rapidly increased over the past several years…’” 

 

U.S. Michigan September Consumer Sentiment Falls to 76.9

 

Sony to cut 10,000 jobs worldwide

 

Hurricane Rita may be 'national disaster': oil CEO

 

Oil dips as Rita shifts path

 

Indonesia clears way for fuel hike

 

Exuberance leads to asset drops: Greenspan

 

International press pours scorn on German voters

“The international press has reacted to the German parliamentary (Bundestag) election held on Sunday with a mixture of horror and indignation. The message given by voters was clearly understood. The result expressed a rejection of the policies of welfare cuts and "free market" reforms which are currently being pursued by all European governments.  The anticipated clear-cut victory of the conservative opposition, consisting of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), the Christian Social Union (CSU) and the Free Democratic Party, over the ruling coalition of the Social Democrats (SPD) and the Greens, failed to materialize…  Following the "no" vote in the European Union referendum in France, the German election marks the second time voters in a major European country have delivered a decisive blow to plans by the ruling elite to reorganize Europe on the basis of strict ‘free market’ criteria.

 

We don't need no stinkin' US style capitalism!  - Sweden tells Europe to hold its head high

 

In defense of the welfare state, by Jonathan Power, International Herald Tribune:

“( Stockholm ) The statistics had arrived on the Swedish prime minister's desk … It was good news. Goran Persson, now in his ninth year of office, told me that the growth rate for this year will be near 3 percent and next year more than 3 percent - enough, he said, to maintain Sweden's trajectory of the last decade, which was "above the average for the European Union" and, in particular, "as good as the Anglo-Saxons, Britain and the U.S." ... This raised the first question - how does this self-confessed socialist state do it? What is the secret for success when Swedish taxes are the highest in the world and the welfare state is the country's single largest employer?  ‘If you have a free economy," explained the prime minister, "a highly educated work force, a very healthy people, very high productivity and a sound environment then you can create the critical size of resources to create good growth.’ 

 

 

INTERNET

 

U.S. SHAKEN BY QAEDA 007

U.S. counterterrorism authorities have been engaged for months in a shadow war with a computer hacker extraordinaire who is using cutting-edge technology to help al Qaeda and other jihad groups with their vast Internet operations… While officials said Irhabi 007 might not be a hardened al Qaeda terrorist, they believe he is a vital cog in the jihadi network, which relies on the Internet for communications, recruitment, fund-raising and propaganda…  Irhabi 007 also is at the helm of the cat-and-mouse game with U.S. other and Western intelligence agencies to keep al Qaeda's Web operations up and running at a time when there is a massive effort to shut down terrorist infrastructure on the Internet, Kohlmann said…  What's most intriguing about the case is that Irhabi 007 claims he is U.S.-based, and may be an American. 

 

FBI to get veto power over PC software?

According to the three-page document, to preserve the openness that characterizes today's Internet, ‘consumers are entitled to run applications and use services of their choice, subject to the needs of law enforcement.’ Read the last seven words again.”

 

U.S. insists on controlling Web

"We will not agree to the U.N. taking over the management of the Internet," said Ambassador David Gross, the U.S. coordinator for international communications and information policy at the State Department. "Some countries want that. We think that's unacceptable."

 

Newscast purports to be from Al Qaeda

“The broadcast featured an anchorman who wore a ski mask and an ammunition belt. … The origins of the broadcast could not be verified. If the program was indeed an Al Qaeda production, it would mark a change in the group's use of the Internet to spread its messages…”

 

White House Press Briefing: Save Energy! Turn Off Those Computers!

 

NATURAL DISASTERS

 

EARTHQUAKES

Magnitude 5.9 Earthquake - CELEBES SEA

Medium Earthquake In West Coast Of Western Sumatra

Minor Earthquake Hits Northeastern Kentucky

Major earthquake exercise under way in Russian Far East

Quake swarm rattles experts

Magnitude 5.6 Earthquake - NORTHERN ALASKA

Magnitude 6.1 - TAIWAN REGION

Magnitude 5.7 - NIAS REGION, INDONESIA

Earthquake shakes Alpine region in Italy

Magnitude 5.1 Quake - SWITZERLAND

Magnitude 5.7 - MOLUCCA SEA (Indonesia)

7.3 Quake - NEW IRELAND REGION, PAPUA NEW GUINEA

Moderate Earthquake In Nicobar Island

Magnitude 5.7 Quake - FIJI REGION

Slow seismic slip begins in Pacific Northwest

Earthquake hits north-west Greece                           

Tremors may mean 'Big One' on its way

Early morning temblor rattles Santa Cruz, Santa Clara counties

Strong earthquake jolts Japan

Strong Earthquake Again Rocks Aceh

Hundreds sleep in the open as tremors strike Azores

Magnitude 6.2 Earthquake - KURIL ISLANDS

Second quake in two days hits Ethiopia: Magnitude 5.0

Small quake rattles WA

Powerful Earthquake Rocks Northern Peru

Minor Earthquake Shakes Northern Maine

No injuries reported from small Southern California quake

Earthquake shakes Bosnia, no injuries reported

Earthquake rocks Kuril Islands, Russia

Geologists Report Quake Cluster in Idaho

Small earthquake hits Northern Mississippi

4.4-strong earthquake jolts Northern Islands

 

GLOBAL WARMING

Retreating Glaciers Worrying Greenlanders

Global warming 'past the point of no return'

Fears over climate as Arctic ice melts at record level

Warming world blamed for more strong hurricanes

Increase in Major Hurricanes Linked to Warmer Seas

Earth Trembles As Big Winds Move In

Earthquakes Up to 4.9 Strike Near L.A.

Earthquake jolts Firoozabad in Fars province

British scientist calls US climate sceptics 'loonies' - Katrina, Rita et al. Global warming's smoking gun

Mount St. Helens' dome still growing a year after its birth

 

STORMS

Japan braces for round two with killer typhoon

Typhoon Nabi leaves 32 dead or missing in Japan

Typhoon Khanun Nears Shanghai; Evacuations Ordered

Rains kill nine in Karachi

Japan braces for round two with killer typhoon

This year's fast-forming hurricanes buck trend, puzzle meteorologists

Typhoon sweeps through north Philippines, 16 dead

Indian downpour, floods kill 56

Fires rage in Brazil's rainforest

Rita ravages region near state line

Typhoon Damrey hits Vietnam, breaches vital dykes

'Caveman' Conditions in Texas Follow Rita

Rita causes record damage to oil rigs

Typhoon Damrey toll mounts as floods sweep in

Mexico Rains Flood Homes, Kills at Least 3

Fires Burn More Than 2,500 Acres in Calif.

Hundreds evacuated as wildfires sweep Southern California

Hundreds forced from homes as Stephenville, N.L. flooded

Double trouble brews in tropics

 

DISEASE

Expert warns of likely worldwide flu outbreak

Zhong Nanshan, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and a hero in fighting against SARS, warned that a large-scale global-wide outbreak of flu is likely to happen at any time given the current conditions.”

 

U.S. Buys $100 Million of Bird Flu Vaccine

 

Mice with plague vanish at top-level N.J. lab

“…the disease-carrying lab mice may never be accounted for, federal officials said…”

 

World has slim chance to stop flu pandemic

The initial outbreak of what could explode into a bird flu pandemic may affect only a few people, but the world will have just weeks to contain the deadly virus before it spreads and kills millions… the successful containment measures used against SARS, such as quarantining those infected and cross-border checks, would fail against an avian pandemic, as people spreading bird flu may not show early symptoms.” 

 

Many people report symptoms of electromagnetic radiation sickness, WHO

“sleep disturbances, dizziness, heart palpitations, headache, blurry sight, swelling, nausea, a burning skin, vibrations, electrical currents in the body, pressure on the breast, cramps, high blood pressure and general unwell-being. According to many testimonies of victims the symptoms appear in the vicinity of sources of electromagnetic radiation, like GSM and 3G (UMTS) antennas, cellphones, DECT wireless telephones and WIFI wireless networks. Many times the experiences are blind. Radiation measurements taken afterwards and investigations show, that the radiation density indeed is increased. Many sufferers find out the relationship with the radiation, when they stay for a while elsewhere, where the symptoms diminish or disappear. When they return home the symptoms immediately appear again.”

Study:Superbug Germ Kills 3 in Chicago

 

Indonesian Capital May Be Facing a Bird Flu Epidemic (Update1)

Indonesia says bird flu outbreak may become epidemic

EU moves to tighten bird flu defences

Flu outbreak may 'overwhelm' NHS

China launches flu pandemic contingency plan

New flu pandemic could kill up to 150 million people

Flu Studies Give Chills to Health Experts -- Vaccine found to fail most elderly - also, virus resisting drugs

METEORS, COMETS, ASTEROIDS

Lights in the sky

“Every year, in every corner of this country, hundreds of Canadians like Williams are seeing and reporting mysterious objects in the night sky.”

Man in 'meteor' sighting over town

'Fireball' lights up night sky - Callers alert Coast Guard

Meteoric encounters of the seventh kind

Meteor shower scares villagers out of their wits

Polish customs officers seize haul of meteorites on Russian truck

Meteor 'like a fireball' flies across Florida skies

Meteor, not storm, blamed for Florida big waves

Sun has binary partner, may affect the Earth

Independence Day

“If there is a brown dwarf perturber that slams through the Oort cloud, and if we do have a cluster of comets being smacked into our solar system like a slingshot, then there is NO WAY to have ANY warning whatsoever without the willingness of the government and the scientists who have control of the instruments of observation to share their data with us. And we also have absolutely no way of estimating - or even guessing - when or where a strike could come. One is reminded of: "No one knows the day or the hour..." In short, other than suggesting that we are probably entering a period when the Earth is going to very likely get hit one or more times, there isn't much else to be said. We are probably entering a hundred year period of planetary dodge'em cars…  I think that we will witness some amazing astronomical phenomena in the next few years. ‘Signs in the Sun and Moon.’ I think that the powerful activity of the Sun during this sunspot maximum has been because these comets are drawing close - thousands or hundreds of thousands of them. There may be more solar activity. Earthquakes will shake the earth. Volcanoes will erupt.

Japanese Probe Pulls Alongside Asteroid

Comet collision 'Armageddon' unlikely

The media is a “gatekeeper” of information, sometimes it withholds deliberately, other times it is a disinformation machine, regularly used to incite fears that are irrational and to quell those that are sensible.  If not for the promotion of irrational fear, why else would people have been afraid to fly after 9/11, but not afraid to partake in the much more dangerous and deadly act of driving a car on roads on which 40,000 Americans are annually turned into bloody pulp?  Why would  there be support for the killing of over 100,000 mid-easterners and the destruction of two countries as response to 3000 American deaths, but no such action against drunk drivers who butcher that many Americans every two months, non-stop?  The media could have presented a balanced picture, but did not.  It is clear that governments do not want people to consider threats of any kind other than those that they say they can control if only the people will grant them more power.  The media play along because they love threats that will capture viewers, and ignore threats that are ever-present and thus do not constitute “news.” 

SCIENCE AND ODDITIES

Chemical Hallucinations, Mind Control, and Dr. Jose Delgado

"We need a program of psychosurgery for political control of our society. The purpose is physical control of the mind. Everyone who deviates from the given norm can be surgically mutilated. The individual may think that the most important reality is his own existence, but this is only his personal point of view. This lacks historical perspective. 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 electric stimulation of the brain."  These were the remarks of Dr. Jose Delgado as they appeared in the February 24, 1974 edition of the Congressional Record, No. 262E, Vol. 118. Despite Dr. Delgado's outlandish statements before Congress, his work was financed by grants from the Office of Naval Research, the Air Force Aero-Medical Research Laboratory, and the Public Health Foundation of Boston…”  Read more for details of his experiments.  Where does this research stand today? 

THE GREENBAUM SPEECH

Essential reading to get a grasp of what is possible in human programming.  “Herein is the lecture by D.C.Hammond, originally entitled "Hypnosis in MPD: Ritual Abuse," but now usually known as the "Greenbaum Speech," delivered at the Fourth Annual Eastern Regional Conference on Abuse and Multiple Personality, Thursday June 25, 1992, at the Radisson Plaza Hotel, Mark Center, Alexandria, Virginia…  The single most remarklable thing about this speech is how little one has heard of it in the two years since its original delivery. It is recommended that one reads far enough at least until one finds why it's called ‘the Greenbaum speech.’"

Dark matter highlights extra dimensions

Physicists have suspected for years that 'hidden' dimensions exist, largely because they seem to be predicted by string theory, the current favourite for a theory of fundamental subatomic particles.”

Weird Animals In Weird Ley Line Weirdness

Paul Hellyer Former Minister of National Defense to Address UFO Symposium on Disclosure and Planetary Directions

Largest Asteroid Might Contain More Fresh Water than Earth

Study: Monkeys Reject Unequal Pay

Scientists develop molecule machine

Scientists find growing land bulge in Oregon

Most distant cosmic blast sighted

Hellyer takes up cause of UFO believers

UFO mystery leaves experts baffled

Changes in Saturn Rings Baffle Scientists

“Among the most surprising findings is that parts of Saturn's innermost ring - the D ring - have grown dimmer since the Voyager spacecraft flew by the planet in 1981, and a piece of the D ring has moved 125 miles inward toward Saturn.”

Shoreline Spotted on Saturn's Moon Titan

“The idea of a large sea on Saturn's moon Titan was all but ruled out after the Cassini mission found no evidence early in its mission.  But a new image shows what scientists think is a shoreline with bays and channels feeding liquid into a possible sea. Scientists have long speculated that Titan might contain liquid methane or other hydrocarbons. The chemistry resembles prebiotic Earth, but Titan lacks liquid water. Nonetheless, earlier this month another group of researchers speculated that Titan might actually harbor life today…” 

Mysterious Stars Surround Andromeda's Black Hole

Researchers Predict Infinite Genomes

Gov. Bush & his mystical buddy

“After more than an hour of solemn ceremony naming Rep. Marco Rubio, R-West Miami, as the 2007-08 House speaker, Gov. Jeb Bush stepped to the podium in the House chamber last week and told a short story about "unleashing Chang," his "mystical warrior" friend. Here are Bush's words, spoken before hundreds of lawmakers and politicians: …”

Hyperactive disorder drug 'raises risk of suicidal thoughts in children'

Study Reveals How Your Brain Sleeps

 


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