Archive for December, 2009
TSA Threatens Blogger Who Posted New Screening Directive
“Welcome to America. (Side note: sweet a Red Sox fan)”
-F.F.
TSA Special Agent John Enright, left, speaks to Steven Frischling outside the blogger’s home in Niantic, Connecticut, after returning Frischling’s laptop Wednesday.
Photo: Thomas Cain/Wired.com
- By Kim Zetter
Two bloggers received home visits from Transportation Security Administration agents Tuesday after they published a new TSA directive that revises screening procedures and puts new restrictions on passengers in the wake of a recent bombing attempt by the so-called underwear bomber.
Special agents from the TSA’s Office of Inspection interrogated two U.S. bloggers, one of them an established travel columnist, and served them each with a civil subpoena demanding information on the anonymous source that provided the TSA document.
The document, which the two bloggers published within minutes of each other Dec. 27, was sent by TSA to airlines and airports around the world and described temporary new requirements for screening passengers through Dec. 30, including conducting “pat-downs” of legs and torsos. The document, which was not classified, was posted by numerous bloggers. Information from it was also published on some airline websites.
“They’re saying it’s a security document but it was sent to every airport and airline,” says Steven Frischling, one of the bloggers. “It was sent to Islamabad, to Riyadh and to Nigeria. So they’re looking for information about a security document sent to 10,000-plus people internationally. You can’t have a right to expect privacy after that.”
Transportation Security Administration spokeswoman Suzanne Trevino said in a statement that security directives “are not for public disclosure.”
“TSA’s Office of Inspections is currently investigating how the recent Security Directives were acquired and published by parties who should not have been privy to this information,” the statement said.
Frischling, a freelance travel writer and photographer in Connecticut who writes a blog for the KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, said the two agents who visited him arrived around 7 p.m. Tuesday, were armed and threatened him with a criminal search warrant if he didn’t provide the name of his source. They also threatened to get him fired from his KLM job and indicated they could get him designated a security risk, which would make it difficult for him to travel and do his job.
“They were indicating there would be significant ramifications if I didn’t cooperate,” said Frischling, who was home alone with his three children when the agents arrived. “It’s not hard to intimidate someone when they’re holding a 3-year-old [child] in their hands. My wife works at night. I go to jail, and my kids are here with nobody.”
Frischling, who described some of the details of the visit on his personal blog, told Threat Level that the two agents drove to his house in Connecticut from DHS offices in Massachusetts and New Jersey and didn’t mention a subpoena until an hour into their visit.
“They came to the door and immediately were asking, ‘Who gave you this document?, Why did you publish the document?’ and ‘I don’t think you know how much trouble you’re in.’ It was very much a hardball tactic,” he says.
When they pulled a subpoena from their briefcase and told him he was legally required to provide the information they requested, he said he needed to contact a lawyer. The agents said they’d sit outside his house until he gave them the information they wanted.
Frischling says he received the document anonymously from someone using a Gmail account and determined, after speaking with an attorney, that he might as well cooperate with the agents since he had little information about the source and there was no federal shield law to protect him.
The Gmail address consisted of the name “Mike,” followed by random numbers and letters. Frischling had already deleted the e-mail after publishing the document but said he had learned from previous correspondence with the source that he had been hired as a screener for the TSA in 2009.
The agents searched through Frischling’s BlackBerry and iPhone and questioned him about a number of phone numbers and messages in the devices. One number listed in his phone under “ICEMOM” was a quick dial to his mother, in case of emergency. The agents misunderstood the acronym and became suspicious that it was code for his anonymous source and asked if his source worked for ICE — the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The agents then said they wanted to take an image of his hard drive. Frischling said they had to go to WalMart to buy a hard drive, but when they returned were unable to get it to work. Frischling said the keyboard on his laptop was no longer working after they tried to copy his files. The agents left around 11 p.m. but came back Wednesday morning and, with Frischling’s consent, seized his laptop, which they promised to return after copying the hard drive.
30
12 2009
Guess Who Showed Up At the White House?
Do you want to know who has power and influence in this country? Watch who visits the White House.
Another government release was sneaked out as the country begins to celebrate the New Year.
The White House has posted 25,000 additional records of those visiting the White House. It’s all about investment bankers, union leaders and climatologists at the White House, judging by the visitors of President Obama and the President’s chief economic advisor Larry Summers.
General Electric chief executive Jeffrey Immelt visited roughly a dozen times. Climate change expert Jonathan Lash visited as did Paul Hanrahan, the chief executive of major energy company AES.
Further research shows that Goldman Sach’s CEO Lloyd Blankfein pretty much spent the entire day at the White House on October 29. He met with the president twice that day (one meeting had 119 attendees the other 16). On that day he also met one-on-one with Larry Summers. He also met one-on-one with Summers on February 4.
On October 29, Jamie Dimon met with the president twice, it appears in the same meetings as Blankfein. He also met on that day with Larry Summers but with another person present. He also met one-on-one with Rahm Emanuel that day, something Blankfein did not get to do.
Steven Rattner, who for a time ran the government’s auto task force and is co-founder of the investment firm, Quadrangle Group, met with Larry Summers over 25 times.
Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer met with Summers once. George Soros met with Summers in February.
While SEIU President Andy Stern doesn’t show up on the visitors list this time, after topping it last time, his top assistant Anna Burger met with the President 10 times.
Leo Gerard, president of the United Steelworkers, met with the President 4 times.
In addition to his many meetings with Larry Summers, Steve Rattner met with the President twice.
David Rubenstein co-founder of the private equity firm, Carlyle Group, was in the 119 attendee meeting with Lloyd Blankfein and Jamie Dimon, when they met with the president.
Daniel Weiss, Senior Fellow and the Director of Climate Strategy, for the George Soros front group, Center for American Progress, visited with the President (in large groups) 4 times.
http://www.economicpolicyjournal.com/2009/12/guess-who-showed-up-at-white-house.html
30
12 2009
Bankers Get $4 Trillion Gift From Barney Frank
Dec. 30 (Bloomberg) — To close out 2009, I decided to do something I bet no member of Congress has done — actually read from cover to cover one of the pieces of sweeping legislation bouncing around Capitol Hill.
Hunkering down by the fire, I snuggled up with H.R. 4173, the financial-reform legislation passed earlier this month by the House of Representatives. The Senate has yet to pass its own reform plan. The baby of Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank, the House bill is meant to address everything from too-big-to-fail banks to asleep-at-the-switch credit-ratings companies to the protection of consumers from greedy lenders.
I quickly discovered why members of Congress rarely read legislation like this. At 1,279 pages, the “Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act” is a real slog. And yes, I plowed through all those pages. (Memo to Chairman Frank: “ystem” at line 14, page 258 is missing the first “s”.)
The reading was especially painful since this reform sausage is stuffed with more gristle than meat. At least, that is, if you are a taxpayer hoping the bailout train is coming to a halt.
If you’re a banker, the bill is tastier. While banks opposed the legislation, they should cheer for its passage by the full Congress in the New Year: There are huge giveaways insuring the government will again rescue banks and Wall Street if the need arises.
Nuggets Gleaned
Here are some of the nuggets I gleaned from days spent reading Frank’s handiwork:
– For all its heft, the bill doesn’t once mention the words “too-big-to-fail,” the main issue confronting the financial system. Admitting you have a problem, as any 12- stepper knows, is the crucial first step toward recovery.
– Instead, it supports the biggest banks. It authorizes Federal Reserve banks to provide as much as $4 trillion in emergency funding the next time Wall Street crashes. So much for “no-more-bailouts” talk. That is more than twice what the Fed pumped into markets this time around. The size of the fund makes the bribes in the Senate’s health-care bill look minuscule.
– Oh, hold on, the Federal Reserve and Treasury Secretary can’t authorize these funds unless “there is at least a 99 percent likelihood that all funds and interest will be paid back.” Too bad the same models used to foresee the housing meltdownprobably will be used to predict this likelihood as well.
More Bailouts
– The bill also allows the government, in a crisis, to back financial firms’ debts. Bondholders can sleep easy — there are more bailouts to come.
– The legislation does create a council of regulators to spot risks to the financial system and big financial firms. Unfortunately this group is made up of folks who missed the problems that led to the current crisis.
– Don’t worry, this time regulators will have better tools. Six months after being created, the council will report to Congress on “whether setting up an electronic database” would be a help. Maybe they’ll even get to use that Internet thingy.
– This group, among its many powers, can restrict the ability of a financial firm to trade for its own account. Perhaps this section should be entitled, “Yes, Goldman Sachs Group Inc., we’re looking at you.”
Managing Bonuses
– The bill also allows regulators to “prohibit any incentive-based payment arrangement.” In other words, banker bonuses are still in play. Maybe Bank of America Corp. and Citigroup Inc. shouldn’t have rushed to pay back Troubled Asset Relief Program funds.
– The bill kills the Office of Thrift Supervision, a toothless watchdog. Well, kill may be too strong a word. That agency and its employees will be folded into theOffice of the Comptroller of the Currency. Further proof that government never really disappears.
– Since Congress isn’t cutting jobs, why not add a few more. The bill calls for more than a dozen agencies to create a position called “Director of Minority and Women Inclusion.” People in these new posts will be presidential appointees. I thought too-big-to-fail banks were the pressing issue. Turns out it’s diversity, and patronage.
– Not that the House is entirely sure of what the issues are, at least judging by the two dozen or so studies the bill authorizes. About a quarter of them relate to credit-rating companies, an area in which the legislation falls short of meaningful change. Sadly, these studies don’t tackle tough questions like whether we should just do away with ratings altogether. Here’s a tip: Do the studies, then write the legislation.
Consumer Protection
– The bill isn’t all bad, though. It creates a new Consumer Financial Protection Agency, the brainchild of Elizabeth Warren, currently head of a panel overseeing TARP. And the first director gets the cool job of designing a seal for the new agency. My suggestion: Warren riding a fiery chariot while hurling lightning bolts at Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.
– Best of all, the bill contains a provision that, in the event of another government request for emergency aid to prop up the financial system, debate in Congress be limited to just 10 hours. Anything that can get Congress to shut up can’t be all bad.
Even better would be if legislators actually tackle the real issues stemming from the financial crisis, end bailouts and, for the sake of my eyes, write far, far shorter bills.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601039&sid=a48c8UpUMxKQ
30
12 2009
US plots retaliatory strikes against al-Qaida in Yemen over plane bomber
“This is getting insane….”
-F.F.
Barack Obama has blamed intelligence failures for allowing the would-be bomber on the plane. Photograph: Alex Brandon/AP
30
12 2009
Exclusive: FBI Silent On Plane Bomber’s Accomplice
The probability that there was a bomb in the man’s luggage was all but confirmed when the FBI moved the passengers to another location.
Paul Joseph Watson & Kurt Nimmo
Prison Planet.com
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Flight 253 eyewitness Kurt Haskell has astoundingly revealed how the FBI are deliberately hiding the existence of a second man who was arrested following the Christmas Day plane bombing incident after bomb-sniffing dogs detected a possible second explosive device in his luggage.
Appearing on The Alex Jones Show yesterday, Haskell related how after being allowed to disembark from the plane by officials, passengers were detained in customs with their carry-on luggage for six hours while they waited to be interrogated by the FBI.
Bomb sniffing dogs then detected a possible explosive device in the luggage of an Indian man around 30 years old before the man was arrested and led away to an interrogation room.
The probability that there was a bomb in the man’s luggage was all but confirmed when the FBI moved the passengers to another location. “You’re being moved,” the FBI told them, “it is not safe here. I’m sure you all saw what happened and can read between the lines and why you’re being moved.”
The identity of the second man has not been discussed by authorities or the media and Haskell’s description of his own interview with the FBI suggests that the feds are deliberately trying to bury the notion that the bomber had one or more accomplices.
The FBI was not pleased with Haskell when they conducted a follow-up interview yesterday in Michigan. They showed him close-up photographs of various people, including Mutallab, the accused bomber. “They kind of tried to trick me,” Haskell explained. The agents tried to pass off two photos of Mutallab as different people. Kurt asked the agents if they were attempting to impeach his story and smear him.
The Indian man was not included in the photographs. Neither was another Indian man who Haskell told the media had helped the bomber board the plane despite the fact that he had no passport. The sharp dressed Indian lied about the bomber’s circumstances, claiming he was a Sudanese refugee.
Haskell asked them why he was not shown a full body shot of the suspect. Haskell was eight rows back from the suspect. The FBI agents did not answer and were displeased with the question. He also asked the FBI agents if it would be more appropriate to bring the surveillance video from the Amsterdam airport instead of still photos. “I don’t think they liked that comment from me,” Haskell added. The FBI said they did not have the videotape. They also made a point to tell Haskell they were asking the questions and not him.
The agents showed Haskell a photograph of the man flagged by the bomb-sniffing dog and taken into custody in customs. “Isn’t this the man who had the bomb in his carry-on bag that you arrested in customs who you refuse to admit exists?” Haskell asked the agents. “They really didn’t like that comment from me and had no comment back to me but I said it sure looks like the man you refuse to admit exists.”
There has also been no official explanation as to the identity of another mysterious man seen calmly filming the entire flight, including the botched bombing attempt, with a video camera.
Haskell described the FBI’s handling of the aftermath of the incident as “a complete embarrassment, a total disorganizational mess that actually put us in more jeopardy than we were already in.”
Passengers were told to remain seated in the aircraft for 20 minutes after landing despite the fact security did not know at that point if there was an explosive on the plane or if the fire started by the suspect Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab while on descent to the airport had spread under the floor in the cabin or to the fuel tanks in the wings.
Watch Haskell’s interview on The Alex Jones Show below.
http://www.infowars.com/exclusive-fbi-silent-on-plane-bombers-accomplice/
30
12 2009
Blackwater ‘hired’ Pak’s intelligence, army officers: Khwaja
LAHORE: Controversial US private security firm Blackwater, accused of carrying out secret operations in Pakistan, has hired services of army officers and former employees of intelligence agencies of this country for “handsome” salaries, a retired ISI official has claimed.
Khalid Khwaja, who has been at the forefront in raising the issue of “missing persons” or people detained without charges by Pakistani security agencies, said that ex-intelligence personnel hired by Blackwater had been asked to “pick up people with alleged connections to Taliban or al-Qaeda.”
The Supreme Court “has directed the Pakistan government to produce some 1,000 or so missing persons. The Pakistani (intelligence) agencies have expressed inability to comply with the order (on the ground that they do) not have knowledge
about the missing persons,” he said.
“I have written to the prime minister and the Interior Minister to investigate the matter,” said Khwaja, a retired ISI official.
Blackwater, he claimed, has “hired the services of army officers and former employees of intelligence agencies of Pakistan for handsome salaries.”
Former Pakistan army chief Gen Mirza Aslam Baig recently alleged on a TV news channel that Blackwater was involved in the assassination of former premier Benazir Bhutto.
Shireen Mazari, a defence analyst and editor of The Nation daily, believes the American security contractor is operating in North West Frontier Province, Islamabad, Quetta, Karachi and Lahore.
Islamabad recently deported a US national who was believed to be an employee of Blackwater, which also operated during wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and whose functions had been shrouded in secrecy.
The Interior Ministry said the American national was accused of establishing “illegal contacts with pro-Taliban militants.”
The Lahore High Court too sought details of the deportation of the US national while hearing a petition regarding the presence of Blackwater in Pakistan.
The Pakistani media has been reporting about the presence of Blackwater in the country for the past few months. However, the Pakistan government and the US embassy have rejected reports about Blackwater’s presence in Pakistan.
“Blackwater is not operating in Pakistan. We have our own system, rules and regulations and will not allow anybody to operate from here,” Interior Minister Rehman Malik has said.
Blackwater has officially changed its name to Xe Services LLC.
30
12 2009
Clueless Liberals and Neocons Slug It Out Over Fake al-Qaeda
Kurt Nimmo
Infowars.com
December 29, 2009
It’s a pity. News Hounds usually pegs Fox News pretty accurately. But the blog has slipped lately. For instance, a post today accuses the corporate media leviathan of hating Obama more than al-Qaeda.
“Those America lovers over at Fox Nation are so obsessed with ginning up hatred for President Obama, there’s not much room for focusing on what Al Qaeda is up to. They’re whom I would consider the real enemies of America. But judging from the top stories and the comments, the residents of Fox Nation — readers and writers – seem to think that the real enemy is our president. Many of the comments even say so,” writes Ellen.
News Hounds points to a Fox Nation articleciting the scurrilous neocon Ralph Peters who says “the bomber’s ineptitude preserved the lives of nearly 300 innocents.” Did ineptitude place a man with a camcorder who videotaped the patsy Abdulmutallab on the flight as well?
In predictable fashion, Peters — a retired United States Army Lieutenant Colonel who once drew up a map of a reorganized Middle East — reduces the issue to a ridiculous black and white caricature.
According to Peters, everybody on the plane was Christian and the plan was to engage in yuletide terror and mass murder. “By continuing to lie to ourselves. Although willing — at last — to briefly use the word ‘terror,’ yesterday President Obama still refused to make a connection between the action, the date and Islam,” Peters declares.
It is sad both so-called liberals and conservatives are so blindsided by propaganda and spin they cannot recognize a false flag operation when they see one. It should be obvious by now — from the well-dressed man escorting the clueless Nigerian wanna-be underwear bomber to a mysterious man videotaping the operation — that the Christmas event is not what Fox and MSNBC or the rest of the corporate media tell us it is.
Fox Nation is a rest stop for neocons who want to kill Muslims and News Hounds is an excuse to protect Obama from criticism. Far too many liberals are oblivious to the fact Obama is nothing if not a cigar store Indian for the banksters who don’t give a whit about political striping.
Liberals and neocons are unable to accept or even recognize an exhaustively documented fact — al-Qaeda was created by the CIA and is not even an organization in the commonly accepted sense of the word. It is a government and corporate media manufactured hobgoblin designed to scare people into accepting the destruction of the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and acquiescing to endless war waged on behalf of bankers and transnational corporations.
The real enemy is not Fox Nation, as News Hounds believes. It is a cartel of international bankers who have a vested interest in keeping people stupid and distracted by a false right-left sideshow.
http://www.infowars.com/clueless-liberals-and-neocons-slug-it-out-over-fake-al-qaeda/
30
12 2009
‘Traditional marriage’ defender Rove mocked for getting divorced
“I found I’ve been losing sleep over this… really feeling bad for the little fella. Har, Har, Ho, Hum, Huckleberry, Cottage Cheese, Boat House, Gymnastic Splits, Switch Blade Comb?”
-F.F.
29
12 2009
French constitutional body rules against carbon tax
“Fuck yes.”
-F.F.
PARIS, Dec 29 (Reuters) -- France’s planned carbon tax cannot be applied because it includes too many exemptions, a French government body ensuring laws are constitutional ruled on Tuesday, in an embarrassing setback for the government.
The tax on carbon-emitting products, meant to encourage consumers to save energy and use less fossil fuels, is one of President Nicolas Sarkozy’s most loudly defended initiatives and was meant to come into effect on Jan. 1, 2010.
“The exemptions included in the carbon tax run counter to the aim of fighting climate change and create inequalities with respect to public charges,” the Constitutional Council said in a statement.
Prime Minister Francois Fillon said in a separate statement the cabinet would in January examine a new law taking into account the ruling.
Sarkozy has thrown his weight behind the levy, saying it would support the battle against climate change, but the plan had to be watered down extensively to appease critics.
In its ruling, the council said the law exempted some of the worst industrial polluters such as refineries and included relief for farmers and fishermen, among numerous other exemptions.
“93 percent of carbon dioxide emissions of industrial origin, other than fuel, will be totally exempt from the carbon tax,” the government body said in the ruling.
The tax has caused public upheaval in France, with critics within the ruling party saying the tax would hurt poor families and people in rural areas with little public transport.
The opposition Greens broadly agreed with the principle but said the tax should be higher, while the Socialists said it would deal a further blow to consumers already struggling to cope with the economic downturn.
As a result, the system that was eventually adopted would have differentiated between urban and rural dwellers, and applied to oil, gas and coal but not to electricity.
The levy, initially set at 17 euros ($25) per tonne of carbon dioxide emissions, would have translated into a rise in the price of fuel for cars, domestic heating and factories. (Reporting by Gerard Bon and Sophie Hardach)
http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKLDE5BS1FB20091229
29
12 2009
President Obama: Federal Government ‘Will Go Bankrupt’ if Health Care Costs Are Not Reined In
“Little lying piggy. Just like Bush. Using dooms day scenario fear tactics to ram a shit bill through. This man is a fraud, wake up people, please. How long & how much bullshit will it take until that sinks in with people? I can’t answer that question for the life of me?”
-Fred Face 12/28/09
ABC’s Karen Travers reports from Washington:
President Obama told ABC News’ Charles Gibson in an interview that if Congress does not pass health care legislation that will bring down costs, the federal government “will go bankrupt.”
The president laid out a dire scenario of what will happen if his health care reform effort fails.
“If we don’t pass it, here’s the guarantee….your premiums will go up, your employers are going to load up more costs on you,” he said. “Potentially they’re going to drop your coverage, because they just can’t afford an increase of 25 percent, 30 percent in terms of the costs of providing health care to employees each and every year. “
The president said that the costs of Medicare and Medicaid are on an “unsustainable” trajectory and if there is no action taken to bring them down, “the federal government will go bankrupt.”
“This actually provides us the best chance of starting to bend the cost curve on the government expenditures in Medicare and Medicaid,” Obama said.
Watch Charlie Gibson’s interview with President Obama tonight on World News and check back on ABCNews.com for the full interview.
Obama told Gibson that anybody who says they are concerned about therising deficit or worried about tax increases in the future has to support this health care bill.
“Because if we don’t do this, nobody argues with the fact that health care costs are going to consume the entire federal budget,” the president said.
Obama is facing an increasingly skeptical American public when it comes to his push for health care reform.
The latest ABC News/Washington Post poll found that support for the health care reform package, while never robust, is now at a low ebb and opposition has been steadily growing stronger in intensity.
For the first time, a majority of those surveyed disapproved of the president’s work on health care (53 percent) and oppose the health care reform package making its way through Congress (51 percent, compared to 44 percent approval).
That seven-point margin for opposition is its most to date – indeed statistically significant for the first time — and the differential in intensity of sentiment has grown since September.
29
12 2009
The Terrorism That You’ve Learned To Love Is A Lie
It’s absolutely critical that we learn from this incident and take the necessary measures to prevent future acts of terrorism.
—President Barack Obama
It’s absolutely critical that we learn from this incident and take the necessary measures to prevent future acts of terrorism.
—President Barack Obama
It’s absolutely critical that we learn from this incident and take the necessary measures to prevent future acts of terrorism.
—President Barack Obama
It’s absolutely critical that we learn from this incident and take the necessary measures to prevent future acts of terrorism.
—President Barack Obama
It’s absolutely critical that we learn from this incident and take the necessary measures to prevent future acts of terrorism.
—President Barack Obama
It’s absolutely critical that we learn from this incident and take the necessary measures to prevent future acts of terrorism.
—President Barack Obama
29
12 2009
Ron Paul on Terrorism and Security
Congressman Ron Paul gives his thoughts on Yemen, the attempted airline bombing, the motivations of Al Qaeda, the radicalization of the Middle East, and the negation of our liberties to government provided “security.”
29
12 2009
Buddy Fuckin Holly
29
12 2009
CIA present in Yemen since 2008: Report
US Special Forces are training Yemeni forces
The US has opened a covert front against ‘al-Qaeda’ in Yemen by offering support to the country’s military operations, a US intelligence sources says.
Citing an unnamed former CIA official, The New York Times reported late on Sunday that about a year ago the CIA sent many field operatives with counterterrorism experience to the country.
The report revealed that some of the most secretive special operations commandos have begun training Yemeni security forces. The paper noted that the Pentagon will be spending more than USD 70 million over the next 18 months to train and equip Yemeni military, Interior Ministry and coast guard forces.
Yemen’s national security chief had earlier declared that the country was receiving assistance from the US in the crackdown on what he called “al-Qaeda operatives” in southern Yemen.
Mohamed al-Anisi had told the Saudi Arabian newspaper Okaz that the Yemeni forces were cooperating with the US military on attacks against al-Qaeda camps.
The developments come as international aid agencies and some UN bodies including the United Nations Children’s Fund and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees have voiced concern over the dire condition of the Yemeni civilians, who have become the main victims of the conflict in the country.
The United Nations, which according to its charter is set up “to take effective collective measures for the prevention and removal of threats to peace, and for the suppression of acts of aggression or other breaches of the peace,” has failed to adopt any concrete measures to help end the bloody war.
http://presstv.com/detail.aspx?id=114817§ionid=351020206
29
12 2009
Tiny nano-electromagnets turn a cloak of invisibility into a possibility
“Your a fuckin’ pot-head.”
-F.F.
A team of researchers at the FOM institute AMOLF (The Netherlands) has succeeded for the first time in powering an energy transfer between nano-electromagnets with the magnetic field of light.
This breakthrough is of major importance in the quest for magnetic ‘meta-materials’ with which light rays can be deflected in every possible direction. This could make it possible to produce perfect lenses and, in the fullness of time, even ‘invisibility cloaks’.
The AMOLF researchers -- Ivana Sersic, Martin Frimmer, Ewold Verhagen and Vidi laureate and group leader Femius Koenderink -- published their results in the authoritative journal Physical Review Letters.
The artificial ‘meta-materials’ studied by the researchers consist of very small U-shaped metal ‘nano-rings’. The electromagnetic field of light drives charges back and forth, thereby inducing an alternating current in each U shape. The tiny opening at the top of the ring makes sure that the current zooms around at the frequencies of light. In this way, each ring becomes a small but strong electromagnet, with its north and south poles alternating 500 billion times per second.
The researchers made an important discovery by measuring how much light passes through a thick grid of these electromagnets. It appears that when the tiny currents of the rings are actuated by light the nano-magnets also influence each other and can power each other.
The researchers have also shown for the first time that the interaction with the magnetic field of light is very strong in these materials; just as strong as the interaction with the electrical field in the best ‘classical’ optical materials. This improved understanding of the nano-magnets and their interaction with light gives the researchers all the ingredients they need to disperse light along arbitrary paths.
We are all familiar with rod-shaped magnets: they are described as ‘dipolar’, with a north pole and a south pole, and the tendency to attract each other’s opposite poles and repel similar poles. We also know that, just like a compass, magnets align themselves along a magnetic field. This is how you can manipulate magnets with magnetic fields, and -- vice versa -- you can exercise control over magnetic fields using magnets. This commonplace intuition works particularly well for slowly changing magnetic fields, but not for those in a state of rapid flux.
Light is an electromagnetic wave consisting of a very rapidly fluctuating electrical field and an associated magnetic field. In principle, you can direct electromagnetic waves at will by manipulating both the electrical field and the magnetic field. But at the very high frequencies of light (500 THz -- 500 billion vibrations per second), atoms scarcely respond to magnetic fields. This is why normal materials only control the electrical field of light and not the magnetic field, and is also why normal optical devices (lenses, mirrors and glass fibres) are handicapped in the way they work. But this type of control is actually possible with these artificial ‘meta-materials’.
http://www.physorg.com/news180724252.html
29
12 2009
Clinton On Alinsky: A Revelation of the Method
“Sweet pickles bus is grrreat!”
=F_F_
Hillary Clinton during her Wellesley College days in the mid to late 60s when she wrote her thesis on Alinksy.
Joe Wäges
Infowars.com
Reading the college thesis of our former First Lady Hillary Clinton titled “There is Only the Fight… An Analysis of the Alinsky Model”, it becomes painfully clear why this document has been off limits for the public at large until recently. It shows in very tangible unambiguous detail the motivations and methodology of the modern incarnation of Marxism. In an equally disturbing fashion the author not only shows no aversion to its aims but defends at every chance, the pioneer of this modern system, Saul Alinsky.
Let us begin by noting that in the acknowledgements section she gives thanks to Mr. Alinsky for providing a topic sharing some time and offering a job to then Ms. Rodham. She asks the question what a radical is and provides the answer in Mr. Alinsky’s own words.
“They are a people creating a new bridge of mankind in between the past of narrow nationalistic chauvinism and the horizon of a new man kind—a people of the world.”
This is precisely the aim of the power structure behind Communism, the erasing of all borders and boundaries and the establishment of a world government based on a modified form of Communism called Humanistic Socialism. The author continues and defines what it means to be an American radical. Again she lets Mr. Alinsky define the term.
“…that unique person who actually believes what he says… to whom the common good is the greatest personal value… who genuinely and completely believes in mankind.…Alinsky outlines American history focusing on men he would call “radical,” confronting his readers again with the “unique” way Americans have synthesized the alien roots of radicalism, Marxism, Utopian socialism, syndicalism, the French Revolution, with their own conditions and experiences:”
So the reader concludes that an American radical is someone who believes in collectivism and synthesizes the roots of Communism with the origins of Liberty. What an exercise in semantical and mental gymnastics. To equate liberty and authoritarianism as synonymous terms is a perversion in and of itself. Ms. Rodham continues defining radical in her own terms.
“A radical is one who advocates sweeping changes in the existing laws and methods of government. These proposed changes are aimed at the roots of political problems which in Marxian terms are the attitudes and the behaviors of men. Radicals are not interested in ameliorating the symptoms of decay but in drastically altering the causes of societal conditions. Radicalism “emphasizes reason rather than reverence, although Radicals have often been the most emotional and least reasonable of men.” One of the strongest strains in modern radicalism is the eighteenth Century Enlightenment’s faith in human reason and the possible perfectibility of men. This faith in the continuing improvement of man was and is dominated by values derived from the French and American Revolutions and profoundly influenced by the Industrial Revolution.”
She herself defines radicalism under Marxian terms and correctly points out that the origins of radicalism do indeed begin in the Enlightenment. Her term the “perfectibility of men” is rather striking considering that the object of Communism is to create the perfect man. Also the original name of the Illuminati Order, the prototype of Communism, was the Order of the Perfectibilists and that Adam Weishaupt’s successor J. J. C. Bode went to The Grand Orient Lodge and initiated the architects of the French Revolution into the order some two years before the French Revolution began. This account is confirmed in Bode’s personal diary and also in the book “Fire in the Minds of Men”.
The author points out that radicalism often must be achieved through non-radical means, chiefly operating inside the existing system. We learn that the object of radicalism is power and it is obtained through organization. The means to obtaining power is through conflict. It is pointed out that …
“Alinsky argues that those who wish to change circumstances must develop a mass-based organization and be prepared for conflict. He is a Neo-Hobbesian who objects to the consensual mystique surrounding political processes; for him conflict is the route to power.”
In short it is learned that through collective action in the form of conflict can power be achieved. She expands on this concept in relation to morality.
“Alinsky claims a position of moral relativism, but his moral context is stabilized a belief in the eventual manifestation of the goodness of man. He believes that if men were allowed to live free from fear and want they would live in peace. He also believes that only men with a sense of their own worth an a respect for the commonality of humanity will be able to create this new world.”
This is a repetition of the central theme in Machiavelli’s “The Prince”, the end justifies the means. Morality then is subjective so long as the object of creating a new world based on the commonality of humanity also known as Communism. Not surprisingly the idea that the ends justify the means is central in his 1971 work titled “Rules for Radicals”. Interestingly this work was dedicated to what he referred to as the original radical, Lucifer.
Ms. Rodham focuses on community organizing efforts in relation to the Alinsky Method noting that it has two distinct elements.
“One, the “Alinsky-type protest” is “an explosive mixture of rigid discipline, brilliant showmanship, and a street fighters instinct for ruthlessly exploiting his enemies weakness.” The second, modeledafter trade union organization methods, involves the hard work of recorganizing interests, seeking out indigenous leaders, and building an organization whose power is viewed as legitimate by the larger comunity.”
So the elements then are staged theatrical protests, prying on your enemies weaknesses, and identifying indigenous leaders so as to appear legitimate to the community that you are trying to organize. This idea is repeated in the following excerpt that defines the criteria of an Alinsky organization.
(a) It is rooted in the local tradition, the local indigenous leader ship, the local organizations and agencies, and, in short, the local people.
(b) Its energy or driving force is generated by the self-interest of the local residents for the welfare of their children and themselves.
(c) Its program for action develops hand in hand with the organ Ization of the community council. The program is in actual fact that series of common agreements which results in the develop ment of the local organization.
(d) It is a program arising out of the local people carrying with it the direct participation of practically all the organizations in a particular area. It involves a substantial degree of indi vidual citizen participation; a constant day to day flow of vol unteer activities and the daily functioning of numerous local com mites charged with specific short term functions.
(e) It constantly emphasizes the functional relationship between prob lems and therefore its program is as broad as the social horizon of the community. It avoids, at all costs, circumscribed and seg mental programs which in turn attract the support of only a seg ment of the local population.
(f) It recognizes that a democratic society is one which responds to popular pressures, and therefore realistically operates on the basis of pressure. For the same reason it does not shy away from involvement in matters of controversy.
(g) It concentrates on the utilization of indigenous individuals, who, if not leaders at the beginning, can be developed into leaders.
(h) It gives priority to the significance of self-interest. The organ Ization itself proceeds on the idea of channeling the many diverse forces of self-interest within the community into a common dir ection for the common good and at the same time respects the autonomy of individuals and organizations.
(i) It becomes completely self-financed at the end of approximately Three years. This not only testifies to its representative character In that the local residents support their own organization finan cially, but insures to the local council the acid test of ide pendence: “the ability to pay one’s way”
The over arching theme is the rule and representation of the collective by its indigenous leaders, whether real or developed. The power lies in mob rule. This is precisely what a democracy is. Our founders understood that a democracy is two wolves and a sheep deciding what is for dinner. That is why we are founded as a Republic and not as a democracy as Ms. Rodham falsely believes. The term democracy in fact appears nowhere in our founding documents.
The point of the preceding analysis is to reveal the motivation and methodology of the modern collectivist. Through understanding their means and motives, we can safeguard our liberty from the mob waiting to tear this great nation to pieces. Communism has taken many forms throughout the last few hundred years and it ideology is rooted in antiquity. It is not a monolithic form and is always changing to the needs of the groups it represents. It has been called Illuminism, radicalism, democracy, socialism, syndicalism, and lately communism. It is not for the benefit of the people but is the tool of totalitarian oligarchical control. If you need any verification of this, then consider why all ten pillars of the Communist Party destroy the freedoms and rights of the individual in the name of the collective but transfer it to the banks and the state. Who in their right mind would advocate for such a thing?
1. Abolition of property in land and application of all rents of land to public purposes.
2. A heavy progressive or graduated income tax.
3. Abolition of all right of inheritance.
4. Confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels.
5. Centralization of credit in the hands of the State, by means of a national bank with State capital and an exclusive monopoly.
6. Centralization of the means of communication and transport in the hands of the State.
7. Extension of factories and instruments of production owned by the State; the bringing into cultivation of waste-lands, and the improvement of the soil generally in accordance with a common plan.
8. Equal liability of all to labor. Establishment of industrial armies, especially for agriculture.
9. Combination of agriculture with manufacturing industries; gradual abolition of the distinction between town and country, by a more equitable distribution of the population over the country.
10. Free education for all children in public schools. Abolition of children’s factory labor in its present form. Combination of education with industrial production.
http://www.infowars.com/clinton-on-alinsky-a-revelation-of-the-method/
December 29, 2009
29
12 2009
Video of Cop Brandishing Gun at Snowball Fight
Around 2.30PM on Saturday, December 19, during a historic snowstorm, residents at the intersection of 14th and U Streets NW started throwing snowballs at passing Hummers.
One of the cars pelted was driven by a plainclothes police officer identified only as Det. Baylor. Baylor got out of his car and brandished his gun at the crowd.
Reason.tv’s Dan Hayes was on the scene, capturing the tense confrontation between police and citizens who chanted “Don’t bring a gun to a snowball fight!”
Approximately 5 minutes; harsh language throughout.
http://www.infowars.com/video-of-cop-brandishing-gun-at-snowball-fight/
29
12 2009
BOMBSHELL: Evidence Clearly Indicates Staged Attack on Detroit Flight
#mce_temp_url#CNN Airs Eyewitness Testimony that ‘Well-Dressed’ Indian accomplice helped Abdulmutallab board without passport and that man on plane filmed entire flight and bombing attempt
Aaron Dykes
Infowars
December 29, 2009
Evidence is emerging that clearly indicates Abdulmutallab was more than just a Nigerian extremist carrying out his anger through an ill-conceived plot to ignite a powdery explosive substance on-board a flight to the United States. Eyewitness testimony pointing to a man helping the accused terrorist board without a passport, along with an unusual cameraman documenting the attempted attack on board the plane raise more than red flags– they point towards an intelligence operation, run as a drill, meant to conjure up public support for a number of fronts in the continuing ‘War on Terror.’
CNN interviewed key flight witnesses during their Dec. 28 program who raised these very points, making clear that the full story is still emerging and that wider-connections to intelligence handlers is evident.
THE SHARP-DRESSED MAN
Kurt Haskell and his wife, who were witnesses on board Northwest Airlines Flight 253 saw Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab receiving assistance from a well-dressed, wealthy-looking Indian man at the boarding gate in Amsterdam. Haskell told CNN that the accused bomber appeared strikingly ‘poor’ next to the well-dressed man. According to Haskell, that man did the talking for him, explaining to the flight personnel at the gate that Abdulmutallab needed to board without a passport, claiming that he was a Sudanese refugee. Haskell told CNN:
“Laurie and I were sitting near the boarding gate, sitting on the floor, there weren’t any seats to sit in. And I saw two men. They caught my eye because they seemed to be an odd pair. One was what I would describe as a poor-looking black teenager around 16 or 17, and the other man, age 50-ish, wealthy looking Indian man. And I was just wondering why they were together– kinda strange. And I watched them approach what I would call the ticket agent, the final person that checks your boarding pass before you get on the plane. And I could hear the entire conversation. The only person that spoke was the Indian man, and what he said was: ‘This man needs to board the plane, but he doesn’t have a passport.’ And the ticket agent responded, ‘Well, if he doesn’t have a passport, he can’t get on the plane.’ To which the Indian man responded back, ‘He’s from Sudan. We do this all the time.’ And the ticket agent said, ‘Well, then you’ll have to go and talk to my manager.’ And she directed them down a hallway. And that was the last time I saw the Indian man, and the black man I didn’t see again until he tried to blow up our plane hours later.”
The gate attendee referred the odd-couple to the manager. Haskell said that was the last he saw of the wealthy man, but later recognized Abdulmutallab after the incident occurred on the plane. That’s when he says he put two and two together about the unusual connection.
His wife, Laurie, said she found it ‘odd’ that authorities have not yet followed up on their witness account, as they were the only ones known to have witnessed Abdulmutallab with the ‘Indian’ man prior to boarding the flight.
THE CAMERAMAN
If he had help getting on the flight with no passport after having been reported to U.S. authorities by his own father, what is the true explanation for the man seen filming the entire flight? Another witness on board the flight, Richelle Keepman, said she noticed the mysterious cameraman at the beginning of the flight, believing the man might have been simply excited about a first flight, or etc. Later when the ‘bombing’ incident took place, she says the cameraman was the only one standing up, and intently filming the entire incident.
ADDULMUTALLAB AND THE WIDER WAR ON TERROR
Put this together with new focus on Yemen ‘in the fight against Al Qaeda’, including calls from Sen. Lieberman to pre-emptively attack, the media’s immediate hype of the event, and the ready-made Body Scanners and other ‘enhanced’ Airport security, it is clear that this is a contrived incident intentionally unleashed to goad renewed support for ever-expanding terrorism-related warfare in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Sudan and now Yemen.
Just like after 9/11, airport travelers are again prepared to accept greater violations of their liberties and privacy for supposed security. Yet patsies and watchlist-subjects alike have repeatedly been allowed to bypass security clearance and been proven to have ties to the intelligence community.
The latest accused ‘terrorist’ Abdulmutallab was very likely the fall-guy in a pattern-drill– handled by wealthy, mismatched associates, allowed to board without required credentials, and videotaped by a cameraman with an unknown connection. Was Abdulmutallab involved with these figures through a drill which ended with an intentionally-failed bombing meant to incite great fear of terrorism?
PREVIOUSLY-STAGED TERROR
This would fit closely with other elements of CIA-concocted “terrorism.” Many of the 9/11 hijackers and other known extremists were revealed to have participated in ‘dry run’ drills, shared addresses with intelligence handlers or lived on military bases, were allowed to pass through the border despite being on one or more watchlists, and were given VISAS/Passports through execptions and/or special clearance.
Similarly, David Headly, named in the Mumbai attack, has been exposed as a CIA-double agent.
FBI/CIA provocateurs and exaggerated accounts of extremists groups have continued to emerge from the phony stories given to the public in the cases of many would-be plots, such as in Toronto, the ‘plot’ to bomb the Sears Tower, the Transatlantic liquid bomb plot, alleged plans to ‘blow up a Jewish temple and shoot down military planes’ in New York and more.
We see a similar pattern here, the emerging evidence strongly suggests. How long will we allow deliberately-provoked terror incidents to frighten us to death, invade our privacy, erode our liberties, restrict our travel and perpetuate an ever-expanding string of wars?
COMMENTARY: BODY-SCANNERS AND THE SECURITY-SWINDLE
Benjamin Franklin long ago warned us that “If we restrict liberty to attain security, we will lose both.” And that those willing to make that bargain deserve neither their liberty nor security.
On the most basic level, government is established only for the common security of its people. Thus, it is no surprise that government tends to test the line between the government and the governed on grounds of “security.” It is no coincidence that Franklin and fellow compatriots like Thomas Paine laid down principled reasons for an individuals’ rights in respect to government.
Today’s advances in technology do not diminish the principled reasons for keeping government’s power in check with the people’s essential, as per Franklin– freedom. The ‘War on Terror’ is a shining example of Franklin’s principle gone awry. You cannot fight against an existential, shadowy “enemy”, on a fishing expedition for evidence, avoiding certainties, and employing such unprincipled tactics as torture, rendition, widespread wire-tapping– going against the very spirit of the law established by the Constitution, while hoping to maintain that opposing spirit in the nation.
The people, for reasons of “security” are stripped and searched– preemptively, without warrant, probable cause or specific things being searched for– in ever-expanding screenings– losing privacy, dignity and basic freedom of travel. But even this is not the point.
All the while, the rare, real perpetrator, identified as a terrorist, never goes through the database checks, security screening or passenger tracking schemes set-up by Homeland Security. The people do. Mothers with breastmilk. Business men with laptops. Shoes, belts, nail clippers, tooth paste, underwear, but not terrorists.
They evidently are whisked through by contacts who may or may not work directly for the FBI, CIA or etc. Databases make exceptions for its most-important targets while people with commonly-confused names are kept from flying or subject to secondary screening. Any ordinary person without proper documentation is subject, at the least, to alternate verification and likely quite a few intense questions. For this would-be bomber, however, it is apparently the matter of a handshake with the manager, and a high-level contact to vouch as sponsor.
It’s a bait and switch. It’s not security, Constitutionally-sound or not. It’s a scheme to tightly-control the travel of ordinary Americans while co-opting that fear through staged-attacks to generate support for various overseas operations. It is textbook problem-reaction-solution.
Though the Body Scanners have already been phased in throughout the U.S., they along with newly hailed restrictions, such as banning blankets, electronics and on-board bathroom use during the final 60 minutes of flight, are heavy-handed measures set up by Homeland Security that have been waiting for the right excuse to introduce them to the public.
But it’s a misapplication of security by an inept arm of government stumbling in the dark. The TSA offers neither security nor freedom– it’s Franklin’s monster.
The heroic, but also practical actions of the passengers in thwarting this attempted-attack is a sane reminder in the fog of the ‘War on Terror’ that people can actually fend for themselves in many situations, particularly in the face of danger. Though real, big scale dangers do exist for which governments clearly play a role, we cannot shriek in the face of danger, handing over to government all that we hold in the balance. There are ways of detecting crimes, preventing attacks and ’saving lives, for the children’ that don’t involve enslaving and indicting the whole of the population.
The game is surely rigged if the criminal it was meant to catch walks right through the proverbial back-door, which was held open for him by the archetypal inside man. The trading of liberty for so-called security does not balance favorably, but transfers power duly held by the people to the government, the more dangerous by the loosened-chains of the Constitution.
http://www.infowars.com/bombshell-evidence-clearly-indicates-staged-attack-on-detroit-flight/
29
12 2009
The Fear of Violence: Governments vs. Liberty
“Awww… and a wave of common sense rolls right in for you. Just for you buckaroo.”
-F.F.
29
12 2009
Senator Lieberman calls for ‘preemptive’ attack on Yemen
“Great timing with the fake firecracker terrorist. Can these idiots be anymore obvious.”
-Fred Face 12/29/09
Speaking on Fox News Sunday, Senator Joseph Lieberman (I-CT), who leads the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, shared his vision of “tomorrow’s war.”
“Somebody in our government said to me in Sana’a, the capital of Yemen, Iraq was yesterday’s war,” Lieberman explained. “Afghanistan is today’s war. If we don’t act preemptively, Yemen will be tomorrow’s war. That’s the danger we face.”
Senator Arlen Specter (D-PA), also appearing on the program, seemed to agree, calling an attack against Yemen “something we should consider.”
“Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan — the Army officer who killed 13 people in a shooting rampage at Fort Hood in November — was linked to Anwar al-Awlaki, a radical Muslim cleric now based in Yemen,” The Hill noted.
Unnamed administration officials told US media in the aftermath of the thwarted attack that their suspect had confessed to traveling to Yemen and receiving training by Al-Qaeda.
Lieberman’s saber rattling against Yemen is “likely to be echoed in the days ahead as a growing number of neoconservative and conservative foreign policy voices have used the attempted airline attack to call into question the tactics Obama has applied to curb terrorism,” Sam Stein added.
In a borderline-livid post, Firedoglake writer Spencer Ackerman assailed Lieberman’s hawkish stance. “Is it a mistake to respond to this with more than ridicule? Maybe, but if not: it’s a ludicrously blithe and cost-free assertion to say that we need to take preemptive action in Yemen. What the fuck does Joe Lieberman know about Yemen? What does anyone in the Washington policy community know about Yemen? Fucking nothing except that (a) there is an apparently growing al-Qaeda presence there; Abdulmutallab told investigators that he got hooked up with his botched explosive there; the USS Cole was bombed there; there’s an important port there; and… that’s it.”
“The good news is that while progressives basically need Joe Lieberman’s vote in the Senate to pass domestic legislation, thus giving him a ton of leverage over what happens, nobody needs to listen to him about Yemen,” blogger Matt Yglesias opined.
http://rawstory.com/2009/12/senator-lieberman-calls-attack-yemen/
29
12 2009
Flight 253 passenger: Sharp-dressed man aided terror suspect Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab onto plane without passport
Kurt Haskell’s boarding pass for NWA Flight 253
By Sheena Harrison
A Michigan man who was aboard Northwest Airlines Flight 253 says he witnessed Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab trying to board the plane in Amsterdam without a passport.
Kurt Haskell of Newport, Mich., who posted an earlier comment about his experience, talked exclusively with MLive.com and confirmed he was on the flight by sending a picture of his boarding pass. He and his wife, Lori, were returning from a safari in Uganda when they boarded the NWA flight on Friday.
Haskell said he and his wife were sitting on the ground near their boarding gate in Amsterdam, which is when they saw Mutallab approach the gate with an unidentified man.
Kurt and Lori Haskell are attorneys with Haskell Law Firm in Taylor. Their expertise includes bankruptcy, family law and estate planning.
While Mutallab was poorly dressed, his friend was dressed in an expensive suit, Haskell said. He says the suited man asked ticket agents whether Mutallab could board without a passport. “The guy said, ‘He’s from Sudan and we do this all the time.’”
Mutallab is Nigerian. Haskell believes the man may have been trying to garner sympathy for Mutallab’s lack of documents by portraying him as a Sudanese refugee.
The ticket agent referred Mutallab and his companion to her manager down the hall, and Haskell didn’t see Mutallab again until after he allegedly tried to detonate an explosive on the plane.
Haskell said the flight was mostly unremarkable. That was until he heard a flight attendant say she smelled smoke, just after the pilot announced the plane would land in Detroit in 10 minutes. Haskell got out of his seat to view the brewing commotion.
“I stood up and walked a couple feet ahead to get a closer look, and that’s when I saw the flames,” said Haskell, who sat about seven rows behind Mutallab. “It started to spread pretty quickly. It went up the wall, all the way to ceiling.”
Haskell, who described Mutallab as a diminutive man who looks like a teenager, said about 30 seconds passed between the first mention of smoke and when Mutallab was subdued by fellow passengers.
“He didn’t fight back at all. This wasn’t a big skirmish,” Haskell said. “A couple guys jumped on him and hauled him away.”
The ordeal has Haskell and his wife a little shaken. Flight attendants were screaming during the fire and the pilot sounded notably nervous when bringing the plane in for a landing, he said.
“Immediately, the pilot came on and said two words: emergency landing,” Haskell said. “And that was it. The plane sped up instead of slowing down. You could tell he floored it.”
As Mutallab was being led out of the plane in handcuffs, Haskell said he realized that was the same man he saw trying to board the plane in Amsterdam.
Passengers had to wait about 20 minutes before they were allowed to exit the plane. Haskell said he and other passengers waited about six hours to be interviewed by the FBI.
About an hour after landing, Haskell said he saw another man being taken into custody. But a spokeswoman from the FBI in Detroit said Mutallab was the only person taken into custody.
http://www.mlive.com/news/detroit/index.ssf/2009/12/flight_253_passenger_says_at_l.html
29
12 2009
Obama Executive Order Cedes US Sovereignty, Citizen Rights to Interpol
“Break out your huge “Big Fuckin Story” banner and place it on this one. This Obama administration has now entered a new level of craziness. Take that to the bank, stamp it, seal it, take a dump on it, whatever you gotta do?”
-Fred Face 12/29/09
By Clyde Middleton – BLN Contributing Writer
World Net Daily is now talking about it. Big time, eh? Also, here’s the full list of every entity ever granted such privileges under American law.
This post is based on a post at Brutally Honest. See also my follow-up piece here.
The concept of granting immunity to foreign nationals in our country goes back at least as early as 1790 when we passed “An Act for the Punishment of Certain Crimes against the United States,” wherein immunity was granted to foreign diplomats. (This Act was revised in 1798 by the (in)famous “Sedition Act.”)
The immunities were not as broad as one would think, and that lack of a broad immunity has been tagged as a reason, among many, why the League of Nations failed. In 1945, at the same time as the United Nations was formed, we passed the United States International Organizations Immunities Act. This Act gave foreign diplomats many of the same rights as citizens and permanent residents – to enter into contracts, own real property, etc. Additional rights were given, and in particular was this:
Section 2(c) Property and assets of international organizations, wherever located and by whomsoever held, shall be immune from search, unless such immunity be expressly waived, and from confiscation. The archives of international organizations shall be inviolable.
This section of the Act is the legal force behind all those “diplomatic pouches” we see in movies that cannot be inspected.
Before we get our knickers in a bunch, there is logic to this immunity. While we like our Constitution and laws, other countries like their Constitution and laws. It doesn’t matter if the concept of personal freedom is more expansive here. If we expect immunity in their country, we have to extend it to them here. So we’re somewhat stuck – we need to dwell in reciprocity.
The issue has been litigated plenty, with DeLuca v. the United Nations, (41 F.3d 1502 (1994)) being one of the most important of recent vintage. Our courts have consistently upheld the concept of immunity for international organizations – even though to do so leaves an aggrieved American plaintiff with no legal recourse to correct their injury.
Along comes INTERPOL: The International Criminal Police Organization. INTERPOL “facilitates cross-border police co-operation, and supports and assists all organizations, authorities and services whose mission is to prevent or combat international crime.”
In 1983, President Reagan signed Executive Order 12425:
By virtue of the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and statutes of the United States, including Section 1 of the International Organizations Immunities Act (59 Stat. 669, 22 U.S.C. 288), it is hereby ordered that the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL), in which the United States participates pursuant to 22 U.S.C. 263a, is hereby designated as a public international organization entitled to enjoy the privileges, exemptions and immunities conferred by the International Organizations Immunities Act; except those provided by Section 2(c), the portions of Section 2(d) and Section 3 relating to customs duties and federal internal-revenue importation taxes, Section 4, Section 5, and Section 6 of that Act. This designation is not intended to abridge in any respect the privileges, exemptions or immunities which such organization may have acquired or may acquire by international agreement or by Congressional action.
Through EO 12425, President Reagan extended to INTERPOL recognition as an “International Organization.” In short, the privileges and immunities afforded foreign diplomats was extended to INTERPOL. Two sets of important privileges and immunities were withheld: Section 2(c) (presented in full text above), and the remaining sections cited (all of which deal with differing taxes).
And then comes December 17, 2009, and President Obama. The exemptions in EO 12425 were removed:
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including section 1 of the International Organizations Immunities Act (22 U.S.C. 288), and in order to extend the appropriate privileges, exemptions, and immunities to the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL), it is hereby ordered that Executive Order 12425 of June 16, 1983, as amended, is further amended by deleting from the first sentence the words “except those provided by Section 2(c), Section 3, Section 4, Section 5, and Section 6 of that Act” and the semicolon that immediately precedes them.
What does this mean? It means that we have an international police force authorized to act within the United States that is no longer subject to 4th Amendment Search and Seizure. The “property and assets of [INTERPOL], wherever located and by whomsoever held, shall be immune from search, unless such immunity be expressly waived, and from confiscation.”
INTERPOL, an international criminal police organization, is now poised to reside above the United States Constitution – in a place of sanctity beyond our FBI, CIA, DIA, and all other criminal investigatory domestic organizations.
President Obama has just placed our Constitutional rights under international law.
http://www.blacklistednews.com/news-6829-0-9-9–.html
29
12 2009
Rand Paul files for office Wednesday
Rand files for office
This Wednesday, December 30, marks the official beginning of an historic journey. Rand Paul will travel to Frankfort, Kentucky to file his papers as a candidate for the United States Senate. Friends in the area will meet him at the State Capitol Building at 2:00 pm ET in the Secretary of State’s office.
This is your invitation to join us.
Immediately following the filing, we will go to Republican Party of Kentucky Headquarters at 105 W. 3rd Street in Frankfort for a press conference.
The support for Rand’s campaign grows stronger every day. With nearly $1.75 million in campaign contributions and a poll from the independent Public Policy Polling organization last week showing Rand earning a nineteen point lead over his nearest GOP primary competitor, a grassroots-powered victory in 2010 looks more likely now than ever before.
Keep an eye on the events section of Rand’s web site and be sure to check out the campaign blog for late-breaking news. And make sure to save the date January 30, 2010. Rand will hold a unique event in Louisville with Congressman Ron Paul. Plan to join us at 4:00 pm ET on Saturday, January 30 at the Kentucky Fair and Exposition Center, 937 Phillips Lane, Louisville. Tickets are $25 for adults and $10 for children, with a maximum charge of $70 per family.
Thanks for your support and for spreading the word!
Sincerely,
David Adams, campaign manager
Rand Paul for U.S. Senate
29
12 2009
Man Videotaped Underwear Bomber On Flight 253
Kurt Nimmo
Infowars.com
December 28, 2009
For ABC News and the corporate media, it is a foregone conclusion. The Christmas underwear bomber is al-Qaeda.
“American officials have cause to worry there may be more al Qaeda-trained young men in Yemen planning to bring down American jets,” reportBrian Ross and Richard Esposito. “Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, charged with the attempted Christmas Day bombing of Northwest Airlines flight 253, told FBI agents there were more just like him in Yemen who would strike soon.”
And then there is the supposed tape released four days before the attempted underwear bombing. It shows what ABC describes as “the leader of al Qaeda in Yemen” who says he will kill Americans. “We are carrying a bomb to hit the enemies of God.”
“Yemen has become a principal al Qaeda training ground and the accused suicide bomber told the FBI he was trained for more than a month in Yemen, given 80 grams of a high explosive cleverly sewn into his underpants, undetected by standard security screening.”
On Sunday, the neocon Joe Lieberman said the U.S. needs to bomb Yemen and pronto. “Iraq was yesterday’s war, Afghanistan is today’s war. If we don’t act preemptively, Yemen will be tomorrow’s war,” the “hawkish” (neocon) senator from Connecticut told Fox News.
Lieberman, who helms the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, said Yemen is the new home of al-Qaeda. A script on Yemen and al-Qaeda is now being uniformly followed by the corporate media.
Meanwhile, more suspicious information about the underwear bombing has surfaced. An eye witness told the news talk radio station 620 WTMJ in Milwaukee that a man had videotaped the entire flight.
Patricia “Scotty” Keepman and her daughter witnessed the alleged botched bombing. Keepman’s “daughter said that ahead of them was a man who videotaped the entire flight, including the attempted detonation.”
“He sat up and videotaped the entire thing, very calmly,” said Patricia. “We do know that the FBI is looking for him intensely. Since then, we’ve heard nothing about it.”
On Saturday it was reported that a “sharp-dressed man” had escorted Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab when he boarded Northwest Airlines Flight 253 in Amsterdam. Mutallab was allowed on the plane without a passport. It was later reported that Mutallab seemed to be in a trance.
The alleged videotaping of the underwear bomber and his fudged attack is another oddity that the corporate media should zoom in on. Unfortunately, we no longer have a functioning investigative media in this country.
Instead we will hear endless pabulum about a resurgent al-Qaeda and murderous idiocy from neocons like Joe Lieberman who are screaming for another small and defenseless country to be bombed and more innocents slaughtered as the U.S. chases a phantom terror group created by the CIA.
http://www.infowars.com/man-videotaped-underwear-bomber-on-flight-253/
Related Story:
“Napolitano Sheepishly Acknowledges Security System Failed”
29
12 2009
Godfrey Bloom on Alex Jones Tv 1/4: The International Super Class and Their Global Warming Agenda!
Godfrey Bloom (born 22 November 1949 in London) is a Member of the European Parliament for Yorkshire and the Humber for the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP). He was first elected in 2004, and re-elected in 2009.
28
12 2009
ShadowStats.com Founder John Williams Explains the Risk of Hyperinflation
We’re Screwed!
ShadowStats.com founder John Williams explains the risk of hyperinflation. Worst-case scenario? Rioting in the streets and devolution to a bartering system.
By Phil Maymin
Do you believe everything the government tells you? Economist and statistician John Williams sure doesn’t. Williams, who has consulted for individuals and Fortune 500 companies, now uncovers the truth behind the U.S. government’s economic numbers on his Web site at ShadowStats.com. Williams says, over the last several decades, the feds have been infusing their data with optimistic biases to make the economy seem far rosier than it really is. His site reruns the numbers using the original methodology. What he found was not good.
Maymin: So we are technically bankrupt?
Williams: Yes, and when countries are in that state, what they usually do is rev up the printing presses and print the money they need to meet their obligations. And that creates inflation, hyperinflation, and makes the currency worthless.
Obama says America will go bankrupt if Congress doesn’t pass the health care bill.
Well, it’s going to go bankrupt if they do pass the health care bill, too, but at least he’s thinking about it. He talks about it publicly, which is one thing prior administrations refused to do. Give him credit for that. But what he’s setting up with this health care system will just accelerate the process.
Where are we right now?
In terms of the GDP, we are about halfway to depression level. If you look at retail sales, industrial production, we are already well into depressionary. If you look at things such as the housing industry, the new orders for durable goods we are in Great Depression territory. If we have hyperinflation, which I see coming not too far down the road, that would be so disruptive to our system that it would result in the cessation of many levels of normal economic commerce, and that would throw us into a great depression, and one worse than was seen in the 1930s.
What kind of hyperinflation are we talking about?
I am talking something like you saw with the Weimar Republic of the 1930s. There the currency became worthless enough that people used it actually as toilet paper or wallpaper. You could go to a fine restaurant and have an expensive dinner and order an expensive bottle of wine. The next morning that empty bottle of wine is worth more as scrap glass than it had been the night before filled with expensive wine.
We just saw an extreme example in Zimbabwe. … Probably the most extreme hyperinflation that anyone has ever seen. At the same time, you still had a functioning, albeit troubled, Zimbabwe economy. How could that be? They had a workable backup system of a black market in U.S. dollars. We don’t have a backup system of anything. Our system, with its heavy dependence on electronic currency, in a hyperinflation would not do well. It would probably cease to function very quickly. You could have disruptions in supply chains to food stores. The economy would devolve into something like a barter system until they came up with a replacement global currency.
What can we do to avoid hyperinflation? What if we just shut down the Fed or something like that?
We can’t. The actions have already been taken to put us in it. It’s beyond control. The government does put out financial statements usually in December using generally accepted accounting principles, where unfunded liabilities like Medicare and Social Security are included in the same way as corporations account for their employee pension liabilities. And in 2008, for example, the one-year deficit was $5.1 trillion dollars. And that’s instead of the $450 billion, plus or minus, that was officially reported.
Wow.
These numbers are beyond containment. Even the 2008 numbers, you can take 100 percent of people’s income and corporate profit and you’d still be in deficit. There’s no way you can raise enough money in taxes.
What about spending?
If you eliminated all federal expenditures except for Medicare and Social Security, you’d still be in deficit. You have to slash Social Security and Medicare. But I don’t see any political will to rein in the costs the way they have to be reined in. There’s just no way it can be contained. The total federal debt and net present value of the unfunded liabilities right now totals about $75 trillion. That’s five times the level of GDP.
What can we, the people, do to stop the government from, you know, taking all our money?
We should have acted 20 years ago. There’s not much you can do at this point to prevent the eventual debasement of the dollar. This involves both sides of the political spectrum. It’s not limited to the Republicans or the Democrats. They’ve both been very active in setting this up.
What can individuals do?
The only thing individuals can do now is look to protect themselves. I wish I could see a way, but shy of severe slashing of the social programs that is so politically reprehensible and would create such problems and social unrest, I don’t see that as a practical solution.
If you’re a young 20- or 25-year-old guy or gal, would you move to another country? What would you do?
We still have a great country. We’re going through a period of economic pain. It’s happened before. This is the kind of thing that’s taken us decades to get into and it will take us decades to get out. Although the hyperinflation is going to be limited largely to the U.S., the economic downturn will affect things globally. I can’t tell you how things will go with a hyperinflationary Great Depression, which is where I see things going.
It’s the type of thing that will tend to lead to significant political change. People tend to vote their pocketbooks. You could have the rise of a third party. You could even have rioting in the streets. I’m not formally predicting that — anyone can run these different scenarios. For the individual, what you need to do, from an investment standpoint, look to preserve your wealth and assets. Don’t worry about the day-to-day fluctuations in the markets. What I’m talking about here is over the long haul…
[Gold is] going to be highly volatile, as will the dollar, over the near term, but longer term, physical gold I would look at as a primary hedge for preserving the purchasing power of your wealth and assets. Maybe some physical silver. Get some assets outside the U.S. dollar. I might even look to move some assets physically outside the United States. The key here is to look at a longer range survival package, battening down the hatches, and preserving your wealth and assets during a very difficult time. Once you’re through that, you’ll have some extraordinary investment opportunities, and I can’t tell you what it’s going to be like on the other side of this crisis.
Dr. Phil Maymin is an Assistant Professor of Finance and Risk Engineering at NYU-Polytechnic Institute. The views represented are his own.
27
12 2009
The New Organic Grower: A Master’s Manual of Tools and Techniques for the Home and Market Gardener
Revised and expanded is a new edition of a classic gardening guide. Here master grower Coleman presents a simple, effective formula for growing quality organic vegetables, updating details on marketing harvests and using small-scale equipment. – Midwest Book Review
27
12 2009
You’re making an impact
December 27, 2009
Dear Friend of Liberty,
Don’t let anyone ever tell you that you’re not making a difference.
In a recent Houston Chronicle article, Meredith Simons reports that although Ron Paul was ignored and derided by the Washington establishment for so long, he has now “become one of the most influential Republicans” in D.C. and is experiencing more success than ever before.
The article focuses specifically on his “Audit the Fed” legislation to finally bring transparency and accountability to one of our country’s most secretive institutions. Before 2009, Dr. Paul’s audit bill had been dismissed by his colleagues and gone unnoticed by the Federal Reserve.
Now, as the article points out, the Fed has had to launch a full-fledged effort to fight Audit the Fed.
Click here to read the article.
It is astounding that Ron Paul has come so far in these last couple of years, but, without a doubt,none of this success would have been possible without you.
Ron Paul has led the charge to reclaim our Republic and restore our Constitution for over thirty years, but never before has he had the R3volution’s army of dedicated and tireless grassroots activists to spread the liberty message in their neighborhoods and hold their elected officials accountable.
No one in the political establishment would have ever believed that almost eighty percent of the American people would support Audit the Fed less than one year after the effort was launched.
No one in the political establishment would have ever believed Ron Paul supporters would stay engaged in the process after the 2008 presidential election.
You have proven them wrong with your refusal to sit back and watch the rest of your liberties be taken away, and with every phone call you make, flier you pass out, door you knock on, and vote you cast, you are continuing to prove them wrong.
Also on the national stage, recent independent polling showing Rand Paul leading his establishment opponentin the Kentucky U.S. Senate race is further evidence of the gains our movement is making.
The freedom movement has never been so strong. And we are only getting started.
If you are able, please click here to contribute to Campaign for Libertyto help ensure we can continue our fight to Reclaim the Republic and Restore the Constitution.
Thanks for all of the hard work you do in defense of freedom, and I look forward to all the successes this new year and new decade will bring!
In Liberty,
John Tate
President
P.S. The success of Audit the Fed and Campaign for Liberty’s growth this past year have been phenomenal, but they are only the beginning. Be sure to join C4L, Ron Paul, Tom Woods, Lew Rockwell, Thomas DiLorenzo, and morein Atlanta, Georgia on January 15-17, 2010 as we kick off “A New Decade of Liberty”!
27
12 2009
Obama Appoints Former Microsoft Security Chief New Cybersecurity Czar
- By Kim Zetter
It took seven months but President Obama has finally found someone to take the cybersecurity czar job no one wanted.
Howard Schmidt, a former Microsoft security executive and a one-time cybersecurity adviser to President George W. Bush, has been appointed to the position of cybersecurity coordinator, according to a White House announcement Tuesday.
Schmidt served as vice chair, and then chair, of the President’s Critical Infrastructure Protection Board and as Special Adviser for Cyberspace Security for the White House from December 2001 until May 2003, when he reportedly left the position out of frustration that the government wasn’t making cybersecurity a priority. After leaving the White House, he became chief information security officer at eBay.
In his new position, he will be responsible for coordinating the federal government’s cybersecurity initiatives to secure government networks and critical U.S. infrastructures. This will include working with the Office of Management and Budget to ensure that agencies have money allocated for cybersecurity priorities, and coordinating the government’s response to a major cyber incident or attack.
According to the Associated Press, Obama was directly involved in the selection of Schmidt, who was chosen after an extensive search.
But the announcement of Schmidt came with little fanfare on Tuesday and followed months of reports from other candidates that they either turned down the job or otherwise discouraged the White House from courting them.
Obama announced last May that he was creating a new office to be led by a cybersecurity czar. For nearly a year, however, he could find no one to take the job, because of what many viewed as its undesirable placement in the federal hierarchy.
The czar, Obama stated, would report to the National Security Council and the National Economic Council, putting the position one rung lower in the executive branch hierarchy than many security experts had wanted. Observers had hoped the czar would report directly to the president, which would have helped insulate the office from agency turf battles and ensure quick access to top decision makers.
The White House was quick to dispel concerns on Tuesday that Schmidt’s office would be exiled from the West Wing. An unidentified White House official told the Associated Press that Schmidt would have regular and direct access to the President for cybersecurity issues.
Schmidt, Microsoft’s chief security officer until 2001, is the second former Microsoft executive to take a top federal cybersecurity position. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano appointed Philip Reitinger in March to the position of deputy undersecretary of the department’s National Protections Program Directorate.
Reitinger was Microsoft’s chief trustworthy-infrastructure strategist, a job that required him in part to help develop and implement strategies for enhancing the security of critical infrastructures. In his new position, he oversees the protection of the government’s computer networks and works with the private sector to help secure critical infrastructures.
There have been concerns about how the White House intends to address cybersecurity issues, particularly in the private sector, and protect civil liberties at the same time.
Obama asserted in his speech in May that the new White House cybersecurity office would include an official whose job is to ensure that the government’s cyberpolicies don’t violate the privacy and civil liberties of Americans.
“Our pursuit of cybersecurity will not include — I repeat, will not include — monitoring private-sector networks or internet traffic,” he said. “We will preserve and protect the personal privacy and civil liberties that we cherish as Americans.”
Photo by Lawrence Jackson, courtesy of White House
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2009/12/cyber-security-czar
27
12 2009
Time for a sensible foreign policy
As the health care reform battle rages, Congressman Paul points out the need to also keep paying attention to developments in foreign policy and discusses recent events that could have long-term effects.
27
12 2009
Government Allowed Plane Bomber to Attempt Attack
Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet.com
Sunday, December 27, 2009
A passenger who boarded Northwest Airlines Flight 253 in Amsterdam with attempted plane bomber Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab says the would-be terrorist had no passport and was aided by a sharp-dressed man who claimed Mutallab was a Sudanese refugee, just one of a plethora of startling inconsistencies surrounding an incident that has led to ramped up security and increased levels of harassment in airports.
Every single fact that has come to light since the attempted bombing on Christmas Day directly indicates that the bomber was deliberately allowed to board the plane and that his attack would have succeeded if not for the alert and brave reactions of the passengers and flight crew.
According to Kurt Haskell, an attorney with the Haskell Law Firm in Taylor, Michigan, “He and his wife were sitting on the ground near their boarding gate in Amsterdam, which is when they saw Mutallab approach the gate with an unidentified man.”
Mutallab was a poorly dressed, young looking individual, but he was accompanied by a man in an expensive suit, Haskell told MLive.com.
“He says the suited man asked ticket agents whether Mutallab could board without a passport. “The guy said, ‘He’s from Sudan and we do this all the time.’”
Although Mutallab is Nigerian, Haskell said the well-dressed man portrayed him as a desperate Sudanese refugee in an attempt to elicit sympathy and as a way of bypassing his lack of documents.
“The ticket agent referred Mutallab and his companion to her manager down the hall, and Haskell didn’t see Mutallab again until after he allegedly tried to detonate an explosive on the plane,” states the report.
Crucially, Haskell said that after the plane landed he saw another man being taken into custody by the FBI along with Mutallab. However, the FBI later said that Mutallab was the only individual taken into custody.
Were the feds retrieving their own agent, the sharp dressed man who ensured that Mutallab boarded the plane despite his overwhelmingly suspicious circumstances?
Mutallab was a known security threat who was on the terror watch list. He is barred from entering Britain after being refused a new visa due to applying for a fake university course. Separate reports said that he did hold a valid visa, which begs the question, how can someone on a terror watch list be allowed to fly?
“On the one hand, it seems he’s been on the terror watch list but not on the no-fly list,” he said. “That doesn’t square because the American Department for Homeland Security has pretty stringent data-mining capability. I don’t understand how he had a valid visa if he was known on the terror watch list,” Dr Magnus Ranstorp of the Center for Asymmetric Threat Studies told the London Independent.
It has also been revealed that Mutallab’s father contacted U.S. intelligence officials a month ago and warned them that his son was a threat, but nothing was done.
The bomber’s father, Alhaji Umaru Mutallab, was a a former minister and chairman of First Bank in Nigeria. The bomber does not fit the image of a disgruntled, rag-tag terrorist. His considerable wealth allowed him to live in luxury at an imposing London mansion.
As a result of the failed attack, new security directives have been introduced for anyone traveling into America. Intense body and hand-luggage searches and sniffer dogs have been beefed up at departure gates and passengers have been ordered not to stand during the final hour of the flight and are not allowed access to any of their hand luggage during the final hour.
However, if you’re a suspicious looking man on a terror watch list with no passport carrying explosives, you should breeze through security with no questions asked, just be sure to have a sharp-dressed man with you at all times.
http://www.infowars.com/government-allowed-plane-bomber-to-attempt-attack/
Related Story:
“White House lashes back at GOP critics over bombing attempt”
27
12 2009
Foiled Terrorist Bombing in Detroit: An Excuse to Expand the Bogus War On Terror
Kurt Nimmo
Infowars.com
December 26, 2009
The explosion of what witnesses describe as a firecracker on Northwest Airlines Flight 253 from Amsterdam to Detroit on Christmas arrives at an opportune time for the Obama administration. The alleged perpetrator, Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab, like shoe bomber Richard Reid before him, appears to be an incompetent patsy. Mutallab told investigators he was on a mission from al-Qaeda and he got the explosive materials for the botched attack in Yemen.
Yemen is a new front in the war against the manufactured enemy al-Qaeda. Not only is the United States providing assisstance to the Yemeni government to bomb supposed al-Qaeda bases in the southern part of the country, but Saudi Arabia conducted airstrikes against targets in the north. Mohamed al-Anisi, the Yemeni national security chief, told told the Saudi Arabian newspaper Okaz that his forces were cooperating with Washington on attacks and accused Iran of aiding Houthi Shiite rebels. Earlier this week, a Saudi Ministry of Defense official said 73 Saudis were killed fighting the Houthi rebels, according to Deutsche Presse-Agentur.
Earlier this week al-Qaeda exploited an anti-government rally in Sanna. “Al Qaeda militants made a rare public appearance in restive south Yemen on Monday, telling an anti-government rally that the group’s war was with the United States and not the Yemeni army, residents said,” Reuters reported on December 23. “The West and Saudi Arabia fear al Qaeda will take advantage of the Yemeni government’s focus on a Shi’ite rebellion in the north and rising secessionist sentiment in the south to spread its operations to the kingdom, the world’s top oil exporter.” An explosion during the demonstration killed three people.
The Yemeni government raids killed 23 children and 17 women, not al-Qaeda, according to a report filed by AlJazeera.
The failed bombing of Flight 253 provides an excuse to expand the GWOT into Africa. “The alleged bomber’s nationality and his apparent origination in Nigeria raised immediate questions about airport security in Africa’s most populous country, where corruption, organized crime and crumbling infrastructure have long hobbled an otherwise oil-rich government,” reports The Wall Street Journal. “The alleged attempted bombing of a Detroit-bound jet by a Nigerian national Friday raises new concern over possible extremist Islamic activity in Nigeria and West Africa, a corner of Africa where al Qaeda so far hasn’t put down significant roots.”
Ethiopian and U.S. intervention in Somalia was justified to the international public under the pretext of fighting terrorism and al-Qaeda. “Ethiopia has become a regional surrogate or proxy for the United States and Britain. This is evident from the coordination of the U.S. military and Ethiopian troops in Somalia,” Global Research noted in January, 2007.
“America’s renewed interest in the Horn of Africa dates to November 2002 when the US military established its joint taskforce in Djibouti, now the base for 1,800 troops, including special operations forces,” The Guardian reported on January 13, 2007. “By then, the west had good reason to fear that Africa had become an arena for al-Qaida, and that the failed state of Somalia could become a haven for the organization’s operatives.”
Ethiopia invaded Somalia with US encouragement and military assistance after the Islamic Courts Union (ICU), an Islamist militant group that ruled much of the country, made military advances. On January 5, 2007, al-Qaeda second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahiri — the notorious CIA operative in Afghanistan who was shepherded by the western intelligence asset the Muslim Brotherhood — issued a message urging Somalis to fight against the Ethiopian invaders.
The ICU is a classic intelligence fabrication. It was armed by none other than Victor Bout, described as the world’s biggest illegal arms dealer. Bout worked with CIA front companies in Afghanistan. He also worked with the United Nations and African warlords, according to investigative journalist Wayne Madsen.
“Unified Quest 2008″ underscores the importance of Africa in the bogus (and highly profitable) GWOT. The May 2008 United States Army War College war game included representatives from several NATO countries, Australia, and Israel, along with the private military contractors the Rand Corporation and Booz-Allen. Among scenarios examined during the game were the possibility of direct American military intervention involving some 20,000 U.S. troops in order to “secure the oil,” and the question of how to handle possible splits between factions within the Nigerian government. The game ended without military intervention because one of the rival factions executed a successful coup and formed a new government that sought stability, reported the Stop NATO newsgroup.
Obama has defined the Africom mission to be within in the parameters of U.S. national security and the larger globalist agenda. “America has a responsibility to advance this vision, not just with words, but with support that strengthens African capacity. When there is genocide in Darfur or terrorists in Somalia, these are not simply African problems — they are global security challenges, and they demand a global response,” he said during a speech delivered on July 11, 2009. “Our Africa Command is focused not on establishing a foothold in the continent, but on confronting these common challenges to advance the security of America, Africa and the world.”
Africa Command was established October 1, 2007 as a temporary sub-unified command under U.S. European Command, which for more than two decades was responsible for U.S. military relations with more than 40 African nations. Africa Command was formally activated October 1, 2008, during a public ceremony at the Pentagon attended by representatives of African nations posted in Washington, D.C.
In addition to paving the way for expanded incursion in Africa, the failed bombing provides an excuse to further harass an impose police state measures on airline passengers. “President Barack Obama, vacationing in Hawaii, ordered heightened security, calling for ‘all appropriate measures to be taken’ after receiving a briefing from national security officials, a White House statement said,” reportsBloomberg. Obama considers yesterday’s incident as an attempted terrorist attack.
Airport security was increased around the world today. “The Department of Homeland Security said passengers may notice additional screening. Security at airports in the U.K., continental Europe, Canada, parts of Asia and Australia was increased today, and a European Commission statement said the authorities are in contact with Dutch and U.S. officials,” BusinessWeek reports this morning.
Related Story:
“Senator Lieberman calls for ‘preemptive’ attack on Yemen”
27
12 2009
Pakistani says U.S. five targeted nuclear plants
Two of five detained American Muslims (foreground) leave court in Sargodha, Pakistan. The group faces terrorism charges.
By Asif Shahzad
Associated Press
ISLAMABAD – Police are trying to determine whether five Americans detained in Pakistan had planned to attack a complex that houses nuclear-power facilities, authorities said yesterday.
The young Muslim men, from the Washington area, were picked up in Pakistan earlier this month in a case that has spurred fears that Westerners are traveling to the country to join militant groups.
Pakistani police and government officials have made escalating and, at times, seemingly contradictory allegations about the men’s intentions. U.S. officials have been far more cautious, though they, too, are looking at charging the five.
A Pakistani government official alleged yesterday that the men had established contact with Taliban commanders and planned to attack sites in Pakistan. Earlier, however, local police accused the men of intending to fight in Afghanistan after meeting militant leaders.
The men had a map of Chashma Barrage, a complex that houses a water reservoir and other structures along with nuclear-power facilities, said Javed Islam, a senior police official in the Sargodha area of Punjab province.
He stressed that the men were carrying not a specific map of any nuclear-power plant, but rather one of the whole of Chashma Barrage.
The men also had exchanged e-mails about the area, Islam said. “We are also working to retrieve some of the deleted material in their computers,” he said.
Pakistan has a nuclear-weapons arsenal, but it also has nuclear-power plants for civilian purposes.
It has not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, the main international pact meant to stem the spread of nuclear-weapons technology.
China helped Pakistan build the nuclear plant at Chashma, about 125 miles southwest of the capital, Islamabad. Work on a second nuclear-power plant is expected to be completed in 2011.
Any nuclear activity in Pakistan tends to come under scrutiny because of the nation’s history of leaking sensitive nuclear secrets, due to the actions of Abdul Qadeer Khan, the main architect of its atomic-weapons program. But as militancy has spread in Pakistan, officials have repeatedly insisted the nuclear-weapons program is safe.
Pakistani police plan to recommend that courts charge the five men with collecting and trying to collect material to carry out terrorist activities in Pakistan, police official Nazir Ahmad said. Punishment for those charges ranges from seven years to life in prison, he said.
Officials in both countries have said they expected the men would eventually be deported to the United States, but charging them in Pakistan could delay that.
In an interview yesterday, Punjab province Law Minister Rana Sanaullah said the men had planned to meet Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud and his deputy Qari Hussain in Pakistan’s tribal regions before attacking sites in Pakistan.
The men are being held in Lahore. They have been identified as Ramy Zamzam, Waqar Hussain, Aman Yamar, Ahmad Abdul Minni, and Umer Farooq. Pakistani officials have given various spellings of their names.
27
12 2009
Health Canada Wants to Drug Your Food, To Keep You Healthy
Tom Blackwell, National Post
Health Canada is proposing an unorthodox way of combatting a food ingredient suspected in some cancers: It wants to let manufacturers put small amounts of a cancer-fighting drug into potato chips and similar foods to curb production of the harmful chemical.
Ever since acrylamide was discovered seven years ago in such foods as french fries and chips cooked at high temperatures, scientists have struggled for a way to get it out. The chemical is not added deliberately; it is an unintentional byproduct of cooking.
Though the evidence is far from definitive, acrylamide has been connected to cancer in animals and possibly people.
As a partial answer, Health Canada is suggesting removing the requirement for a prescription to administer the enzyme asparaginase, except when it is injected into leukemia patients as a treatment.
That way, food companies could include small amounts of the drug in their products, the department says in a “notice of intent” document published on Saturday. Evidence suggests that asparaginase lessens the production of acrylamide by as much as 90%.
The enzyme is destroyed in cooking so would have no impact on people consuming the food, said Varoujan Yaylayan, associate professor with McGill University’s food-science department.
“It has been used quite effectively on an experimental basis,” he said. “It appears to work.”
The acrylamide issue has preoccupied food manufacturers as they brace for the possibility of regulations that could limit levels of the chemical or ban it outright. California actually sued french fry and chip makers over the question, with several agreeing last year to reduce the volume of acrylamide in their goods.
“It’s been a big, big problem,” Prof. Yaylayan said. “Not so much in the public eye, but behind doors, the companies keep having meetings, having scientific symposia and seminars. I have attended many of them, here, in the U.S., in Europe.”
Manufacturers “fully support” the move suggested by Health Canada, Derek Nighbor of Food and Consumer Products of Canada said in a statement provided by the industry group yesterday.
Health Canada is accepting feedback on the idea for 75 days, and could implement it in six to eight months, the government document said.
Swedish scientists discovered in 2002 that acrylamide, used in making various industrial and consumer products, also occurred in foods ranging from breakfast cereals to bread cooked at over 120-degrees celsius. A by-product of heating certain sugars, levels are particularly elevated in carbohydrate-heavy food heated to high temperatures like chips and fries.
Tests have found that consuming the chemical increases the risk of some cancer in rodents. Evidence of its effect on humans who eat it in food is less clear, though, with some research linking it to cancer but most studies finding that the levels people eat would have no carcinogenic effect, said Lorelei Mucci, a Harvard medical school assistant professor who studies the issue.
In fact, Dr. Mucci questions devoting much energy or money to the substance.
Volumes of the chemical can be reduced by cooking at lower temperatures or soaking the product in water first to extract some sugar, but such techniques can affect the pleasant odour, crispiness or colour of some food.
Asparaginase is injected in leukemia patients, where it breaks down asparagine, an amino acid, killing the cancer cells. When it is applied to potatoes or other food before cooking, it similarly reduces the amount of asparagine, the key ingredient in the inadvertent production of acrylamide.
The “downstream effects” of using asparaginase to counter the chemical in food should be studied carefully, advised Dr. Mucci.
http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=2368480