'Drops of alien in my hair'

In the summer of 2001, a blood-colored rain fell across India. If that wasn't spooky enough, now some scientists think that the red ooze may in fact be alien life.

The astounding claim was made in the April issue of the prestigious peer-reviewed journal Astrophysics and Space Science, in a paper authored by solid-state physicist Godfrey Louis, of Mahatma Gandhi University. Louis analyzed some samples of the red rain, and was amazed to find strange, thick-walled, red-tinted cell-like structures mixed with the water.

But what makes Louis think that these structures could be alien? In his analysis, he found that the particles lack DNA, but still seem to reproduce plentifully - even when heated to 600˚F. The known upper limit for life in water is about 250˚F, and life on Earth is generally thought to require DNA to reproduce.

Louis thinks the particles could be extraterrestrial bacteria that hitched a ride on a comet or meteorite, breaking apart in the upper atmosphere and mixing with rain clouds above India.

Skeptics suggest other origins for the blood rain. An Indian government investigation has said that algae is most likely to blame, while other theories suggest red dust from the Arabian peninsula, or even actual blood produced by a meteor striking a high-flying flock of bats. It may sound far-fetched, but something similar has happened before.

But Louis says his analysis already excludes these theories. He is consulting with noted astronomer Chandra Wickramasinghe, who co-authored the modern theory of panspermia - which suggests that life on Earth was originally seeded via bacteria-carrying space rocks - some twenty-five years ago. "If it's true that life was introduced by comets four billion years ago," says Wickramasinghe, "one would expect that microorganisms are still injected into our environment from time to time. This could be one of those events."

Louis says he isn't out to create headline news with his results. "I would be most happy to accept a simpler explanation," he says. "But," he adds, "I cannot find any."

-I have read a lot of articles on this guys research, and the different experiments he has conducted. It's pretty fascinating. What ever he found, if his research is found to be legit, is pretty amazing stuff.

Onward, Christian soldiers

After months of hype, a new Christian video game recently made its debut at a video game expo in Los Angeles.

"Left Behind: Eternal Forces" lets users choose between fighting on the side of the Lord or the Antichrist. Soldiers run through the smoldering streets of an apocalyptic New York City and gain points for executing non-believers.

Astonishingly enough, some people seem to have a problem with a violent video game that acts as a natural conduit for religious bigotry.

Jack Thompson, an author and conservative Christian critic of video game violence, said about the game: "Because of the Christian context, somehow it's OK? It's not OK. The context is irrelevant. It's a mass-killing game."

Jerry Jenkins, the co-author of the popular "Left Behind" book series the game is based on, defended the new product.

In developing the game, he said, "We forbade any gratuitous gore," according to the KRT New Service.

The "Left Behind" book series became an underground bestseller when megachurches started distributing the novels. The developers of the video game are hoping they can tap that same market with "Eternal Forces", despite the fact that religious types are supposed to spend quality time with their families instead of sitting in front of the idiot box all day.

Gershom Gorenberg, a journalist who has written extensively on apocalyptic thought, said about the "Left Behind" books:

They promote conspiracy theories; they demonize proponents of arms control, ecumenicalism, abortion rights and everyone else disliked by the Christian right; and they justify assassination as a political tool. Their anti-Jewishness is exceeded by their anti-Catholicism. Most basically, they reject the very idea of open, democratic debate.

And the story gets worse.

It appears that the "Eternal Forces" cabal is closely allied with Rick Warren, the author of "The Purpose Driven Life," another piece of Christian rubbish that has enjoyed immense popularity through megachurch distribution.

(It was also the book that hostage Ashley Smith read to courthouse shooter Brian Nichols before giving him crystal meth, which proved much more effective in securing her freedom.)

Mark Carver, a former investment banker, is the international director of Warren's Purpose Driven Church and also an advisory board member of the company created to develop and market the "Eternal Forces" game.

As Jonathon Hutson wrote on Talk To Action,

Let's be clear: Mark Carver is Executive Director of the Purpose Driven Church, and therefore works directly for Mr. Warren in one of the most senior roles in his empire. It would seem unlikely that Mr. Warren, who plans an international stealth evangelism campaign that already includes the president of Rwanda, is unaware of this project, the biggest Christian video game in history.
Suddenly, the Simpsons episode featuring Billy Graham's Bible Blaster seems downright prophetic.

Keanu Reeves Slams Police State As Scanner Lights Up Cannes

Keanu Reeves has slammed the modern day police state and surveillance society, a centerpiece of the upcoming film in which he stars, during promotion for A Scanner Darkly at the Cannes film festival.

In A Scanner Darkly, the government, corporations and the elite conspire together to keep free thinking, free expression, freedom itself on the outside-- to facilitate a perceptive wall confining individuality itself to a realm doomed to the fringes.

The film chronicles how power interests exploit the drug war in order to create unthinking armies of drone servants and erect police state measures to prevent the people from ever glimpsing the dark truth behind a highly mechanized surveillance panopticon.

-So it's kinda like, this is your life, for the United States?

Faux News Channel

The Federal Communications Commission is investigating dozens of television stations for broadcasting items produced by the Bush administration and major corporations as normal, 'real' news.

Fake news segments being examined include items which talked up the illegal Iraq war, and supported the criminals who started it.

The FCC is acting on a report by the non-profit Center for Media and Democracy (CMD), which found that over a 10-month period at least 77 television stations acted as corporate and government shills, by broadcasting the sneaky propaganda (known in the business as Video News Releases - VNRs) as 'real' news, without informing viewers of its origin.

"We know we only had partial access to these VNRs and yet we found 77 stations using them," said CMD's Diana Farsetta. "I would say it's pretty extraordinary."

She continued, "The picture we found was much worse than we expected going into the investigation in terms of just how widely these get played and how frequently these pre-packaged segments are put on the air."

One VNR produced by the Bush Administration sneakily suggested to American viewers that Iraqi-Americans were grateful to the White House for starting the war. In it, an Iraqi-American in Kansas City is seen saying "Thank you Bush. Thank you USA" immediately after the fall of Baghdad in 2003. This footage was actually produced by the State Department, hardly an objective source of news.

The ad has to rank as one of the Bush administration's best pieces of propaganda, although there's certainly a long list of contenders. Is it good enough to knock the Saddam statue debacle off its pedestal, so to speak, or perhaps the laughable 'Saving Private Lynch' media event?

Ms. Farsetta said that VNRs have become a viable tool for propaganda uses. "They have got very good at mimicking what a real, independently produced television report would look like," she said.

Some of the corporate 'news' reports included stories by pharmaceutical companies on health issues - which promoted their products - and also a Hallowe'en segment produced by confectionery giant Mars, which featured Snickers, M&Ms and other company brands.

In many cases, the original VNRs were accompanied with information disclosing the production source, which was removed when it was broadcast by the television station. Chuck Molloy of Intel was at pains to make this clear. "We in no way attempt to hide that we are providing the video," he said. "In fact, we bend over backward to make this disclosure."

But that doesn't stop television stations from using the free 'news stories' to pad out their schedule, without passing on the disclosure information. Kate Brookes, who is apparently an ABC reporter in Nevada and Louisiana, a CBS reporter in Texas, and a Fox reporter in Missouri, is actually a publicist for Medialink, the world's largest provider of VNRs. In January, Brookes shot a promotion on the benefits of ethanol, which included all-positive testimony from two industry experts and a corn farmer. Five stations used the material, and introduced Brookes as if she were their reporter.

Craig Aaron of Free Press, another non-profit group that focuses on media policy, condemned the use of VNRs as news. "Essentially it's corporate advertising or propaganda masquerading as news," he said. "The public obviously expects their news reports are going to be based on real reporting and real information. If they are watching an advertisement for a company or a government policy, they need to be told."

The Radio-Television News Directors Association code of ethics states: "Clearly disclose the origin of information, and label all material provided by outsiders." But it seems that, in the interest of either money-savings or government ass-kissing, television stations don't have ethics any longer.

Aaron said that more than 25,000 people had written to the FCC expressing concern about the use of VNRs. The maximum fine for not informing viewers of a VNR broadcast is $32,500.

WMD used in War on Porn

The anti-porn insurgency has reared its ugly head. This weekend, authorities discovered a weapon of mass destruction deployed against a Florida smut peddler.

Some folks in the town of Waldo love porn. Thanks to them the Cafe Risque does a brisk business. But there are darker forces at work in the sleepy little town as well. Protests are not uncommon. On Sunday a chemical weapon strike was launched at the Cafe.

Perched atop the air conditioning unit off the back of the building, police found two gallon jugs - one filled with a lethal chemical agent - connected by hoses. One hose ran to a spigot, the other into the sex emporium itself, via a gap in the AC.

"That water hose would churn it up, mix it up in the gallon jug, and enter it into the building," said Alachua County Sheriff's Sergeant Keith Faulk.

"We haven't identified what was actually in the bottle, in the system that delivered it into the building. We do know that it was caustic, it was corrosive, it had a high pH level," Faulk said. He added that the agent will be tested for identification on Tuesday.

Lucky for the cafe and anyone who loves justice, there is security camera mounted high above on a pole out back. Tape was rolling when the rebels struck.

"We do have some very good leads. We have some people of interest that we're looking at," Faulk said.

A HAZMAT team was called in to clean the mess caused by what Florida law calls a WMD. It'll cost the local taxpayers about $15,000. First Coast News reports that "by Monday, clean-up teams had stripped the room bare." All the tainted porn had to be thrown away.

This was just the latest setback for businessman Jerry Sullivan. His desire to turn what was once Bobby's Hideaway bar into the Cafe Risque has been met with resistance by a group calling themselves "Americans for Morality."

"Somebody had a real mastermind behind this," Sullivan said. "Somebody set out to hurt me, my brother-in-law and my business. And I don't take lightly to someone hurting my family."

Though Faulk expressed no opinion about porn, his contempt for terrorists and their ways was clear.

"They're looking at hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines, and... 30 years in jail," Faulk said. "You're trying to hurt people. You're trying to change their ideas or instill fear. And that's exactly what the terrorists do. So this person is a local terrorist ... This man (Sullivan) went through every hoop and hurdle that he was asked to do, and he is legally opening that building. It is wrong for anyone to take it upon themselves to instill fear and injury because they dislike his business."

Sullivan remains committed to bringing the folks of Waldo all the smut they can handle.

"You don't want to hear what I got to say; you couldn't print it on TV," Sullivan said. "I'm coming; this business is coming. It's legal and coming. OK?"

The new 'dutch treat'

The Dutch are often hailed for their love of liberty. From the hash bars to the Red Light district to gay marriages, folks are largely free to do as they please. It appears they may have gone too far, though, with the formation of a pro-pedophilia political party.

The Charity, Freedom and Diversity (NVD) party has declared that "We are going to shake The Hague awake!" Their primary goal is to have the age of consent for sexual intercourse lowered from 16 to 12.

"A ban just makes children curious," said Ad van den Berg, one of the party's founders.

In 1996, Marc Dutroux of Belgium was sentenced to life in prison for kidnapping, torturing and raping four girls -- ages 8 to 19, four of whom died.

Van den Berg says that ever since then, pedophiles have been unfairly silenced.

"We want to make pedophilia the subject of discussion. We have been hushed up. The only way is through parliament."

Ireen van Engelen has been campaigning against pedophilia for some time now. She smells a rat.
"They make out as if they want more rights for children. But their position that children should be allowed sexual contact from age 12 is of course just in their own interest."

The new party, which plans to formally register with the government on Wednesday, was founded in 2004 by Marthijn Uittenbogaard, the force behind "Martijn", a Dutch version of NAMBLA.

The NVD's absurd agenda calls for the decriminalization of possession of child pornography, the daytime broadcast of porn and the legalization of bestiality. Everyone should be allowed to walk about naked as they see fit and all trains should be free.

Strangely, they call for all government documents to be published in Dutch and English, yet their website is only in Dutch.

Sucking on God's protein

The Antichrist must surely be shaking in his boots right now with the revelation (no pun intended) that Christian Fundie loudmouth Pat Robertson is leg-pressing 2000 pounds, no doubt in order to give Satan a good butt-kicking when he turns up on 6/6/6.

The claim was made on the website of the Christian Broadcasting Network: "Did you know that Pat Robertson can leg press 2,000 pounds? How does he do it? Where does Pat find the time and energy to host a daily, national TV show, head a world-wide ministry, develop visionary scholars, while traveling the globe as a statesman?"

By "statesman", we're assuming they mean religious standover man, natural disaster profiteer, insulter of our allies and just general bonehead who calls for the assassination of the leaders of other countries.

So what's the secret of Robertson's strength? Is it a miracle bestowed upon him by a grateful God? Not so, according to the good reverend himself. "One of Pat's secrets to keeping his energy high and his vitality soaring is his age-defying protein shake," according to his website. "Pat developed a delicious, refreshing shake, filled with energy-producing nutrients. Discover what kinds of natural ingredients make up Pat's protein shake by registering for your FREE booklet today!"

While some websites have questioned whether 76-year-old Robertson would be able to leg-press the equivalent of a small car, his spokesperson has rebuked the criticism.

"His doctor, by the way, has leg pressed 2,700 pounds," they answered. "It is not nearly as hard as the authors of these reports make it out to be."

I guess that begs the question, what's so damn great about the shake then? I'll have what the doctor's having thanks.

Pope revisits his Hitler youth

Pope Benedict XVI has visited the former Nazi death camps of Auschwitz and Birkenau to finish his Polish visit. The German-born Pope prayed for peace in his native tongue during a somber ceremony.

"In a place like this, words fail," lamented the Pope. "In the end, there can only be a dread silence - a silence which is itself a heartfelt cry to God: Why, Lord, did you remain silent? How could you tolerate all this?"

Some might ask Pope Benny the same question, considering that he was formerly a member of the Hitler Youth, and watched Jews being herded into death camps while stationed in Hungary.

The prayer by God's Rottweiler was the first time he had publicly spoken German during his visit to Poland. There had been some uncertainty and controversy as to whether the Pope should speak in German while in the death camps. Some Jewish groups had said that speaking the language of the Nazis would insult the memory of the people murdered there.

The 79-year-old pontiff lit a candle in memory of the victims of Auschwitz, before meeting 32 survivors of the horrors. However, he made no apology on behalf of his German countrymen, and pointedly did not make a direct reference to anti-Semitism.

It is believed that at least 1.1 million people were killed in the death camps during the Holocaust, over 90% of whom were Jews.

A day of posturing

In the week leading up to Memorial Day, the president acknowledged that some of his childish taunts hadn't been in America's best interests.

... (S)aying "bring it on," kind of tough talk, you know, that sent the wrong signal to people. I learned some lessons about expressing myself maybe in a little more sophisticated manner -- you know, "wanted dead or alive," that kind of talk. I think in certain parts of the world it was misinterpreted, and so I learned from that.
Bush wasn't misinterpreted in "certain parts of the world." No, they got it, and they've been giving our troops the fight that their Draft Dodger-in-Chief wanted so badly.

Now, more than 3 years after "Mission Accomplished," there are another 2,300 men and women to be remembered today.

Saturday, in his weekly radio address Bush told the nation that "the best way to honor America's fallen heroes is to carry on their fight, defend our freedom, and complete the mission for which they gave their lives."

This from a man who 35 years ago refused to "carry on their fight," has stomped on freedom at every turn and has sent tens of thousands of men and women on a dangerous mission predicated on lies.

Later that same day, Bush addressed the first graduating class of West Point cadets to enroll after 9/11. That he was showered with 32 rounds of applause and five burst of presumably sincere laughter is a testament to the respectful, disciplined character of our next generation of military leaders. It was at this same event in 2002 that Bush outlined his "first strike" doctrine, an ideal so counter to the teachings of his so-called Lord and Savior as to be laughable.

Today the president defiled the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery with a wreath-laying ceremony, just as his draft-dodging V.P. did this past Veterans Day.

President Bush could've done his part to honor the fallen with the a simple phone call to the Veterans Affairs' National Cemetery Administration, demanding they put a pentacle on the headstone of Patrick Stewart, who died while serving in Afghanistan last September.

Stewart was a Wiccan. The spot for his memorial plaque at the Northern Nevada Veteran's Cemetery will likely remain blank this Memorial Day. His widow Roberta longs for the day her husband gets the recognition he deserves.

"This is discrimination against our religion," Roberta Stewart said. "The least his country can do is give him the symbol of faith as he would have wished," she recently told the Daily Sparks Tribune.

The Veterans Administration has never authorized the use of Wicca's pentacle on grave markers, even though it allows the use of symbols from 38 other beliefs, including obscure or possibly fictional religions such as Ixumo Taishakyo, Soks Gakkai, Aaronic Order, Seicho-no-ie and Presbyterians.

Roberta won't be marking the day with fellow widows and widowers at Northern Nevada Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Fernley, Nevada. Instead, she will be at Fernley's Out of Town Park for what she's calling The Sgt. Patrick Stewart Freedom for All Faiths Memorial Service.

On a weekend meant to honor those who have died serving our country, the headlines are tragically dominated by stories of alleged murder and incompetence on the part of our troops. Worse are the efforts to keep these atrocities hidden.

The alleged revenge murders by U.S. Marines of more than two dozen unarmed Iraqi civilians in Haditha are being decried by Rep. John Murtha as "worse than Abu Ghraib." The death of Pat Tillman is being chalked up to "gross negligence." Both tragedies highlight the impossible task confronting the soldiers who fight for America. To try covering up these things is to trivialize the demands of duty.

On this Memorial Day rise above the politics and take a moment to remember the troops who have died serving your country. Perhaps as importantly, do so again November 4, 2008.

He ain't heavy, he's my (big) brother

Fresh from the Jefferson office raid controversy, U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has stepped back into his fascist uniform by urging telecommunications officials to record their customers' Internet activities for as long as is legally possible.

In a private meeting with industry representatives, Gonzales and other senior members of the Justice Department - as well as FBI Director Robert Mueller - said Internet service providers should retain their users' network data for two years. Soon they could be forced to anyway, with moves to legally mandate data retention by the Bush administration. Currently, many ISPs delete their logs after only a day or two of rotation.

In a speech last month at the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, Gonzales said ISPs must retain records longer. "I will reach out personally to the CEOs of the leading service providers and to other industry leaders," Gonzales said. "Record retention by Internet service providers consistent with the legitimate privacy rights of Americans is an issue that must be addressed."

Supporters dress the obvious invasion of privacy up by claiming it will help prosecutions of child pornography. Those with a mind of their own see it as just another step towards a national security state, right along with the apparently necessary government wiretapping as well as the Patriot Act.

Gonzales has recently limped from one controversy to another.

Has killing become part of the Pentagon “Press Policy”?

Tuesday, May 30th, 2006

From the few credible reports, from very few news agencies around the world that are keen on presenting truth, we know that Iraq is now descending into a black hole, thanks to the decadent, bloated, demon-possessed, Neo-Con followers, who might now be sitting on their easy chairs, cheering the death of over a hundred thousand innocent people.

An Iraqi reporter and a Japanese human rights activist have recently warned against the distorted image the world has about what’s happening in Iraq. They also warned against an imminent health catastrophe, with Iraqis now more vulnerable to cancer as a result to the exposure to depleted uranium shells the U.S.-led occupation forces had been using in Iraq, Uruknet wrote recently.

During the Persian Gulf War, the U.S. blasted vehicles with armor-piercing shells made of depleted uranium, which helped bring the War to a swift conclusion. The U.S. was the first country to introduce such deadly weapons. The War ended, but the devastating impact remains.

About 15 years have passed since the Persian Gulf War ended; but the battlefield remains a radioactive toxic wasteland.

While the Pentagon refuses to speak clearly about the true effects of depleted uranium, Iraqi doctors say that using it led to significant increase in cancer and birth defects in the region. Many researchers have also suggested that depleted uranium played a major role in Gulf War Syndrome, the still-unexplained malady that has plagued hundreds of thousands of Gulf War veterans.

Depleted Uranium is a highly dense metal that is the byproduct of the process during which fissionable uranium used to manufacture nuclear bombs and reactor fuel is separated from natural uranium.

DU remains radioactive for about 4.5 billion years.

Last week, Isam Rasheed, a freelance journalist, and Fumikazu Nishitani, head of Osaka-based NGO Rescue the Iraqi Children, briefed a public gathering in Osaka on the true situation in Iraq.

“It is now virtually impossible for foreign journalists to move around independently in Iraq,” Nishitani said.

“Most (journalists) are embedded with U.S. forces or operate from the Green Zone, a walled fortress in central Baghdad. As a result, few people in the West, or in Japan, have seen the true extent of the damage and suffering in Fallujah, while the U.S. government continues to deny responsibility for the cancer and leukemia outbreaks.”

“The world has seen little of the devastation wrought by U.S. troops on the city of Fallujah,” Rasheed, also a photographer, said. “Entire neighborhoods were destroyed and the number of innocent civilians killed and maimed by the bombing was quite high.”
-continued-

Hungry Ghost

I just started reading Hungry Ghost by Keith Kachtick. It's a amazing novel. If your looking for a great read, I highly recommend it.

Remember those who died for a lie

How many more families must go through this, before we rise up, and stop this madness.

Stripping at the top of the world

The Himalayas are abuzz with word of the first-ever striptease performed atop the highest peak in the world.

Lakpa Tharke, a 24-year-old sherpa employed by Himalayan Guides, reached the summit of Mount Everest Friday. Caught up in the excitement of the moment, Tharke peeled off layer after layer until he stood naked at 29,035 feet for roughly three minutes.

Tharke's boss, Ishwori Poudel, had to laugh.

"He didn't tell me his plan before heading to Everest. This is quite a funny thing, maybe not a good idea, but he's young and strong." said Poudel, managing director of the Himalayan Guides Nepal Trek and Expeditions.

Ang Tshering Sherpa, head of the Nepal Mountaineering Association was decidedly less amused

"It's very shocking news because Mount Everest is sacred to the Nepali people. It's not appropriate. But if he did it, it is very shocking because Sagarmatha is the goddess mother," he said, referring to the mountain by its Nepali name.

In fact Sherpa is demanding that justice be served.

"The government must enforce strict ethics for climbing."

The last time the mountain was desecrated in such carnal fashion was 1996, when a Western woman allegedly had sex at one of the camps on the mountainside. Sherpas blamed her - apparently she acted alone - for one of the worst years ever for casualties on Everest.

As more and more people scale the mountain, all the "firsts" and records are being claimed: two summits in a year; most summits lifetime; first double-amputee. Poudel is proud of his guide's ingenuity. Now he's concerned with Tharke getting the accolades and fame he so richly deserves.

"We will get the photographs after they return to Kathmandu," he said. "It is an extraordinary feat that proves how hardy Sherpas are. After we get the photographs, we will write to the Guinness authorities to claim a record."

Bush honors war dead at Arlington

AP - 28 minutes ago

ARLINGTON, Va. - President Bush, visiting America's most hallowed military burial ground to "honor this place where valor sleeps," said Monday the nation must persevere in the war against terrorists for the sake of those have already given their lives in the cause. Noting that some 270 fighting men and women of the nearly 2,500 who have fallen since the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, are buried at Arlington National Cemetery, Bush said, "We have seen the costs in the war on terror that we fight today."

-He then went on to promise a few more years of job security to the workers of Arlington, promising them many more graves to fill before his term is up.

The Hungry Ghost

The Hungry Ghost (writer, musician, and digital artist Blake Chen) conceived his webcomic series, Cass Corridor, as a companion project to his latest album.

Cass Corridor is the Detroit neighborhood where Chen spent five years performing both as a solo act and a member of the band N2 Submission.

Sharing the stage with more experienced musicians in the neighborhood's smoke-filled bars, Chen gradually developed his unique sound, a hybrid of the goth/industrial & trip hop influence prevalent in the scene and his own love of folk/country/blues music that he heard growing up.
-continued-

I just stumbled upon this artist, but he is very cool. Kind of like Bob Dylan meets David Lynch meets Portishead. Kinda dark, but I really like it. And the comic he started to go with his album is very cool, and well done. Check him out!!!!

Scientology: "The Dark Side of Scientology," prt.1+2

Scientology: “The Dark Side of Scientology”

Sunday, May 28th, 2006

Scientology crimes: Murder; extortion; blackmail; kidnapping; child abuse; child neglect; slave labor camps; burglary; racketeering. These crimes and more are part of life within the Scientology mob. This video explores these crimes, with interviews from a few of the Scientologists ordered by the Scientology mob to commit them. “To the Scientology organization,” one victim of Scientology said, “human life does not mean a thing.” Garry Scarff explained Scientology’s RPF: the mob’s “Rehabilitation Project Force,” where Scientologists who no longer want to be Scientologists are sent to be “re-educated” via forced-labor reindoctrination camps where prisoners receive very little food and almost no sleep. Some Scientology prisoners have been observed being chained up in cellars to keep them from leaving Scientology. Several mysterious Scientology deaths are also explored. “Tom Cruise profited from the slave labor of Scientology prisoners,” Andre Tabayoyon testified in a sworn declaration http://holysmoke.org/sm/tabayoyon. htm

Human rights abuses within Scientology are systemic and all-pervasive. Suicide and child abuse are also common within Scientology. The victims of Scientology are almost always Scientologists.
-continued-

There is a two part video that is pretty good.

At least 1,000 UK soldiers desert

Sunday, May 28th, 2006

More than 1,000 members of the British military have deserted since the start of the Iraq War, the BBC has learned.

Figures for those still missing are 86 from 2001, 118 from 2002, 134 from 2003, 229 from 2004, 377 from 2005, and 189 for this year so far.

The news comes as Parliament debates a law that will forbid military personnel from refusing to participate in the occupation of a foreign country.

The MoD insists “absent without leave” figures have remained constant.

A Ministry of Defence spokeswoman said the soldiers currently missing were considered to be “absent without leave” and would have to be court martialled before they could be found guilty of deserting.

She added only one person has been found guilty of deserting the Army since 1989.

According to MoD figures 2,670 soldiers went “absent without leave” in 2001, with the figure rising to 2,970 in 2002 and falling in 2003 to 2,825. In 2004 it rose to 3,050, falling back again in 2005 to 2,725.

She added: “We regard that figure as fairly constant. It often happens for family reasons and there is no evidence to suggest operational commitments contribute significantly to the figures.”

John McDonnell, Labour MP for Hayes and Harlington told, Parliament last Monday that the number of absconders had trebled since the invasion with more soldiers “questioning the morality and legality of the occupation”.

On Sunday he insisted the numbers of British troops trying to absent themselves from service in Iraq were rising.

“My understanding is there are a lot more seeking to avoid service, through different mechanisms,” he said.

“I think what the MoD is saying flies in the face of all the other evidence and the experience of soldiers on the ground.”

But former defence minister Don Touhig told BBC Radio Five Live there were no “hard facts” to suggest the Iraq conflict was prompting increased numbers to leave the forces.

‘Illegal acts’

Justin Hugheston-Roberts was the solicitor for Flight Lieutenant Malcolm Kendall-Smith who was sentenced to eight months in prison for refusing to follow orders in connection with a deployment to Iraq.

He said: “I am approached regularly by people who are seeking to absent themselves from service. There has been an increase, a definite upturn.”

Military law expert Gilbert Blades, who represents soldiers at courts martial, said the numbers leaving because of Iraq were often obscured as they were not counted as conscientious objectors.

“One can’t help thinking that what’s behind every absence is the problem in Iraq and I would think that if the real truth was told, then the Iraq problem has contributed to a huge number of people going absent,” he told BBC Radio Five Live.

Former SAS member Ben Griffin was allowed to leave the military after telling his commanding officer he was not prepared to return to Iraq because of what he believed were illegal acts being carried out by US forces.

Mr Griffin would never have considered deserting but says his views are shared by many others in the British military.

He told the BBC: “There’s a lot of dissent in the Army about the legality of War and concerns that they’re spending too much time there.”
-Continued-

Official Clerks II Trailer

Spongeback Mountain

Sorry, I just had to post this, it's way to funny

'Gross negligence' killed Pat Tillman

American hero Pat Tillman's death has been shrouded in deceit since day. Each time the Army has taken a closer look at the events surrounding the tragedy, the story seems to change. Today the awful truth behind Tillman's death became a little clearer.

Tillman's parents were first told their son died fighting the enemy in the Afghanistan, near the Pakistan border. They knew they were being lied to. Later, his death was termed an "accident." Still, the Tillmans knew better.

Now it turns out that the former NFL star was shot down by men in his own platoon, in what the some are terming "gross negligence," according to a report put together by CNN using documents obtained from the military.


What really happend?

On April 22, 2004, Tillman's platoon was on the hunt for either Taliban or Al Qaeda fighters. As fate would have it, their Humvee broke down. This lead to the platoon being split in two, as one group - Tillman's - forged ahead, the second group - including Tillman's younger brother Kevin - trailed with the crippled Humvee being towed by a local truck.

The order to split up came via radio from a commander far away, over the objections of the platoon leader. The commander wanted no delays.

Tillman's group moved safely through a deep canyon. Unbeknownst to them, the second group was 30 minutes behind. It was there that the second group was ambushed from above. To make matters worse, the two groups had loss radio contact.

Tillman led his group - including an Afghan soldier - back on a rescue machine, seeking cover on an overlooking ridge. From there Tillman could see a second Humvee and four armed soldiers pull out from behind the disabled Humvee. The men below started firing blindly in every direction. They would later say they thought they were surrounded.

A soldier alongside Tillman described the events in a sworn testimony.

"A GMV [vehicle] with a .50-cal rolled into our sight and started to unload on top of us," he said.
"Tillman and I were yelling 'Stop! Stop! Friendlies! Friendlies! Cease fire!' But they couldn't hear us."

The driver became confused when he saw the Afghan next to Tillman. He soon realized they were firing on fellow Rangers.

"I yelled twice 'We have friendlies on top!'" said the driver. "The crew must have not heard me because my vehicle opened fired on them. I screamed, 'No!' and then yelled repeatedly several times to cease fire. No one heard me."

Desperate to stop the onslaught, Tillman uncorked a smoke grenade to signal that he too was a Ranger. It seemed to work, the shooting stopping long enough for Tillman to stand and stretch, according to his fellow soldier.

"We thought the battle was over," said the soldier next to Tillman. "So we were relieved, getting up stretching out and talking with one another when I heard some 5.56 rounds coming from the vehicle. They started firing again. That's when I hit the deck and started praying."

Tillman wasn't so lucky. Three rounds found their way into him.

"I know this because I could hear the pain in his voice as he called out: 'Cease fire! Friendlies! I am Pat (expletive) Tillman damn it!'" the soldier said. "He said this over and over again until he stopped."

That's when the soldier heard a gruesome noise.

"I heard what sounded like water pouring down," he said. "I then looked over at my side to see a river of blood coming down from where he was. I had blood all over my shoulder from him and when I looked at him, I saw his head was gone."


Official report pending

Col. Joseph G. Curtin, a U.S. Army spokesman, swears justrice will be served.

"The bottom line is we will go where the truth leads us," said Curtin. "We will get the answers to the best of our abilities."

Mary Tillman has been haunted by questions about her son's death ever since she read the first "official" report.

"There have been so many discrepancies so far that it's hard to know what to believe," Mary Tillman said back in September, 2005. "There are too many murky details."

In March, after yet the launch of the latest report, her husband, Patrick Tillman Sr., remained skeptical.

"I think it's another step," he said at the time. "But if you send investigators to reinvestigate an investigation that was falsified in the first place, what do you think you're going to get?"

Clerks 2!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! July 21st!!!

McVodka

It's nice to see McDonald's moving out of fat laden fast food, and into something more wholesome.

The Impeach Team

Arctic Monkeys

Had to share my favorite band with, well no one reads this, so I guess I am sharing with my self.

Illegals crossing the border

Do you smell brimstone?

Fire and brimstone raining down, cats sleeping with dogs, Al Gore making sweet love to George W. Bush. That's right, the apocalypse - is it only two weeks away?

June 6th this year will translate to 6-6-6, the Number of the Beast, well-known from that crazy Bible chapter known as 'Revelations'. Excitement is mounting amongst Satan's minions, none more so than advertising executives, who are getting ready to jump on the Anti-Christ bandwagon in order to boost corporate profits and stir up some publicity.

Movie execs have already planned to release a remake of the satanic horror film The Omen on the day, a terrifying reminder of why moms-to-be are dreading the day.

And just to show the devil's got a sense of humor, David Lee Roth will also release a new album titled "Strummin' With the Devil," which is a bluegrass tribute to Van Halen. Yes, forget death metal ... Lucifer prefers bluegrass.

The Church of Satan will be holding a major religious event, in which a satanic high Mass will be conducted - but they're just going on the word of the true spawn of Satan, the marketing industry. "We are simply taking advantage of this unique date which the public fears because of Christian mythology as promoted by Hollywood hypesters," says Church of Satan High Priest Peter H. Gilmore.

Colorado authorities are taking things a bit more seriously though. "The bottom line is that our intelligence unit is familiar with 666 and its significance," says Lt. Rafael Cintron of the Colorado Springs Police Department. Some expectant mothers are also wary of giving birth to Damien, while Christian groups are preparing for the Devil himself to walk among us.

And perhaps he will. Or should I say 'she'. Guess when conservative pundit Ann Coulter is scheduled to release her new book Godless? That's right: 6-6-6.

'Moussaoui wasn't in on 9/11'

A new audio recording posted on the internet from the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks says a U.S. court has convicted the wrong man.

A statement allegedly from Osama bin Laden claims that Zacarias Moussaoui was in no way involved in the terrorist attacks that killed 3,000 Americans.

"The truth is that he has no connection whatsoever with the events of September 11. I am certain of what I say because I was responsible for entrusting the 19 brothers ... with the raids," said the speaker who sounded like the leader of Al Qaeda.

He went on too dismiss Moussaoui's confession as "void," saying it was a reaction to "pressures exercised against him during four and a half years" in U.S. custody.

On May 4, Moussaoui wasn't convicted of conspiracy in connection to the hijackings. He was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole, miraculously avoiding the death penalty.

Two counter-terrorism officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said they were aware of the message and had no reason to doubt its authenticity.

Hayden's confirmation endorsed

The man at the helm of President Bush's illegal wiretapping scheme has been endorsed by the Senate Intelligence Committee to be the next director of the CIA, by a 13 - 2 vote.

Air Force Gen. Michael V. Hayden's nomination will likely go before the Senate for a full vote later this week.

If confirmed, Hayden will be taking over an agency shamed and in tatters. Former Director Porter Goss and #3-man Dusty Foggo were both forced to slink away, their names tainted by the same Hookergate scandal that brought Randy "Duke" Cunningham.

But stories of sad old men paying for sex are nothing compared to the real problems that have plagued the agency over the past five years.

In October of last year, Goss's boss, John Negroponte ordered his lackey to kill any further investigations into what went wrong within the agency that may have led to the events of 9/11.

Just three weeks after Negroponte's dictate, reports indicated that the CIA's former secret defense operation "Able Danger" might have prevented 9/11 from happening.

The Pentagon's long overdue release of video showing American Flight 77 striking the Department of Defense's headquarters has done nothing to bolster America's confidence. A report released today says that 70 million Americans want a new investigation into the attacks of 9/11.

It's doubtful Hayden will be the man to get to the bottom of the horrible day.

-Another dark day for America begins

Films on Guantánamo and Iraq face war of cuts

Suzanne Goldenberg / London Guardian May 18 2006

Two new films which expose unpleasant truths about Guantanamo and the battle for Iraq are coming under pressure from censors in the United States.
The Motion Pictures Association of America has censored a poster advertising a film about the Tipton three, called The Road to Guantanamo, that showed a hooded and blindfolded man hanging by his shackled wrists. Also, the makers of Baghdad ER, a documentary about a US military combat hospital, told the Guardian yesterday that Francis Harvey, the secretary of the army, had demanded last-minute changes to the film.


The Guantanamo film ran into difficulties with the MPAA last month when it submitted its advertising material for customary review. To the surprise of Howard Cohen, president of Roadside Attractions which is distributing the film in the US, the association demanded that the poster for the R-rated film be toned down.
"It was the head in the burlap sack that pushed it over the edge for them," Mr Cohen said. The film will be advertised instead by a poster which shows only a pair of shackled hands and arms. "It's outrageous that they are objecting to this image ... They are saying ... children in the US should not be allowed to see what it is we are doing to people in Guantanamo." The MPAA offered no comment.
The makers of Baghdad ER say the senior leadership of the Pentagon has turned against their film, despite cooperation during its making in Baghdad and a positive reception at screenings at military bases. "Somebody wearing a tie and not a uniform seems to have a political agenda and is trying to influence this film," said the director, Jon Alpert.

The army surgeon general, Lieutenant General Kevin Kiley, issued a health warning against the film, saying it could cause post-traumatic stress disorder. But Major Crystal Oliver, an army spokeswoman, said there was no attempt to censor and that the military was happy with the portrayal. "The leadership are proud of those soldiers in the film." she said.

China gags property boycott protester

Richard Spencer / London Telegraph May 22 2006

China has silenced a businessman who called for a boycott of property purchases in protest at rising house prices.

Zou Tao, who sells golf equipment in Shenzhen, was so outraged with prices that were out of reach of most ordinary Chinese that he launched a petition calling for the public to stop buying real estate for three years. Within days, he had 30,000 signatures from across the country.

Until recently, demands for lower prices would have been tolerated by the government, which is trying to deflate the bubble gently and is also concerned about growing resentment of China's new rich, many of whom have become speculators.

But by this week, when Mr Zou had arrived in Beijing to put his case to the authorities, it had decided he had gone too far, not least in arguing that local government corruption was fuelling the dangerous boom in prices.

He was detained at Shenzhen airport for 10 hours before being allowed to board his flight to the capital.

"I was checking in and found my name was on a blacklist," he said last night. "Then two policemen came over and took away my ID card and my ticket."

When he landed, newspapers who had reported his case were banned from giving him any further publicity. Central television was told to scrap an interview it recorded with him.

The subject is deemed so sensitive not least because there have been warnings a property crash could in theory jeopardise the whole Chinese banking system.

The country's cities have seen double digit price rises. In Beijing, prices rose by 15 per cent in the first quarter alone. Shenzhen is among the worst hit, with rises of 35 per cent in a year.

Zogby Poll: Over 70 Million American Adults Support New 9/11 Investigation

PRWEB May 22, 8:00 AM ET

Utica, NY May 22, 2006 -- Although the Bush administration continues to exploit September 11 to justify domestic spying, unprecedented spending and a permanent state of war, a new Zogby poll reveals that less than half of the American public trusts the official 9/11 story or believes the attacks were adequately investigated.

911Truth.org Urges 2006 Reform Candidates to Recognize a Powerful New Constituency

The poll is the first scientific survey of Americans' belief in a 9/11 cover up or the need to investigate possible US government complicity, and was commissioned to inform deliberations at the June 2~4 "9/11: Revealing the Truth, Reclaiming Our Future" conference in Chicago. Poll results indicate 42% believe there has indeed been a cover up (with 10% unsure) and 45% think "Congress or an International Tribunal should re-investigate the attacks, including whether any US government officials consciously allowed or helped facilitate their success" (with 8% unsure). The poll of American residents was conducted from Friday, May 12 through Tuesday, May 16, 2004. Overall results have a margin of sampling error of +/- 2.9. All inquiries about questions, responses and demographics should be directed to Zogby International.

According to Janice Matthews, executive director of 911truth.org, "To those who have followed the mounting evidence for US government involvement in 9/11, these results are both heartening and frankly quite amazing, given the mainstream media's ongoing refusal to cover the most critical questions of that day. Our August 2004 Zogby poll of New Yorkers showed nearly half believe certain US officials 'consciously' allowed the attacks to happen and 66% want a fresh investigation, but these were people closest to the tragedy and most familiar with facts refuting the official account. This revelation that so many millions nationwide now also recognize a 9/11 cover up and the need for a new inquiry should be a wake up call for all 2006 political candidates hoping to turn this country around. We think it also indicates Americans are awakening to the larger pattern of deceit that led us into Constitutional twilight and endless war, and that our independent media may have finally come of age."

Poll co-author, W. David Kubiak concurs, saying: "Despite years of relentless media promotion, whitewash and 9/11 Commission propaganda, the official 9/11 story still can't even muster 50% popular support. Since this myth has been the administration's primary source of political and war-making power, this level of distrust has revolutionary implications for everyone working for peace, justice and civil liberties. If we ever hope to reclaim this country, end aggression and restore international respect, we all must finally scrutinize that day when things started to go so terribly wrong. The media and movement leaders ignore this call at their peril, because tens of millions are clearly telling us here they are ready for 9/11 truth."
-continued-

Verichip injects itself into immigration debate

UN Observer May 22 2006

Scott Silverman, Chairman of the Board of VeriChip Corporation, has alarmed civil libertarians by promoting the company's subcutaneous human tracking device as a way to identify immigrants and guest workers. He appeared on the Fox News Channel earlier this week, the morning after President Bush called for high-tech measures to clamp down on Mexican immigrants.

Privacy advocates Katherine Albrecht and Liz McIntyre are warning that a government-sanctioned chipping program such as that suggested by
Silverman could quickly be expanded to include U.S. citizens, as well.
http://www.spychips.com/press-releases/verichip-immigration.html

Do our new bombs cause cancer?

Civilian casualties always make for bad press. Perhaps as damaging to the war effort is having to back off a target because it's too close to a school or hospital. So the Pentagon is always looking for new ways to pinpoint their deadly assaults, causing as little collateral damage as possible. Unfortunately, the newest weapon may cause cancer.

The Air Force Research Laboratory's latest attempt at precision death is called Dense Inert Metal Explosive (DIME). It's designed to be just as deadly as a conventional bomb, but keep its destructive radius at a minimum.

DIME has a carbon fiber casing which turns into dust upon explosion. Most bomb casing turn into deadly shrapnel that can kill bystanders up to 2,000 feet away.

Also, DIME's casing is filled with explosives and tungsten powder. The tungsten's micro-shrapnel is as deadly as regular shrapnel, but because it's so small it's dragged to a halt within 25 feet. It's "a smaller but deadlier footprint - a 12-gauge compared to a rifle" writes David Hambling of Defense Tech.

There's only one problem: research in February of 2006 suggests tungsten is highly carcinogenic. Scientists implanted 92 rats with simulated tungsten shrapnel. Within 5 months all had developed a rare form of cancer called rhabdomyosarcoma.

"The military needs to hold up on this conversion to tungsten alloy weapons until more is known," says University of Arizona toxicologist Mark Witten.

The NSA's secret chamber at AT&T

The judge in the Electronic Frontier Foundation's class-action suit against AT&T has refused to allow the EFF to reveal details of the telecom's efforts to aid the NSA's spying on innocent Americans. "Wired" magazine has taken it upon themselves to let the truth be known.

A three-page document written in 2004 by former AT&T employee Mark Klein, the whistle-blower tells of the secret chamber, Room 641A, that he discovered deep in the bowels of the SBC building -- where AT&T occupies floors six, seven and eight -- in San Francisco. In addition to the document (PDF) there are internal schematics and other resources that back up his allegations.

High speed fiber-optic cables run into the eighth floor of the building and then down to the seventh, where they connect to the company's WorldNet service, part of what's known as the "Common Backbone." It's here that the information the NSA so desperately wants resides - every search you make, every website you visit, basically all your internet activity.

But fiber-optic cables aren't like good old copper cables. In the past, cables used to "leak" information. You could tap into them with something as simple as an alligator clip. Today's cables don't leak, however. No, to get a fiber-optic cable to surrender its secrets you have to splice it. Not only is the NSA spying on innocent Americans illegally, they're compromising the quality of their internet service while they do it. Splicing the signal weakens it, making internet connections slower.

So the NSA built a special cabinet with a splitter inside that feeds the information to their secret room, 614A. There they harvest all your secrets, to use however they see fit.

The internal documents suggest this chamber is one of several -- maybe dozens -- throughout the country.

"Wired" says the judge's gag order regarding the documents was very specific, barring only the EFF and its employees from releasing the information. Their editors also dispute AT&T's claim that the information was proprietary and would reveal valuable company secrets.

"Based on what we've seen, Wired News disagrees. In addition, we believe the public's right to know the full facts in this case outweighs AT&T's claims to secrecy," read the magazine's statement.

To make matters worse, AT&T is making a profit on the whole thing. The company that makes the devices that are being used to spy on you, Narus, is a joint venture of AT&T, JP Morgan and Intel, among others.

"Anything that comes through (an internet protocol network), we can record," Steve Bannerman, marketing vice president of Narus, told Wired. "We can reconstruct all of their e-mails along with attachments, see what web pages they clicked on, we can reconstruct their (voice over internet protocol) calls."

Army Jury Convicts Soldier in Wife's Death

Sun May 21, 4:25 AM ET

FORT LEWIS, Wash. - A soldier was convicted Saturday of murdering and mutilating his teenage wife, a Fort Lewis spokesman said. An Army jury found Spc. Brandon Bare, 20, of Wilkesboro, N.C., guilty of premeditated murder and two counts of indecent acts for chopping his wife to death with a meat cleaver and desecrating her corpse.

After a five-day court martial, the jury deliberated about four hours Friday night before reaching the verdict shortly after midnight, said Fort Lewis spokesman Joseph Piek.

The same jury of five officers and three noncommissioned officers sentenced Bare Saturday evening to life in prison with the possibility of parole, Piek said. His rank was downgraded to private and Bare was dishonorably discharged. He must also forfeit all pay and allowances and be formally reprimanded.

Nabila Bare, 18, had been stabbed at least 71 times when she was found July 12, 2005, in the couple's kitchen.

Prosecutors portrayed Bare as a satanic, would-be serial killer who carefully plotted the time and place to slaughter his wife.

His defense lawyer said he was an emotionally and physically damaged combat veteran, angry over his wife's infidelity and the pending breakup of their marriage, who killed in a moment of rage.

The machine gunner with the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division was wounded in a March 24, 2005, grenade attack in Mosul.

-This story has really grabbed my attention, and I have been reading every little piece of news that I could. On one hand, the death is a horrible, sickening act. I can see why people are upset by the death, and specially the mutilation of the body. Only a sick person would do such a thing. A murder in a moment of severe rage is one thing, but to then mutilate the body is real proof of some mental instability. Now with that having been said, I can understand that he probably is not a homicidal killer like they have tried to make him out to be. I can speak from experience about the nightmares, the visions, fits of rage for little or no reason, the uncontrolled thought of inflicting severe pain on people for again, little or no reason. I went to therapy for month after returning home, and still have to take life one day at a time, so I can understand were he might have snapped, and just given in to the evil, dark thoughts that plague our minds. Specially when you add into the equation that there was possible infidelity, a looming divorce, and recovering from injuries. I am in no way defending his actions, but I think he should have been recommended to mental therapy, other then a life in jail, were most likely the issues will only grow worse. Making him more of a danger, if, or when he gets released.

Soldiers to get life in jail for refusing to act as occupiers

GERRI PEEV / The Scotsman May 19 2006

SOLDIERS who object to taking part in a military occupation of a foreign country will face life in prison under measures due to be rubber-stamped in the House of Commons on Monday.

The little-noticed Armed Forces Bill will have its third reading in the Commons on Monday and left-leaning MPs are alarmed that it will legitimise pre-emptive military strikes.

It will change the definition of desertion to include soldiers who go absent without leave and intend to refuse to take part in a "military occupation of a foreign country or territory".

Under the current Army Act, desertion is defined as "going absent intending not to come back, going absent to avoid any service overseas, or going absent to avoid service when before an enemy".

Campaigners have seized on the inclusion of "military occupation" as evidence that ministers are trying to scare soldiers from objecting to future preemptive strikes - a charge denied by the Ministry of Defence.

The move comes as tensions escalate with Iran and follows a reported rise in soldiers absconding from the British Army since the invasion of Iraq.

Ben Griffin, a former SAS soldier who quit the army without facing punishment after being "appalled" at what was happening in Iraq, accused the government of changing the law ahead of any possible action in Iran.

"The government are kicking themselves in the teeth," he said. "Currently the British Army is a volunteer force, but using this sort of stick to beat soldiers into doing what they are told is turning it into a conscript army."

Mr Griffin, 28, from London, said that this would hamper morale and ultimately the effectiveness of the military.

Anti-war campaigners claim the change means it would expressly legitimise occupation and force soldiers to contravene the Nuremberg Principles, limiting their right to becoming conscientious objectors.

The Ministry of Defence has denied these charges and said that in fact the legislation introduces a new, lesser sentence of two years' imprisonment.

John McDonnell, the left-wing Labour MP, has tabled amendments to slash the maximum sentence for any desertion from life imprisonment to two years. He is also urging other MPs to throw out the new definition of desertion.

Angus MacNeil, the SNP MP who also spoke at the meeting, urged as many MPs as possible to debate the bill on Monday.

"There are a number of alarming measures in this bill that have appeared with little debate that need further scrutiny," he said.

The Ministry of Defence denied that the scope and definition was new or tougher than the existing law.

"Under current legislation the maximum penalty for all offences of desertion is life imprisonment. In most cases we have reduced this in the Armed Forces Bill to two years," a spokeswoman said.

However, where an offender deserted to avoid active service, such as the Iraq war, the maximum penalty would be applied, she said.

Telling the ‘approved’ story

Tuesday, March 7th, 2006

On an unspecified day last week an employee of a federal agency that cannot be revealed delivered a document that cannot be identified to a company that cannot be named seeking information that cannot be discussed.

The aforementioned federal agent left the unidentified document with an employee of the unnamed company. That employee then called the owner, who must remain anonymous, to inform him that the document that could not be identified sought information that could not be discussed. The owner who must remain anonymous instructed the employee to deliver the unidentified document to a lawyer whose name is protected by attorney-client privilege.

The lawyer whose name is protected by attorney-client privilege examined the unidentified document and then reviewed the information that could not be discussed with the owner who must remain anonymous.

With the approval of the owner who must remain anonymous, the lawyer whose name is protected by attorney-client privilege contacted a U.S. attorney who demanded that his identity be concealed.

The U.S. attorney who demanded that his identity be concealed then claimed the owner who must remain anonymous violated a law that could not be disclosed and faced arrest for charges that could not be specified because he had referred to the document that cannot be identified in an article for a certain, but unnamed, web site.

The lawyer whose name is protected by attorney-client privilege argued that his client could not be charged under the undisclosed law because he had been acting as a journalist at the time of the alleged publication and not as the owner of the company that cannot be named. He had, in fact, learned of the existence of the document that cannot be identified from a third-party, who was not named, and was not aware of its exact contents because he had not seen or read the document and, therefore, was not aware of the exact contents that cannot be discussed.

The U.S. attorney who demanded his identity be concealed consulted with others who names are classified and concluded that the owner who must remain anonymous walked a fine line between legal and illegal and would not face arrest for violating a law that could not be disclosed on charges that could not be specified.

So walking this fine line of justice allowed the owner who must remain anonymous to avoid confinement at an institution at an unknown location for an unspecified length of time.

In exchange for his freedom, the owner who must remain anonymous agreed to write a “clarification” of what happened, following the guidelines for publication laid down by the Bush administration.

Which is what you just read.

Thermite Identified As Culprit Of WTC Collapse

Evidence mounting that cause first identified on Alex Jones Show led to towers' implosion

Paul Joseph Watson & Alex Jones/Prison Planet.com April 24 2006

A new branch of 9/11 research claims to have identified the cause of the collapse of the twin towers. The photographic and video evidence makes a very strong case for thermite being responsible for the unprecedented implosions of steel framed reinforced buildings on September 11.

This facet was first brought to light during a November 2005 appearance on The Alex Jones Show by Brigham Young University physicist Professor Steven Jones. Jones said that white phosphorous wasn't powerful enough to cause the implosion but that thermite was the likely culprit. Alex Jones's 2005 release Martial Law 9/11 Rise of the Police State highlighted the physical evidence that the towers and Building 7 were brought down with incendiary devices.

Brigham Young University physicist Professor Steven Jones told peers at a Utah meeting that, "while almost no fire, even one ignited by jet fuel, can cause structural steel to fail, the combination of thermite and sulfur "slices through steel like a hot knife through butter."

Jones points to a video (click here to watch) which shows a bright yellow molten substance dripping from the south tower minutes before its collapse. Government investigators claimed that this was aluminum from Flight 175 but Jones is adamant that aluminum is silvery in appearance and doesn't turn yellow.

Jones also told the Deseret News that sulfur traces found at ground zero indicates the thermite was combined with sulphur to make it burn even hotter than the normal 2500 degrees Celsius.

Jones stated that thermite was a "clever" choice because its ingredients, aluminum and iron oxide do not require identifying tags by law, meaning they couldn't be traced back to their manufacturers.

Watch the following video and observe how thermite completely melts a car engine in a matter of seconds, without the addition of sulphur, and also completely resists neutralization by liquid nitrogen. Notice how the dripping substance is identical to that seen in the south tower video.
-continued-

America from Freedom to Fascism

Monday, April 24th, 2006

The film is an expose of the Internal Revenue Service, and proves conclusively there is no law requiring an American citizen to pay a direct unapportioned Tax on their labor. The film is very provocative and is receiving standing ovations at its previews.

Aaron Russo’s America from Freedom to Fascism will be released this Summer. Watch the trailer now.

Religion, Rome and The Reich: The Vatican’s other dirty secret

Sunday, May 21st, 2006

Forget ‘The Da Vinci Code’, ‘God’s HQ on earth’ has a real ghost in the cupboard - collusion with the Nazis. No wonder then, says Peter Stanford, that the church is hiding papers on the dealings of ‘Hitler’s Pope’, Pius XII.

As The Da Vinci Code arrives in our cinemas with its lurid accusations of a church cover-up of Jesus’s life as a family man, Roman Catholic leaders have been vocal in dismissing the film of Dan Brown’s bestseller as unsuitable viewing for believers. Cardinal amongst its sins according to them is its suggestion that a church organisation, Opus Dei, would attempt to manipulate history to fit its beliefs. But that, it was charged last week, is precisely what the Vatican is doing in regard of a much more recent event, the Holocaust.

An unflattering spotlight fell on God’s business address on Earth when the German Justice Minister, Brigitte Zypries, announced on Tuesday that her country is finally to open its huge archive of Nazi records on 17 million concentration camp inmates and slave labourers. Germany’s belated move to answer the pleas for access to its archives by Holocaust survivors and their families now leaves only the Vatican standing all alone in denying them the chance to read what is in its wartime documents.

You might expect an organisation that - as the bishops have been busy pointing out last week to counter the picture of their church presented in The Da Vinci Code - is dedicated to truth, justice, forgiveness and reconciliation to have been among the first to offer access to its files. And its refusal to open its secret files has only increased suspicion that it has something it wants to cover up - principally evidence of the alleged pro-Nazi sympathies of wartime pope, Pius XII.

In the church’s official annals, Pius, who died in 1958, is painted as a saintly shepherd who led his flock with great moral courage in difficult times. For many scholars, though, he is at worst the Devil incarnate, “Hitler’s Pope”, and at best a coward who refused to speak out against the extermination of Jews, gypsies and homosexuals in gas chambers, even when he had compelling evidence that it was happening, lest his words attract Nazi aggression.

Month by month, year by year, more evidence emerges from other sources about where the Vatican’s sympathies lay in the Second World War. Earlier this year, for example, a 1946 instruction from Pope Pius to the French bishops was unearthed that ordered them not to hand over Jewish children they had been sheltering to Jewish charities now the conflict was over. According to the outspoken Harvard historian Professor Daniel Goldhagen, Pius was guilty in this instance of “having given the order to take [Jewish] children away from their parents and should be regarded as little better than a War criminal.”

The Vatican’s response to all such accusations is to issue a blanket denial, insisting that it was neutral throughout the conflict. Yet in the absence of any compelling documentary evidence to buttress its position, few are now willing to take its word as gospel on its War record.

And the pressure has only built since the election 13 months ago of Pope Benedict XVI. Where his predecessor John Paul II had worked during the Second World War with the Polish underground to defeat the Nazis and save Jews, the former Cardinal Ratzinger had been a member of the Hitler Youth, albeit a reluctant one. The Vatican’s archives - known curiously as the Secret Archives, though their existence has been well known since 1610 - is under the personal control of the Pope. One word from Benedict and the doors could be thrown open.

While we wait for the church to catch up with the rest of the world, what is known for certain from other sources is that in 1933 as Vatican representative in Germany, the future Pius XII had agreed a treaty with Hitler, whose authoritarian tendencies he admired, to close down the Catholic -dominated Centre Party, one of National Socialism’s staunchest opponents. This treaty was based on the Vatican’s 1929 agreement with Mussolini, the Italian fascist leader. On being elected Pope in 1939, Pius’s first act was to suppress a document denouncing Hitler, entitled Mit Brennender Sorge (”With deep anxiety …”) that his predecessor had been writing on his deathbed. And throughout the War, Pius XII made no public condemnation of the Holocaust, save for a single ambiguous sentence in a 26-page Christmas message of 1942.
-continued-

The Road To Guantánamo

In this compelling docudrama by Michael Winterbottom and Mat Whitecross, the 'Tipton Three' narrate their own experiences in America's controversial offshore detention camp

The Road To Guantánamo opens with archive footage of George W Bush, flanked by a stern-faced Tony Blair, declaring his certain knowledge that all the detainees held in Guantánamo are "bad people". Everything that follows is designed to turn these words inside out, as three young British Muslims tell the story of how they came to be in US custody at Guantánamo for over two years, and discuss the Kafkaesque horrors that awaited them there, until finally they were released without charge or apology.

The title may evoke the Bing Crosby and Bob Hope 'Road' movies of the 1940s, travel-themed musical comedies with a vaguely racist depiction of non-Americans, but the exotic journey embarked upon by the so-called 'Tipton Three' was to take them into areas that were politically incorrect in an altogether different way.

About to get married in Pakistan, Birmingham lad Asif Iqbal (Usman) invites his friends Ruhal Ahmed (Harun) and Shafiq Rasul (Ahmed) to join him there for a holiday. Accompanied by another friend called Monir (Siddiqui) and Shafiq's cousin Zahid (Iqbal), they head into Afghanistan, hoping to offer humanitarian aid to their fellow Muslims and to see the place for themselves.

After several weeks, they realise they've made a terrible mistake and try to head back to Pakistan, instead ending up under heavy bombardment near Kundun. Separated from Monir (who is never seen again), they become captives of the Northern Alliance in the notorious Sheberghan Prison. Once it is discovered that the three friends are English, they are at first relieved to find themselves handed over to American custody; but in fact their nightmare is only just beginning, as they are passed from Kandahar Airbase to Camp X-Ray, from Camp Delta to solitary confinement, facing mistreatment, injustice and endless, pointless interrogations.
-continued-

10 Things I Hate About Commandments

This is really funny, i'm sure it will get boycott calls from the catholics.

Lawmaker says Marines killed Iraqis 'in cold blood'

From Jamie McIntyre
CNN
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A decorated Marine colonel turned anti-war congressman has said Marines killed at least 30 innocent Iraqi civilians "in cold blood" in Haditha in November, suggesting the death toll may be twice as high as originally reported.

Rep. John Murtha, D-Pennsylvania, told reporters Wednesday that he got his information from U.S. commanders, who said the investigation will show that the Marines deliberately killed the civilians.

The U.S. Marine Corps has declined to comment on the report, which initially stated that 15 were killed.

"There was no firefight. There was no IED that killed these innocent people. Our troops overreacted because of the pressure on them, and they killed innocent civilians in cold blood," Murtha said. (Watch Murtha level accusations against the Marines -- 1:58)

Murtha, who was decorated for his service in Vietnam, said the death toll may be more than twice as high as originally reported.

"They actually went into the houses and killed women and children," the congressman said.

Citing an ongoing investigation, the Marine Corps said, "Any comment at this time would be inappropriate and could undermine the investigatory and possible legal process."

The Iraqi civilians were killed while troops from the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines were looking for insurgents who planted a roadside bomb that killed a member of their unit.

At first, the Marines said the civilians were killed by a roadside bomb. Later, they suggested the victims may have been caught in a firefight.

An Iraqi human rights group, Hammurabi Human Rights Association, caught the scene on video, which was obtained by Time magazine. A criminal investigation ensued.
-continued-

Illegal workers make you obese!

America's illegal-immigrant debate had run dangerously short of new arguments, but a brave newspaper columnist decided to think so far outside the box that the box itself could no longer be used as a viable point of reference:

Undocumented aliens make American citizens fat.

That's the remarkable conclusion of "former economics professor" Alfred Tella, who writes in Wednesday's Washington Times that the influx of illegal Latinos in the United States may well be the cause of America's obesity epidemic ... apparently because cheap illegal housecleaners and gardeners have cruelly robbed middle-class and wealthy Americans of their only chance at exercise.

"Though they can be found in various industries and occupations, illegal workers are employed in large numbers on household tasks that most Americans once did for themselves, such as cleaning the house and taking care of the yard," Tella explains.

"Some are employed directly by householders as maids, house cleaners and yard workers, and others work as employees of companies that provide services to residential customers. A number of the householders who hire illegal workers can be counted among the more than 60 million obese adults in America."

Bingo!

Tella's bold theory doesn't quite explain away how low-paying jobs have traditionally gone to ultra-low-cost black slaves and then to successive waves of ethnic immigrants -- German, Chinese, Irish, Italian, Puerto Rican, etc. -- and will soon go entirely to robot slaves. But surely there's a scientific reason to explain how only illegal Mexican laborers make American citizens so horrifyingly obese.

Like nanny-state liberals from San Franciso to Santa Monica, Tella believes he can get Americans in shape by simply legislating the free market until it's basically socialism.

By removing a labor supply, Americans will have no choice but to quit hiring help and getting on a low-fat, low-sodium diet with the constant supervision of doctors. Just as the steady de-legalization of cigarettes has stopped cancer and heart disease in the United States, de-de-legalizing undocumented Latino workers will end the tragic obesity epidemic that has left most Americans outrageously fat and absolutely powerless to do anything about it.

"With less competition from cheap illegal labor, legal workers would benefit. And some householders who enjoyed access to cheap immigrant labor would no longer be willing or able to pay the higher wages resulting from a restricted immigrant labor supply," Tella writes.

"To the extent Americans adjusted their lifestyle to a reduction in the supply of immigrant labor by doing more household tasks, obesity would decline and health would improve. It would also be a financial boon. Householders would save on labor costs and obesity-related medical and other expenses, and taxpayers would save a bundle to boot."

How right he is.

-and all this time I was blaming the deep fried twinkies, how wrong I was!!!!

China re-indicts NY Times worker

China has revived a legal case against a detained New York Times researcher two months after dropping charges against him, his lawyer said.
Zhao Yan was arrested in September 2004 and was facing charges of leaking state secrets and fraud.

But the charges were dropped in March one month before a US visit by Chinese President Hu Jintao.

Lawyer Mo Shaoping said there was a new indictment against his client, but he did not know what the charges were.

"The prosecutors notified me last Friday that they had re-transferred the case to the Beijing Second Intermediate Court one or two days earlier," he told Reuters news agency.

He said prosecutors had told him they were "resuming criminal investigation and prosecution", but he said there was no legal basis for this under Chinese law.

"It is definitely a prolonged and illegal detention now," he said.

Mr Zhao, a Chinese national, had faced 10 years in jail after security officials alleged he told his employer, The New York Times, details of a power struggle between retired Communist Party leader Jiang Zemin and his successor, Mr Hu.

It was thought that Mr Zhao would be released within days of the prosecution withdrawing the case on 17 March, but he has remained in custody.

Mr Zhao has denied the charges against him. The New York Times newspaper also denies he has disclosed state secrets.

Castro says he's not wealthy, Forbes story untrue

By Anthony Boadle
Tue May 16, 9:54 AM ET

HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuban President Fidel Castro furiously denied on Monday a story in Forbes magazine that he was worth $900 million and said he would step down if the magazine could prove the assertion.

The financial magazine ranked Castro as the seventh wealthiest ruler in the world in its annual tally of the "Fortunes of Kings, Queens and Dictators."

Castro went on television brandishing a copy of the U.S.-based magazine to tell Cubans the story was a "repugnant slander" by a capitalist publication.

With Communist Cuba's Central Bank governor at his side, Castro challenged Forbes to prove the allegation.

"If they can prove that I have a bank account abroad, with $900 million, with $1 million, $500,000, $100,000 or $1 in it, I will resign," he said at the end of a four-hour broadcast.

"It is so ridiculous to say I have a fortune of $900 million, a fortune with no heirs. What would I need all that money for, if I will soon be 80 years old?

Castro, in power since a leftist revolution in 1959, says his net worth is nil and that he earns only 900 Cuban pesos ($40) a month.

Kings and sheiks of the oil-rich Gulf Arab states still top the Forbes list, published in its May 22 edition.

Castro ranked higher than Queen Elizabeth of Great Britain, whose fortune according to the Forbes amounts to some $500 million in estates, gems and a stamp collection built by her grandfather, but not Buckingham Palace or the crown jewels. The British monarch came to the throne in 1952, seven years before Castro seized power.

Castro last year threatened to sue Forbes after the magazine included him on its 2005 list with an estimated fortune of $550 million.

The Forbes estimate includes state enterprises that the magazine assumes he controls in Cuba, among them the Havana Convention Center, the Cimex retail conglomerate and a pharmaceutical company that exports vaccines.

Forbes said it assumed a portion of the profits of state companies goes to Castro and cited rumors of money stashed in Swiss bank accounts, but gave no details, saying former Cuban officials insist Castro has skimmed profits for years.

British military says 'UFOs exist!'

In a shocking announcement, the British Ministry of Defence has revealed "UFOs Exist: It's Official!" The revelation comes in the wake of a request by UFO researchers for the Ministry of Defence to release information about its secret investigations into strange sightings over Britain.

In a case of ask and you shall receive, the MoD dumped 200 megabytes worth of documents onto its public website detailing its confidential research into Unidentified Aerial Phenomena, also known as UAP (that UFO acronym is so old-fashioned). The verdict: UFOs exist. But the MoD thinks they are a mixture of natural and-man-made phenomena, rather than evidence of extraterrestrial life.

But what about all those sightings of aliens hopping out of UFOs and doing strange things to people? The MoD explains it away as being electromagnetic plasma fields warping their brains, causing hallucinations and lost memory.

The convoluted explanation from the MoD hasn't convinced many UFO researchers though. And polls show that the general public think the truth is still out there.

-plasma fields warping our brains? Shit, and I was all concerned that it was the acid, meth, crack, wiskey shooters doing it. What a releaf!!!!

'God's gonna pummel the coasts'

Professional hate-monger Pat Robertson has warned his television audience that furious storms are going to devastate America's coasts this year.

"If I heard the Lord right about 2006, the coasts of America will be lashed by storms," Robertson announced on Wednesday's broadcast of the 700 Club. "There well may be something as bad as a tsunami in the Pacific Northwest."

If past truly is prologue, Robertson is likely praying for such a horrifying disaster. Last summer, as Hurricane Katrina laid waste to New Orleans, Robertson's "Operation Rescue" was second on the once-secular American government's list of charities for Americans to send money to. Only the Red Cross was listed before Robertson.

Operation Rescue's board is loaded with Robertson's immediate family, with Marion Gordon Robertson -- Robertson's real name -- listed as chairman. Pat's wife DeDe is vice president and son Gordon Robertson is also on the board. The whole family reaped the benefits of others' misery, as they have their whole lives.

Hours after SPLOID broke the story of this disgusting arrangement last year -- thanks to a tip from privacy activist Bill Scannell -- FEMA moved Robertson's organization down the list.

Now that we know the storms are coming, it will be interesting to see what it is that Ellen Degeneres does to cause them. Robertson has blamed America's last two great tragedies on the beloved talk show lesbian.

"This is the second time in a row that God has invoked a disaster shortly before lesbian Ellen Degeneres hosted the Emmy Awards," Robertson told his one million mouthing-breathing sheep. "America is waiting for her to apologize for the death and destruction that her sexual deviance has brought onto this great nation."

Maybe Roberston will be moved to call for her assassination. He likes to do that kind of thing.

-and if the whole coast doesn't get destroyed by storms, he will just have everyone assassinated.

Couple Arrested For Asking For Directions

BALTIMORE -- Baltimore City police arrested a Virginia couple over the weekend after they asked an officer for directions.

WBAL-TV 11 News I-Team reporter David Collins said Joshua Kelly and Llara Brook, of Chantilly, Va., got lost leaving an Orioles game on Saturday. Collins reported a city officer arrested them for trespassing on a public street while they were asking for directions .

"In jail for eight hours -- sleeping on a concrete floor next to a toilet," Kelly said.

"It was a nightmare," Brook said. "I was in there thinking I was just dreaming and waiting to wake up."


Collins reported it was a nightmare ending to a nearly perfect day. He said the couple went to a company picnic and watched the Orioles beat Kansas City. It was their first trip to Camden Yards and asked two people for directions to Interstate 95 South when they left.

Collins said somehow they ended up in the Cherry Hill section of south Baltimore. Hopelessly lost, relief melted away concerns after they spotted a police vehicle.

"I said, 'Thank goodness, could you please get us to 95?" Kelly said.

"The first thing that she said to us was no -- you just ran that stop sign, pull over," Brook said. "It wasn't a big deal. We'll pay the stop sign violation, but can we have directions?"

"What she said was 'You found your own way in here, you can find your own way out.'" Kelly said.

Collins said the couple spotted another police vehicle and flagged that officer down for directions. But Officer Natalie Preston, a six-year veteran of the force, intervened.

"That really threw us for a loop when she stepped in between our cars," Kelly said. "(She) said my partner is not going to step in front of me and tell you directions if I'm not."

Collins reported the circumstances got worse. Kelly pulled 40 feet forward parking next to a curb and put his flashers on while Brook was on the phone to her father hoping he could help her with directions. Both her parents are police officers in the Harrisburg, Pa., area.

"(Brook's father) was in the middle of giving us directions when the officer screeched up behind us and got out of the car and asked me to step out. I obeyed," Kelly said. "I obeyed everything -- stepped out of the car, put my hands behind my back, and the next thing I know, I was getting arrested for trespassing."

"By this time, I was completely in tears," Brook said. "I said, 'Ma'am, you know, we just need your help. We are not trying to cause you any trouble. I'm not leaving him here.' What she did was walk over to my side of the car and said, 'Ok, we are taking you downtown, too.'"

Collins said the couple was released from jail without being charged with anything. Brook is now concerned the arrest may complicate a criminal background check she's going through in her job as a child care worker.

Collins said police left Kelly's car unlocked and the windows down at the impound lot. He reported a cell phone charger, pair of sunglasses and 20 CDs were stolen.

Baltimore City police said they are looking into the incident.