James Petras
The charges leveled by the British, US and Pakistani regimes that they uncovered a major bomb plot directed against nine US airlines is based on the flimsiest of evidence, which would be thrown out of any court, worthy of its name.
An analysis of the current state of the investigation raises a series of questions regarding the governments’ claims of a bomb plot concocted by 24 Brits of Pakistani origin.
The arrests were followed by the search for evidence, as the August 12, 2006 Financial Times states: “The police set about the mammoth task of gathering evidence of the alleged terrorist bomb plot yesterday.” (FT, August 12/, 2006) In other words, the arrests and charges took place without sufficient evidence — a peculiar method of operation — which reverses normal investigatory procedures in which arrests follow the “monumental task of gathering evidence.” If the arrests were made without prior accumulation of evidence, what were the bases of the arrests?
The government search of financial records and transfers turned up no money trail despite the freezing of accounts. The police search revealed limited amounts of savings, as one would expect from young workers, students and employees from low-income immigrant families.
The British government, backed by Washington, claimed that the Pakistani government’s arrest of two British-Pakistanis provided “critical evidence” in uncovering the plot and identifying the alleged terrorist. No Western judicial hearing would accept evidence procured by the Pakistani intelligence services that are notorious for their use of torture in extracting ‘confessions’. The Pakistani dictatorship’s evidence is based on a supposed encounter between a relative of one of the suspects and an Al Qaeda operative on the Afghan border. According to the Pakistani police, the Al Qaeda agent provided the relative and thus the accused with the bomb-making information and operative instructions. The transmission of bomb-making information does not require a trip half-way around the world, least of all to a frontier under military siege by US led forces on one side and the Pakistani military on the other. Moreover it is extremely dubious that Al Qaeda agents in the mountains of Afghanistan have any detailed knowledge of specific British airline security, procedures or conditions of operations in London. Lacking substantive evidence, Pakistani intelligence and their British counterparts touched all the Propaganda buttons: A clandestine meeting with Al Qaeda, bomb-making information exchanges on the Pakistani-Afghan border, Pakistani-Brits with Islamic friends, family and terrorist connections in England . . .
-continued-
2006/08/29
Spy software is coming your way
Stuff
Software capable of powerful and intrusive searches of personal computers is to be used in New Zealand.
The spy software, which can trace Google searches and other download attempts back to the computer they came from, is a new tool used by movie companies to combat piracy but it is upsetting privacy watchdogs and Internet companies.
The New Zealand Federation Against Copyright Theft (NZfact), the international Motion Picture Association’s representative here, will use the software to identify pirates by their IP address – a computer’s unique identity, the Weekend Herald reported today. The association is a consortium of major movie studios.
The software can track the IP address to the Internet company which holds the user’s details. The Internet company could then agree – or be compelled – to give those details to NZfact.
Federation executive director Tony Eaton said the pirate-hunting software was “basically a search engine that searches the search engines”.
The programme was used in a recent trial in New Zealand, discovering 1153 attempts to illegally download the children’s movie Chicken Little.
Action against pirates could begin with a “cease and desist” letter. In more serious cases, Mr Eaton said, the police could be informed, a search warrant executed, the computer seized and the user prosecuted under the Copyright Act.
Mr Eaton was seeking the co-operation of Internet companies in giving the details behind the IP addresses but ihug and Orcon have said they would not give up the information without a court warrant.
Privacy Commissioner Marie Shroff said computer users could ask her to investigate as the software intruded into their personal space. But it was unclear if the software breached existing law because an IP address identified a computer that could be used by more than one person.
The move comes after John Houston was this week jailed for two years after admitting to 21 charges relating to pirating movies.
He is believed to have made $150,000 a year from selling pirated movies.
Judge David Harvey described it as a highly sophisticated operation in which Houston used decrypting programmes to get around encryption codes on compact discs aimed at stopping movies being copied.
Software capable of powerful and intrusive searches of personal computers is to be used in New Zealand.
The spy software, which can trace Google searches and other download attempts back to the computer they came from, is a new tool used by movie companies to combat piracy but it is upsetting privacy watchdogs and Internet companies.
The New Zealand Federation Against Copyright Theft (NZfact), the international Motion Picture Association’s representative here, will use the software to identify pirates by their IP address – a computer’s unique identity, the Weekend Herald reported today. The association is a consortium of major movie studios.
The software can track the IP address to the Internet company which holds the user’s details. The Internet company could then agree – or be compelled – to give those details to NZfact.
Federation executive director Tony Eaton said the pirate-hunting software was “basically a search engine that searches the search engines”.
The programme was used in a recent trial in New Zealand, discovering 1153 attempts to illegally download the children’s movie Chicken Little.
Action against pirates could begin with a “cease and desist” letter. In more serious cases, Mr Eaton said, the police could be informed, a search warrant executed, the computer seized and the user prosecuted under the Copyright Act.
Mr Eaton was seeking the co-operation of Internet companies in giving the details behind the IP addresses but ihug and Orcon have said they would not give up the information without a court warrant.
Privacy Commissioner Marie Shroff said computer users could ask her to investigate as the software intruded into their personal space. But it was unclear if the software breached existing law because an IP address identified a computer that could be used by more than one person.
The move comes after John Houston was this week jailed for two years after admitting to 21 charges relating to pirating movies.
He is believed to have made $150,000 a year from selling pirated movies.
Judge David Harvey described it as a highly sophisticated operation in which Houston used decrypting programmes to get around encryption codes on compact discs aimed at stopping movies being copied.
Behind the Plan to Bomb Iran
Ismael Hossein-zadeh
It is no longer a secret that the Bush administration has been methodically paving the way toward a bombing strike against Iran. The administration’s plans of an aerial military attack against that country have recently been exposed by a number of reliable sources. [1]
There is strong evidence that the administration’s recent public statements that it is now willing to negotiate with Iran are highly disingenuous: they are designed not to reach a diplomatic solution to the so-called “Iran crisis,” but to remove diplomatic hurdles toward a military “solution.” The administration’s public gestures of a willingness to negotiate with Iran are rendered utterly meaningless because such alleged negotiations are premised on the condition that Iran suspends its uranium enrichment program. Considering the fact that suspension of uranium enrichment, which is altogether within Iran’s legitimate rights under the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), is supposed to be the main point of negotiations, Iran is asked, in effect, “to concede the main point of the negotiations before they started.” [2]
The administration’s case against Iran is eerily reminiscent of its case against Iraq in the run up to the invasion of that country. Accordingly, the case against Iran is based not on any hard evidence provided by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), but on dubious allegations that are based on even more dubious sources of intelligence. Iran is asked, in effect, to prove a negative, which is of course mission impossible-hence grounds for “noncompliance” and rationale for “punishment.”
The administration’s case against Iran is so weak, its objectives of a military strike against that country are so fuzzy, and the odds against achieving any kind of meaningful victory are so strong, that even professional military experts are speaking up against the plans of a bombing campaign against Iran. [3] Furthermore, predominant expert views of such a bombing campaign maintain that it would more likely hurt than help the geopolitical and economic interests of the United States.
So, if the administration’s “national interests” argument as grounds for a military strike against Iran is suspect, why then is it so adamantly pushing for such a potentially calamitous confrontation? What are the driving forces behind a military confrontation with Iran?
Critics would almost unanimously point to neoconservative militarists in and around the Bush administration. While this is obviously not false, as it is the neoconservative forces that are beating the drums of War with Iran, it falls short of showing the whole picture. In a real sense, it begs the question: who are the neoconservatives to begin with? And what or who do they represent?
The neoconservative ideologues often claim that their aggressive foreign policy is inspired primarily by democratic ideals and a desire to spread democracy and freedom worldwide-a claim that is far too readily accepted as genuine by corporate Media and many foreign-policy circles. This is obviously little more than a masquerade designed to hide some real powerful special interests that lie behind the fa�ade of neoconservative figures and their ideological rhetoric.
The driving force behind the neoconservatives’ War juggernaut must be sought not in the alleged defense of democracy or of national interests but in the nefarious special interests that are carefully camouflaged behind the front of national interests. These special interests derive lucrative business gains and high dividends from War and militarism. They include both economic interests (famously known as the military-industrial complex) and geopolitical interests (associated largely with Zionist proponents of “greater Israel” in the Middle East, or the Israeli lobby).
-continued-
It is no longer a secret that the Bush administration has been methodically paving the way toward a bombing strike against Iran. The administration’s plans of an aerial military attack against that country have recently been exposed by a number of reliable sources. [1]
There is strong evidence that the administration’s recent public statements that it is now willing to negotiate with Iran are highly disingenuous: they are designed not to reach a diplomatic solution to the so-called “Iran crisis,” but to remove diplomatic hurdles toward a military “solution.” The administration’s public gestures of a willingness to negotiate with Iran are rendered utterly meaningless because such alleged negotiations are premised on the condition that Iran suspends its uranium enrichment program. Considering the fact that suspension of uranium enrichment, which is altogether within Iran’s legitimate rights under the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), is supposed to be the main point of negotiations, Iran is asked, in effect, “to concede the main point of the negotiations before they started.” [2]
The administration’s case against Iran is eerily reminiscent of its case against Iraq in the run up to the invasion of that country. Accordingly, the case against Iran is based not on any hard evidence provided by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), but on dubious allegations that are based on even more dubious sources of intelligence. Iran is asked, in effect, to prove a negative, which is of course mission impossible-hence grounds for “noncompliance” and rationale for “punishment.”
The administration’s case against Iran is so weak, its objectives of a military strike against that country are so fuzzy, and the odds against achieving any kind of meaningful victory are so strong, that even professional military experts are speaking up against the plans of a bombing campaign against Iran. [3] Furthermore, predominant expert views of such a bombing campaign maintain that it would more likely hurt than help the geopolitical and economic interests of the United States.
So, if the administration’s “national interests” argument as grounds for a military strike against Iran is suspect, why then is it so adamantly pushing for such a potentially calamitous confrontation? What are the driving forces behind a military confrontation with Iran?
Critics would almost unanimously point to neoconservative militarists in and around the Bush administration. While this is obviously not false, as it is the neoconservative forces that are beating the drums of War with Iran, it falls short of showing the whole picture. In a real sense, it begs the question: who are the neoconservatives to begin with? And what or who do they represent?
The neoconservative ideologues often claim that their aggressive foreign policy is inspired primarily by democratic ideals and a desire to spread democracy and freedom worldwide-a claim that is far too readily accepted as genuine by corporate Media and many foreign-policy circles. This is obviously little more than a masquerade designed to hide some real powerful special interests that lie behind the fa�ade of neoconservative figures and their ideological rhetoric.
The driving force behind the neoconservatives’ War juggernaut must be sought not in the alleged defense of democracy or of national interests but in the nefarious special interests that are carefully camouflaged behind the front of national interests. These special interests derive lucrative business gains and high dividends from War and militarism. They include both economic interests (famously known as the military-industrial complex) and geopolitical interests (associated largely with Zionist proponents of “greater Israel” in the Middle East, or the Israeli lobby).
-continued-
US spy agencies pressed for “intelligence” to justify war against Iran
Bill Van Auken
With the clock ticking to an August 31 deadline set by the United Nations Security Council’s resolution demanding that Iran abandon its uranium enrichment program, a section of the American ruling establishment is pressing US intelligence agencies to produce “evidence” that Iran’s nuclear ambitions pose an imminent nuclear weapons threat.
The aim is the same as that pursued by Vice President Dick Cheney and others in the Bush administration in the run-up to the Iraq War who sought to manufacture phony “intelligence” that Saddam Hussein’s non-existent weapons of mass destruction justified a US invasion and occupation of the country.
This is the political significance of the hastily written and shoddy report issued by the House Intelligence Committee last Wednesday, a day after Iran issued its response to the UN ultimatum, which Washington deemed to have fallen “short” of the resolution’s conditions for avoiding sanctions.
While Russia and China—both veto-wielding members of the UN Security Council—have indicated support for Iran’s call for further negotiations, Washington is having none of it, demanding instead that Teheran unconditionally surrender to the UN diktat.
Iran has shown no inclination to follow such a course. Instead, on Saturday, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad staged a symbolic inauguration of a heavy water plant near Arak, in central Iran. He insisted that the facility was intended solely for peaceful purposes, serving medical, scientific and agricultural needs. But Western powers have stressed that it is possible to extract plutonium—a material used in the production of nuclear weapons—from spent fuel produced at an associated heavy water, research reactor that is still under construction.
-continued-
With the clock ticking to an August 31 deadline set by the United Nations Security Council’s resolution demanding that Iran abandon its uranium enrichment program, a section of the American ruling establishment is pressing US intelligence agencies to produce “evidence” that Iran’s nuclear ambitions pose an imminent nuclear weapons threat.
The aim is the same as that pursued by Vice President Dick Cheney and others in the Bush administration in the run-up to the Iraq War who sought to manufacture phony “intelligence” that Saddam Hussein’s non-existent weapons of mass destruction justified a US invasion and occupation of the country.
This is the political significance of the hastily written and shoddy report issued by the House Intelligence Committee last Wednesday, a day after Iran issued its response to the UN ultimatum, which Washington deemed to have fallen “short” of the resolution’s conditions for avoiding sanctions.
While Russia and China—both veto-wielding members of the UN Security Council—have indicated support for Iran’s call for further negotiations, Washington is having none of it, demanding instead that Teheran unconditionally surrender to the UN diktat.
Iran has shown no inclination to follow such a course. Instead, on Saturday, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad staged a symbolic inauguration of a heavy water plant near Arak, in central Iran. He insisted that the facility was intended solely for peaceful purposes, serving medical, scientific and agricultural needs. But Western powers have stressed that it is possible to extract plutonium—a material used in the production of nuclear weapons—from spent fuel produced at an associated heavy water, research reactor that is still under construction.
-continued-
Experts warn U.S. is coming apart at the seams
Chuck McCutcheon
WASHINGTON - A pipeline shuts down in Alaska. Equipment failures disrupt air travel in Los Angeles. Electricity runs short at a spy agency in Maryland.
None of these recent events resulted from a natural disaster or terrorist attack, but they may as well have, some homeland security experts say. They worry that too little attention is paid to how fast the country’s basic operating systems are deteriorating.
“When I see events like these, I become concerned that we’ve lost focus on the core operational functionality of the nation’s infrastructure and are becoming a fragile nation, which is just as bad — if not worse — as being an insecure nation,” said Christian Beckner, a Washington analyst who runs the respected Web site Homeland Security Watch (www.christianbeckner.com).
The American Society of Civil Engineers last year graded the nation “D” for its overall infrastructure conditions, estimating that it would take $1.6 trillion over five years to fix the problem.
“I thought [Hurricane] Katrina was a hell of a wake-up call, but people are missing the alarm,” said Casey Dinges, the society’s managing director of external affairs.
British oil company BP announced this month that severe corrosion would close its Alaska pipelines for extensive repairs. Analysts say this may sideline some 200,000 barrels a day of production for several months.
-continued-
WASHINGTON - A pipeline shuts down in Alaska. Equipment failures disrupt air travel in Los Angeles. Electricity runs short at a spy agency in Maryland.
None of these recent events resulted from a natural disaster or terrorist attack, but they may as well have, some homeland security experts say. They worry that too little attention is paid to how fast the country’s basic operating systems are deteriorating.
“When I see events like these, I become concerned that we’ve lost focus on the core operational functionality of the nation’s infrastructure and are becoming a fragile nation, which is just as bad — if not worse — as being an insecure nation,” said Christian Beckner, a Washington analyst who runs the respected Web site Homeland Security Watch (www.christianbeckner.com).
The American Society of Civil Engineers last year graded the nation “D” for its overall infrastructure conditions, estimating that it would take $1.6 trillion over five years to fix the problem.
“I thought [Hurricane] Katrina was a hell of a wake-up call, but people are missing the alarm,” said Casey Dinges, the society’s managing director of external affairs.
British oil company BP announced this month that severe corrosion would close its Alaska pipelines for extensive repairs. Analysts say this may sideline some 200,000 barrels a day of production for several months.
-continued-
VeriChip wants to chip every US soldier
Despite some pretty significant security concerns, everyone’s favorite futurific company VeriChip is looking to get its chips under the skin of the largest group of people yet: the entire US military.
According to the DC Examiner, the company is lobbying the Pentagon to choose its RFID tags as a replacement for the famous metal dog tags, making information like a person’s name and complete medical record instantly available with the swipe of an RFID reader.
Needless to say, not everyone’s sold on the idea, with veterans’ groups and some members of Congress already raising concerns. There doesn’t seem to be any indication as to when a decision might be made, although given VeriChip’s political connections, we wouldn’t be so quick to bet against it.
—————–
VeriChip Wants To Test Human-Implantable RFID On Military
The amount of information on the chip would be up to the military sponsors and could range from basic name and serial number to more advanced medical data.
K.C. Jones
VeriChip is pitching its human implantable RFID chips to the U.S. military.
VeriChip spokesperson Nicole Philbin confirmed Wednesday that the company’s Board Chairman Scott Silverman has held informal meetings with U.S. Navy and Air Force leaders to suggest a feasibility study of its VeriMed system.
The system relies on an implant the size of a grain of rice, which VeriChip claims has an encrypted 16-digit identification number. Philbin said only proprietary RFID readers can decipher the number, which is then entered into a secure database. A login name and password are required to access the database on a secure Web site, Philbin said, adding that the system is more secure and more effective than things people normally carry in their wallets.
Like overall participation, the amount of information attached to the identification number is at the discretion of individuals who volunteer for the program, Philbin said. That could be limited to the most basic information, like name and telephone number, or it could contain advance directives, organ donor status and more.
VeriChip is owned by Applied Digital, which lists federal agencies among its clients. The company markets the VeriMed system as a way to ensure that emergency responders and healthcare providers can identify a patient who is or unable to communicate and learn of allergies and medical conditions.
“The Department of Defense already has an electronic health records program, and VeriChip would like to enhance the quality of care for vets and military members,” Philbin said. “There is no power source. It can’t be tracked. It’s not a GPS device. It contains no information other than the identification number. It’s not mandatory. If a person with the device is presented to an emergency room unconscious, they may be allergic to something or have a preexisting condition, and that information is crucial.”
The RFID implants were approved as Class II medical devices by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in October 2004. In a letter, Donna-Bea Tillman, PhD, director of the F.D.A.’s Office of Device Evaluation, Center for Devices and Radiological Health, outlined potential health risks associated with VeriChip implants. They include adverse tissue reaction; migration of implanted transponder; compromised information security; failure of implanted transponder, inserter or electronic scanner; electromagnetic interference; electrical hazards; magnetic resonance imaging incompatibility; and needle stick.
“With any F.D.A. approval, they state the potential risks,” Philbin said. “The F.D.A. is satisfied with the product and that’s why they have given it the O.K.”
Some people have implanted chips in themselves to experiment with the technology and for fast access to their computer accounts.
Critics contend that VeriChip is peddling its products to governments, while targeting vulnerable populations ” like the elderly, inmates, immigrants and members of the military, who have less choice than the general population. They claim that RFID proponents’ eventual goal is to “chip” as many people as possible, then track consumers and their behaviors for marketing purposes.
The Electronic Privacy Information Center states that “the ability to track people, products, vehicles, and even currency would create an Orwellian world where law enforcement officials and nosy retailers could read the contents of a handbag—perhaps without a person’s knowledge—simply by installing RFID readers nearby.”
“Such a fear is not unfounded. Currently, some RFID readers have the capacity to read data transmitted by many different RFID tags,” the organization states on its Web site. “This means that if a person enters a store carrying several RFID tags—for example, in articles of clothing or cards carried in a wallet—one RFID reader can read the data emitted by all of the tags, and not simply the signal relayed by in-store products. This capacity enables retailers with RFID readers to compile a more complete profile of shoppers than would be possible by simply scanning the bar codes of products a consumer purchases.”
Some people have claimed to clone implants, saying that demonstrates how vulnerable they are, but Philbin said they are impossible to clone.
“The company can’t verify what hackers claim they can or cannot do,” she said.
Joe Davis, spokesperson for the Veterans of Foreign Wars office in Washington, D.C., said although it makes great sense to be able to scan a device and pull up a full medical history, he would like to see further study before the military uses the implants. He said his initial concerns include possible health effects, whether enemies could access soldiers’ information and whether the implants would replace dog tags, and, if so, stand up to an explosion.
“They issue two dog tags,” he said. “One goes around the neck and the other is laced into the boot. The foot and boot will survive an explosion. DNA from the foot in the boot will survive, plus you’ve got your metal dog tag right there. What type of survival rate does this little chip have in an explosion? From what I’ve read, it sounds like they’re trying to push this thing through. You don’t push things through when it’s new technology. You have to weigh all the pros and cons, and you have to ask the service members ‘What do you think of this?’ because it’s going in their neck, or wherever it’s going to go, and this proposal needs lot more study.”
According to the DC Examiner, the company is lobbying the Pentagon to choose its RFID tags as a replacement for the famous metal dog tags, making information like a person’s name and complete medical record instantly available with the swipe of an RFID reader.
Needless to say, not everyone’s sold on the idea, with veterans’ groups and some members of Congress already raising concerns. There doesn’t seem to be any indication as to when a decision might be made, although given VeriChip’s political connections, we wouldn’t be so quick to bet against it.
—————–
VeriChip Wants To Test Human-Implantable RFID On Military
The amount of information on the chip would be up to the military sponsors and could range from basic name and serial number to more advanced medical data.
K.C. Jones
VeriChip is pitching its human implantable RFID chips to the U.S. military.
VeriChip spokesperson Nicole Philbin confirmed Wednesday that the company’s Board Chairman Scott Silverman has held informal meetings with U.S. Navy and Air Force leaders to suggest a feasibility study of its VeriMed system.
The system relies on an implant the size of a grain of rice, which VeriChip claims has an encrypted 16-digit identification number. Philbin said only proprietary RFID readers can decipher the number, which is then entered into a secure database. A login name and password are required to access the database on a secure Web site, Philbin said, adding that the system is more secure and more effective than things people normally carry in their wallets.
Like overall participation, the amount of information attached to the identification number is at the discretion of individuals who volunteer for the program, Philbin said. That could be limited to the most basic information, like name and telephone number, or it could contain advance directives, organ donor status and more.
VeriChip is owned by Applied Digital, which lists federal agencies among its clients. The company markets the VeriMed system as a way to ensure that emergency responders and healthcare providers can identify a patient who is or unable to communicate and learn of allergies and medical conditions.
“The Department of Defense already has an electronic health records program, and VeriChip would like to enhance the quality of care for vets and military members,” Philbin said. “There is no power source. It can’t be tracked. It’s not a GPS device. It contains no information other than the identification number. It’s not mandatory. If a person with the device is presented to an emergency room unconscious, they may be allergic to something or have a preexisting condition, and that information is crucial.”
The RFID implants were approved as Class II medical devices by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in October 2004. In a letter, Donna-Bea Tillman, PhD, director of the F.D.A.’s Office of Device Evaluation, Center for Devices and Radiological Health, outlined potential health risks associated with VeriChip implants. They include adverse tissue reaction; migration of implanted transponder; compromised information security; failure of implanted transponder, inserter or electronic scanner; electromagnetic interference; electrical hazards; magnetic resonance imaging incompatibility; and needle stick.
“With any F.D.A. approval, they state the potential risks,” Philbin said. “The F.D.A. is satisfied with the product and that’s why they have given it the O.K.”
Some people have implanted chips in themselves to experiment with the technology and for fast access to their computer accounts.
Critics contend that VeriChip is peddling its products to governments, while targeting vulnerable populations ” like the elderly, inmates, immigrants and members of the military, who have less choice than the general population. They claim that RFID proponents’ eventual goal is to “chip” as many people as possible, then track consumers and their behaviors for marketing purposes.
The Electronic Privacy Information Center states that “the ability to track people, products, vehicles, and even currency would create an Orwellian world where law enforcement officials and nosy retailers could read the contents of a handbag—perhaps without a person’s knowledge—simply by installing RFID readers nearby.”
“Such a fear is not unfounded. Currently, some RFID readers have the capacity to read data transmitted by many different RFID tags,” the organization states on its Web site. “This means that if a person enters a store carrying several RFID tags—for example, in articles of clothing or cards carried in a wallet—one RFID reader can read the data emitted by all of the tags, and not simply the signal relayed by in-store products. This capacity enables retailers with RFID readers to compile a more complete profile of shoppers than would be possible by simply scanning the bar codes of products a consumer purchases.”
Some people have claimed to clone implants, saying that demonstrates how vulnerable they are, but Philbin said they are impossible to clone.
“The company can’t verify what hackers claim they can or cannot do,” she said.
Joe Davis, spokesperson for the Veterans of Foreign Wars office in Washington, D.C., said although it makes great sense to be able to scan a device and pull up a full medical history, he would like to see further study before the military uses the implants. He said his initial concerns include possible health effects, whether enemies could access soldiers’ information and whether the implants would replace dog tags, and, if so, stand up to an explosion.
“They issue two dog tags,” he said. “One goes around the neck and the other is laced into the boot. The foot and boot will survive an explosion. DNA from the foot in the boot will survive, plus you’ve got your metal dog tag right there. What type of survival rate does this little chip have in an explosion? From what I’ve read, it sounds like they’re trying to push this thing through. You don’t push things through when it’s new technology. You have to weigh all the pros and cons, and you have to ask the service members ‘What do you think of this?’ because it’s going in their neck, or wherever it’s going to go, and this proposal needs lot more study.”
'Lock up everybody!'
The monstrous cretin who runs America's "Homeland Security" is now publicly calling for new fascist laws that would make the Bush Administration's domestic-spying crimes totally legal.
Michael Chertoff -- who many say looks just like an undead version of Soviet dictator Vladimir Lenin -- says the United States needs more constant surveillance of everybody so he can lock up more "possible terrorists."
It's just the latest outrage from an administration desperately trying to turn last week's phony terrorist scare into justification for more fascist laws before the bogus scare is completely forgotten by Americans.
"It's not like the 20th century, where you had time to get warrants," the little totalitarian said Sunday on one of those political talk shows.
"We've done a lot in our legal system the last few years, to move in the direction of that kind of efficiency. But we ought to constantly review our legal rules to make sure they're helping us, not hindering us."
Chertoff, who presided over the horrific drowning of more than 1,500 citizens in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, is very excited about the opportunity to put anybody in jail for no reason at all.
While the White House and the administration's henchmen in Congress rush to pass new laws that will make everyone a potential terrorist and Halliburton builds the new concentration camps that will soon hold hundreds of thousands of "political prisoners," Chertoff is pursuing a two-pronged assault on Americans.
First, his goons at airports around the nation are methodically getting Americans "comfortable" with constant fear, harassment and intimidation. Second, his outrageous public statements are intended as a "trial balloon" to see just how much the White House can get away with.
The lack of outrage over Chertoff's latest insane proclamations will be used as "proof" that the administration can move ahead with the next phase of canceling the "g-ddamned piece of paper" known as the U.S. Constitution.
Proving the "U.K. terror plot" was manufactured fearmongering, U.S. airports have already been told the "threat level" has been reduced to the usual constant hysteria rather than the top-level hysteria enacted last week.
Also revealed this weekend was the fact that the "U.K. terror plot" was just that: Cops encouraging young Muslims to entertain fantasies of striking back at Britain, not the United States.
Remarkably, it was Chertoff himself who admitted this Sunday on CNN.
Michael Chertoff -- who many say looks just like an undead version of Soviet dictator Vladimir Lenin -- says the United States needs more constant surveillance of everybody so he can lock up more "possible terrorists."
It's just the latest outrage from an administration desperately trying to turn last week's phony terrorist scare into justification for more fascist laws before the bogus scare is completely forgotten by Americans.
"It's not like the 20th century, where you had time to get warrants," the little totalitarian said Sunday on one of those political talk shows.
"We've done a lot in our legal system the last few years, to move in the direction of that kind of efficiency. But we ought to constantly review our legal rules to make sure they're helping us, not hindering us."
Chertoff, who presided over the horrific drowning of more than 1,500 citizens in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, is very excited about the opportunity to put anybody in jail for no reason at all.
While the White House and the administration's henchmen in Congress rush to pass new laws that will make everyone a potential terrorist and Halliburton builds the new concentration camps that will soon hold hundreds of thousands of "political prisoners," Chertoff is pursuing a two-pronged assault on Americans.
First, his goons at airports around the nation are methodically getting Americans "comfortable" with constant fear, harassment and intimidation. Second, his outrageous public statements are intended as a "trial balloon" to see just how much the White House can get away with.
The lack of outrage over Chertoff's latest insane proclamations will be used as "proof" that the administration can move ahead with the next phase of canceling the "g-ddamned piece of paper" known as the U.S. Constitution.
Proving the "U.K. terror plot" was manufactured fearmongering, U.S. airports have already been told the "threat level" has been reduced to the usual constant hysteria rather than the top-level hysteria enacted last week.
Also revealed this weekend was the fact that the "U.K. terror plot" was just that: Cops encouraging young Muslims to entertain fantasies of striking back at Britain, not the United States.
Remarkably, it was Chertoff himself who admitted this Sunday on CNN.
Unabomber sale!
In a desperate bid to hang onto his fading fame, 1990s serial killer Ted Kaczynski is holding a crazy online auction.
The virtual garage sale, which was authorized by the U.S. District Court in California on Thursday, will benefit the families of Kaczynski's victims.
Items offered from his mountain lair include a hatchet, several of his infamous hooded sweatshirts, hundreds of history books, multiple versions of his manifesto and simple bomb-making tools.
"The Unabomber" was a media sensation in the 1990s.
His Luddite manifesto was published in big-time newspapers and his classic hoodie-and-shades look was heavily copied by wannabe hard players.
But home-grown terrorists lost their popularity after 9/11, because all terrorist activity is now said to be done by crazy Muslims from the Middle East rather than a crazy mathematical genius from Chicago living in a forest shack.
Dr. Theodore John Kaczynski was considered one of the finest modern minds when it came to advanced math such as geometric function theory, which is so complex that only a handful of people even understand the concept.
But for myriad reasons, Kaczynski was "socially retarded." So much smarter than normal people that he was pushed ahead to Harvard when he was only 16 years old, he never fit in and never had friends.
Suspiciously, he was chosen to take part in "psychological experiments" run by mad scientist Dr. Henry A. Murray, the psychologist who worked for the U.S. government's Office of Strategic Services -- which became the CIA after World War II.
Dr. Murray was instrumental in preparing the "Analysis of the Personality of Adolph Hitler" for OSS spy chief William "Wild Bill" Donovan.
After whatever Murray did to the young, meek math wizard, Kaczynski was even more withdrawn.
He became a math professor at Berkeley in 1967, where he creeped out students and staff. In 1969, he quit without explanation and seemingly vanished from the world.
For a decade, he lived quietly in a mountain shed. And in 1978, he sent his first mail bomb. His targets were colleges, airlines, retail computer stores and even public-relations executives. His crude bombs eventually hurt 29 people and killed 3 victims.
The G-men gave him the codename UNABOM, for "University and Airline Bomber." The media eventually turned that into "Unabomber."
In 1995, the New York Times and Washington Post supported terrorism and printed his entire 35,000-word manifesto, "Industrial Society and its Future."
The newspapers did this at the request of the U.S. Justice Department. While many were outraged over the federal government again supporting terrorists, FBI analysts argued that meeting the Unabomber's demand would actually help track him down, as somebody might be able to recognize his writing and theories.
And it worked, the FBI claimed, because Kaczynski's brother David reportedly recognized Ted's writing style and called the cops.
But the unintended result of the publication was that many of the top people in the technology industry were absolutely haunted by the Unabomber's conclusions.
Bill Joy -- "cofounder and Chief Scientist of Sun Microsystems and co-chair of the presidential commission on the future of IT research" -- found himself "most troubled" by Kaczynski's warning of a coming dystopia where robots either rule humanity or serve a tiny global elite who choose to exterminate the billions of undesirables:
"[T]he average man may have control over certain private machines of his own, such as his car or his personal computer, but control over large systems of machines will be in the hands of a tiny elite -- just as it is today, but with two differences. Due to improved techniques, the elite will have greater control over the masses; and because human work will no longer be necessary the masses will be superfluous, a useless burden on the system. If the elite is ruthless they may simply decide to exterminate the mass of humanity. If they are humane they may use propaganda or other psychological or biological techniques to reduce the birth rate until the mass of humanity becomes extinct, leaving the world to the elite."
Just 10 years later, much of Kaczynski's "paranoid fantasy" is reality. Total surveillance and constant bombardment by corporate and government propaganda has softened the citizens of industrialized nations to any possible rebellion.
Citizens are now "consumers," so addicted to the Internet that knowledge of constant illegal spying on their every online activity hasn't even led to calls to abandon the technology, let alone any actual reduction in usage. In fact, hours and money spent on the Internet have seen double-digit growth this year alone.
And instead of reducing dependence on telephones after it was revealed that all calls are illegally logged and tracked by the federal government, protest was limited to the suggestion that people concerned about civil liberties transfer their business to one of the few telecom companies that hasn't yet admitted complicity in the domestic-spying scandal.
A long government "health campaign" in the United States has succeeded in making much of the population sick from chronic disease and so obese that they're physically incapable of doing much more than sitting on a sofa watching war and crime propaganda, while federal education efforts have succeeded in significantly reducing the population's ability to read, write and think critically -- as compared to both earlier generations of educated Americans as well as modern-day populations in Europe and industrialized Asia.
The world's most populous country and fastest-growing "capitalist" state, China, has brutally enforced birth-rate reduction and brazenly killed and tortured dissidents with no reprisals from "democratic" nations that fuel its dynamic economic growth.
And in five short years, an ambiguous "anti-terror crusade" has replaced all humanist ideology, democratic debate and civil liberties in the world's lone military superpower.
Most American factory labor is already performed by robots. As millions of working-class people in the United States have already learned, the value of a human completely depends on his or her worth as a consumer. When a human is no longer required for factory labor or industrialized farming -- either because the work is now performed by robots or done overseas for pennies on the dollar -- their value as a consumer is obliterated.
As a General Motors analyst recently said about the nation's 110,000 auto-factory robots, "They're almost human, but they don't seem interested in organizing."
If the Unabomber's horrifying scenarios are correct, the next stage will be the culling of the herd, or the killing off of those who serve no purpose to the robots and their human masters.
The virtual garage sale, which was authorized by the U.S. District Court in California on Thursday, will benefit the families of Kaczynski's victims.
Items offered from his mountain lair include a hatchet, several of his infamous hooded sweatshirts, hundreds of history books, multiple versions of his manifesto and simple bomb-making tools.
"The Unabomber" was a media sensation in the 1990s.
His Luddite manifesto was published in big-time newspapers and his classic hoodie-and-shades look was heavily copied by wannabe hard players.
But home-grown terrorists lost their popularity after 9/11, because all terrorist activity is now said to be done by crazy Muslims from the Middle East rather than a crazy mathematical genius from Chicago living in a forest shack.
Dr. Theodore John Kaczynski was considered one of the finest modern minds when it came to advanced math such as geometric function theory, which is so complex that only a handful of people even understand the concept.
But for myriad reasons, Kaczynski was "socially retarded." So much smarter than normal people that he was pushed ahead to Harvard when he was only 16 years old, he never fit in and never had friends.
Suspiciously, he was chosen to take part in "psychological experiments" run by mad scientist Dr. Henry A. Murray, the psychologist who worked for the U.S. government's Office of Strategic Services -- which became the CIA after World War II.
Dr. Murray was instrumental in preparing the "Analysis of the Personality of Adolph Hitler" for OSS spy chief William "Wild Bill" Donovan.
After whatever Murray did to the young, meek math wizard, Kaczynski was even more withdrawn.
He became a math professor at Berkeley in 1967, where he creeped out students and staff. In 1969, he quit without explanation and seemingly vanished from the world.
For a decade, he lived quietly in a mountain shed. And in 1978, he sent his first mail bomb. His targets were colleges, airlines, retail computer stores and even public-relations executives. His crude bombs eventually hurt 29 people and killed 3 victims.
The G-men gave him the codename UNABOM, for "University and Airline Bomber." The media eventually turned that into "Unabomber."
In 1995, the New York Times and Washington Post supported terrorism and printed his entire 35,000-word manifesto, "Industrial Society and its Future."
The newspapers did this at the request of the U.S. Justice Department. While many were outraged over the federal government again supporting terrorists, FBI analysts argued that meeting the Unabomber's demand would actually help track him down, as somebody might be able to recognize his writing and theories.
And it worked, the FBI claimed, because Kaczynski's brother David reportedly recognized Ted's writing style and called the cops.
But the unintended result of the publication was that many of the top people in the technology industry were absolutely haunted by the Unabomber's conclusions.
Bill Joy -- "cofounder and Chief Scientist of Sun Microsystems and co-chair of the presidential commission on the future of IT research" -- found himself "most troubled" by Kaczynski's warning of a coming dystopia where robots either rule humanity or serve a tiny global elite who choose to exterminate the billions of undesirables:
"[T]he average man may have control over certain private machines of his own, such as his car or his personal computer, but control over large systems of machines will be in the hands of a tiny elite -- just as it is today, but with two differences. Due to improved techniques, the elite will have greater control over the masses; and because human work will no longer be necessary the masses will be superfluous, a useless burden on the system. If the elite is ruthless they may simply decide to exterminate the mass of humanity. If they are humane they may use propaganda or other psychological or biological techniques to reduce the birth rate until the mass of humanity becomes extinct, leaving the world to the elite."
Just 10 years later, much of Kaczynski's "paranoid fantasy" is reality. Total surveillance and constant bombardment by corporate and government propaganda has softened the citizens of industrialized nations to any possible rebellion.
Citizens are now "consumers," so addicted to the Internet that knowledge of constant illegal spying on their every online activity hasn't even led to calls to abandon the technology, let alone any actual reduction in usage. In fact, hours and money spent on the Internet have seen double-digit growth this year alone.
And instead of reducing dependence on telephones after it was revealed that all calls are illegally logged and tracked by the federal government, protest was limited to the suggestion that people concerned about civil liberties transfer their business to one of the few telecom companies that hasn't yet admitted complicity in the domestic-spying scandal.
A long government "health campaign" in the United States has succeeded in making much of the population sick from chronic disease and so obese that they're physically incapable of doing much more than sitting on a sofa watching war and crime propaganda, while federal education efforts have succeeded in significantly reducing the population's ability to read, write and think critically -- as compared to both earlier generations of educated Americans as well as modern-day populations in Europe and industrialized Asia.
The world's most populous country and fastest-growing "capitalist" state, China, has brutally enforced birth-rate reduction and brazenly killed and tortured dissidents with no reprisals from "democratic" nations that fuel its dynamic economic growth.
And in five short years, an ambiguous "anti-terror crusade" has replaced all humanist ideology, democratic debate and civil liberties in the world's lone military superpower.
Most American factory labor is already performed by robots. As millions of working-class people in the United States have already learned, the value of a human completely depends on his or her worth as a consumer. When a human is no longer required for factory labor or industrialized farming -- either because the work is now performed by robots or done overseas for pennies on the dollar -- their value as a consumer is obliterated.
As a General Motors analyst recently said about the nation's 110,000 auto-factory robots, "They're almost human, but they don't seem interested in organizing."
If the Unabomber's horrifying scenarios are correct, the next stage will be the culling of the herd, or the killing off of those who serve no purpose to the robots and their human masters.
2006/08/05
Revolutionary’ farmer arrested for driving vegetable-powered truck
John Lichfield in Paris
A French farmer faces prosecution for driving on public roads in a vegetable-powered truck.
Olivier Lainé, a cereals farmer based near Rouen in Normandy, believes he will go down in history, not as a criminal, or tax-evader, but a “revolutionary”.
M. Lainé, 49, was arrested near his farm by French customs officers. He faces prosecution for driving a vehicle powered by an “unauthorised fuel” - namely pure vegetable oil, made from colza, or rape seed, grown on his own farm.
An EU directive passed last year instructs member states to encourage the use of pure vegetable oil as a form of fuel for diesel-powered vehicles. Paris has failed so far to translate the directive into law.
“They say that I am breaking the law. I say that they are breaking European law,” M. Lainé said. “We will see who is right. What I am doing will be seen as the beginning of a revolution. The world is short of fossil fuels. It has a surplus of agricultural produce. Using pure vegetable oil as a fuel can make a small contribution to solving both problems.”
M. Lainé is spokesman within the département of Seine-Maritime for the militant small farmers’ union, the Confédération Pay-sanne. The union accused the French government yesterday of “hypocrisy”.
Paris talks of making a contribution to a cleaner environment, the union said, but blocks local initiatives to use pure vegetable oil.
The use of vegetable oil as fuel is authorised for vehicles while operating on a farm. It is illegal to drive vegetable-powered vehicles on public roads because no tax has been paid on the fuel.
A French farmer faces prosecution for driving on public roads in a vegetable-powered truck.
Olivier Lainé, a cereals farmer based near Rouen in Normandy, believes he will go down in history, not as a criminal, or tax-evader, but a “revolutionary”.
M. Lainé, 49, was arrested near his farm by French customs officers. He faces prosecution for driving a vehicle powered by an “unauthorised fuel” - namely pure vegetable oil, made from colza, or rape seed, grown on his own farm.
An EU directive passed last year instructs member states to encourage the use of pure vegetable oil as a form of fuel for diesel-powered vehicles. Paris has failed so far to translate the directive into law.
“They say that I am breaking the law. I say that they are breaking European law,” M. Lainé said. “We will see who is right. What I am doing will be seen as the beginning of a revolution. The world is short of fossil fuels. It has a surplus of agricultural produce. Using pure vegetable oil as a fuel can make a small contribution to solving both problems.”
M. Lainé is spokesman within the département of Seine-Maritime for the militant small farmers’ union, the Confédération Pay-sanne. The union accused the French government yesterday of “hypocrisy”.
Paris talks of making a contribution to a cleaner environment, the union said, but blocks local initiatives to use pure vegetable oil.
The use of vegetable oil as fuel is authorised for vehicles while operating on a farm. It is illegal to drive vegetable-powered vehicles on public roads because no tax has been paid on the fuel.
2006/08/03
Bill would ban chip implantation in employees
Mary Dannemiller
SYCAMORE TWP. — State Sen. Robert Schuler (R — 7th District) recently introduced a bill that would prevent companies from implanting microchips in their employees without their consent.
The Employee Privacy Protection Bill comes as an answer to the company CityWatcher.com’s use of radio frequency identification tags in two employees.
The Walnut Hills-based security company came under fire in February after it was discovered that Chief Executive Officer Sean Darks and another unnamed employee were injected in the forearm with a VeriChip.
The chip acted as an identification card, allowing access to classified areas as a signal transmitted an ID number to a receiver.
The impending law defines “radio frequency identification tags” as silicon chips containing an antenna that stores data and transmits data to a wireless receiver.
A VeriChip can also be used as a global positioning system, the senator said.
“People have to have their privacy. It’s not up to the employer to keep tabs on (employees),” Schuler said.
If passed, the bill would make it illegal for employers to require their employees to be implanted with a chip.
CityWatcher.com’s employees were implanted with the chip voluntarily, which is permitted under the new bill.
“Voluntary use is OK, but sometimes it’s hard to say what’s voluntary and what’s not,” Schuler said.
What the fuck!!!!! Like they need to pass a law about this!!!! And what kind of company would even be considering inplanting chips in there employees?? I'm sorry, if your working for a company that even considers inplanting anything on, or in you, find a new job!!!! I don't care how much they pay, or anything else, there is something seriously wrong, that your not seeing, and you need to get the hell out of there!!!
SYCAMORE TWP. — State Sen. Robert Schuler (R — 7th District) recently introduced a bill that would prevent companies from implanting microchips in their employees without their consent.
The Employee Privacy Protection Bill comes as an answer to the company CityWatcher.com’s use of radio frequency identification tags in two employees.
The Walnut Hills-based security company came under fire in February after it was discovered that Chief Executive Officer Sean Darks and another unnamed employee were injected in the forearm with a VeriChip.
The chip acted as an identification card, allowing access to classified areas as a signal transmitted an ID number to a receiver.
The impending law defines “radio frequency identification tags” as silicon chips containing an antenna that stores data and transmits data to a wireless receiver.
A VeriChip can also be used as a global positioning system, the senator said.
“People have to have their privacy. It’s not up to the employer to keep tabs on (employees),” Schuler said.
If passed, the bill would make it illegal for employers to require their employees to be implanted with a chip.
CityWatcher.com’s employees were implanted with the chip voluntarily, which is permitted under the new bill.
“Voluntary use is OK, but sometimes it’s hard to say what’s voluntary and what’s not,” Schuler said.
What the fuck!!!!! Like they need to pass a law about this!!!! And what kind of company would even be considering inplanting chips in there employees?? I'm sorry, if your working for a company that even considers inplanting anything on, or in you, find a new job!!!! I don't care how much they pay, or anything else, there is something seriously wrong, that your not seeing, and you need to get the hell out of there!!!
E-passport will make terrorism easy
As the U.S. prepares to embed all its passports with R.F.I.D. chips, a hacker in Germany has already rendered the new I.D. system obsolete.
"The whole passport design is totally brain damaged," security consultant Lukas Grunwald told Wired News. "From my point of view all of these RFID passports are a huge waste of money. They're not increasing security at all."
In Grunwald's native Germany, they've already begun issuing these new "high tech" passports. It took him all of two weeks to figure out how to clone one.
The new passports have chips in them that store encrypted data that acts as a kind of unique signature for each traveller.
"And of course if you can read the data, you can clone the data and put it in a new tag," Grunwald says.
With the U.S. set to introduce similar passports this fall, the question is "why bother?"
"Either this guy is incredible or this technology is unbelievably stupid," says Gus Hosein, senior fellow at Privacy International, a U.K.-based group opposed to R.F.I.D. passports. "Is this what the best and the brightest of the world could come up with? Or is this what happens when you do policy laundering and you get a bunch of bureaucrats making decisions about technologies they don't understand?"
Grunwald demonstrated for Wired how absurdly easy it is to make a fake E-passport. He placed one atop an official passport-inspection RFID used at border crossings -- anybody can order one. Even if they weren't readily available, Grunwald says you can build one for about $200.
He then used secunet Security Networks' Golden Reader Tool to extract the information on the chip. It took about four seconds. From there it was a simple matter of loading the info onto another chip and installing it into a fake passport.
Grunwald has been warning folks about R.F.I.D. issues for years. In January of 2004 he warned that R.F.I.D. rewriting technology would make it easy for shoplifters to remark inventory or just cause general mayhem.
Not only is the government planning to put R.F.I.D. tags into passports, they also want use them on immigrants, pets, A.I.D.S. patients ... basically anyone that doesn't meet their standards.
The weakness of these new "security" measures comes just a day after a Government Accountability Office testimony said that our border guards already have a bad habit of ignoring fake I.D. cards.
"The whole passport design is totally brain damaged," security consultant Lukas Grunwald told Wired News. "From my point of view all of these RFID passports are a huge waste of money. They're not increasing security at all."
In Grunwald's native Germany, they've already begun issuing these new "high tech" passports. It took him all of two weeks to figure out how to clone one.
The new passports have chips in them that store encrypted data that acts as a kind of unique signature for each traveller.
"And of course if you can read the data, you can clone the data and put it in a new tag," Grunwald says.
With the U.S. set to introduce similar passports this fall, the question is "why bother?"
"Either this guy is incredible or this technology is unbelievably stupid," says Gus Hosein, senior fellow at Privacy International, a U.K.-based group opposed to R.F.I.D. passports. "Is this what the best and the brightest of the world could come up with? Or is this what happens when you do policy laundering and you get a bunch of bureaucrats making decisions about technologies they don't understand?"
Grunwald demonstrated for Wired how absurdly easy it is to make a fake E-passport. He placed one atop an official passport-inspection RFID used at border crossings -- anybody can order one. Even if they weren't readily available, Grunwald says you can build one for about $200.
He then used secunet Security Networks' Golden Reader Tool to extract the information on the chip. It took about four seconds. From there it was a simple matter of loading the info onto another chip and installing it into a fake passport.
Grunwald has been warning folks about R.F.I.D. issues for years. In January of 2004 he warned that R.F.I.D. rewriting technology would make it easy for shoplifters to remark inventory or just cause general mayhem.
Not only is the government planning to put R.F.I.D. tags into passports, they also want use them on immigrants, pets, A.I.D.S. patients ... basically anyone that doesn't meet their standards.
The weakness of these new "security" measures comes just a day after a Government Accountability Office testimony said that our border guards already have a bad habit of ignoring fake I.D. cards.
U.S. heroes vs. Gov't
As victorious young World War II veterans returned home to the Tennessee town of Athens, they were all fired up about democracy and freedom in Europe.
But in their hometown, shamelessly corrupt sleazebags ran the local "political machine." Elections were charades. And when the election of August 1946 was stolen -- as per usual -- the tough veterans launched a mini-American Revolution and won.
It's an inspiring story for democracy-loving Americans of today, who seem to be watching with impotent shock as one election after another is nakedly stolen and emboldened political criminals commit their hideous sins in broad daylight, even on live television.
What the WWII boys did was simple: After yet another stolen election, the veterans raided the local armories and attacked the camp of the political crooks, who were holed up in the town jail where they could safely stuff the ballot boxes with bogus votes.
Unlike today's do-nothing consumers, the Americans of the "Greatest Generation" were no sissies. The soldiers tipped over cars in the streets and fired on the jail from the safety of the makeshift foxholes.
The town rallied to the cause of the brave veterans, with housewives even delivering refreshments during what was later known as the Battle of Athens. As regular Americans happily realized they could rise up and take out the political trash, the little revolution took place in a "party-type atmosphere," local historian Joe Guy says today.
The siege went on all through the night of August 1, and in the early hours of August 2 the veterans were tired of waiting for the political scoundrels to give themselves up. So the soldiers blasted the jail with dynamite.
The scumbags surrendered and the veterans approved the real vote results: a straight ticket of G.I. nonpartisan anti-corruption true American heroes.
And it all took place 60 years ago this week, the Associated Press notes in a feature celebrating the anniversary.
The Battle of Athens wasn't the only heroic insurgency of the post-WWII years, but it was certainly the most exciting example.
"Seasoned veterans of the European and Pacific theaters returned in 1945 and 1946 to Southern communities riddled with vice, economic stagnation and deteriorating schools," historian Jennifer E. Brooks wrote in the Tennessee Encyclopedia.
"Across the South, veterans launched insurgent campaigns to oust local political machines they regarded as impediments to economic progress. The McMinn County veterans had won the day in a hail of gunfire, dynamite, and esprit de corps."
Founding father Thomas Jefferson would've been so proud of those Tennessee patriots. Jefferson knew from the start that the only way to keep a political system clean was to keep it small and regularly purge it of corruption.
A significant rebellion against the young U.S. federal government was the famous Whiskey Rebellion of 1794. Alexander Hamilton, the power-crazed and money-hungry secretary of the Treasury, had arbitrarily decided the nation's many whiskey distillers would be a good source of government income.
The whiskey men thought otherwise and launched their rebellion. In the first important example of the United States drifting from its democratic principles to the all-powerful police state of today, Hamilton was able to force the president, revolutionary hero George Washington, to wage war against those liberty-loving American citizens.
Jefferson was heartbroken.
"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants," he wrote in defense of regular revolution. "It is its natural manure."
But in their hometown, shamelessly corrupt sleazebags ran the local "political machine." Elections were charades. And when the election of August 1946 was stolen -- as per usual -- the tough veterans launched a mini-American Revolution and won.
It's an inspiring story for democracy-loving Americans of today, who seem to be watching with impotent shock as one election after another is nakedly stolen and emboldened political criminals commit their hideous sins in broad daylight, even on live television.
What the WWII boys did was simple: After yet another stolen election, the veterans raided the local armories and attacked the camp of the political crooks, who were holed up in the town jail where they could safely stuff the ballot boxes with bogus votes.
Unlike today's do-nothing consumers, the Americans of the "Greatest Generation" were no sissies. The soldiers tipped over cars in the streets and fired on the jail from the safety of the makeshift foxholes.
The town rallied to the cause of the brave veterans, with housewives even delivering refreshments during what was later known as the Battle of Athens. As regular Americans happily realized they could rise up and take out the political trash, the little revolution took place in a "party-type atmosphere," local historian Joe Guy says today.
The siege went on all through the night of August 1, and in the early hours of August 2 the veterans were tired of waiting for the political scoundrels to give themselves up. So the soldiers blasted the jail with dynamite.
The scumbags surrendered and the veterans approved the real vote results: a straight ticket of G.I. nonpartisan anti-corruption true American heroes.
And it all took place 60 years ago this week, the Associated Press notes in a feature celebrating the anniversary.
The Battle of Athens wasn't the only heroic insurgency of the post-WWII years, but it was certainly the most exciting example.
"Seasoned veterans of the European and Pacific theaters returned in 1945 and 1946 to Southern communities riddled with vice, economic stagnation and deteriorating schools," historian Jennifer E. Brooks wrote in the Tennessee Encyclopedia.
"Across the South, veterans launched insurgent campaigns to oust local political machines they regarded as impediments to economic progress. The McMinn County veterans had won the day in a hail of gunfire, dynamite, and esprit de corps."
Founding father Thomas Jefferson would've been so proud of those Tennessee patriots. Jefferson knew from the start that the only way to keep a political system clean was to keep it small and regularly purge it of corruption.
A significant rebellion against the young U.S. federal government was the famous Whiskey Rebellion of 1794. Alexander Hamilton, the power-crazed and money-hungry secretary of the Treasury, had arbitrarily decided the nation's many whiskey distillers would be a good source of government income.
The whiskey men thought otherwise and launched their rebellion. In the first important example of the United States drifting from its democratic principles to the all-powerful police state of today, Hamilton was able to force the president, revolutionary hero George Washington, to wage war against those liberty-loving American citizens.
Jefferson was heartbroken.
"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants," he wrote in defense of regular revolution. "It is its natural manure."
2006/08/01
Secret 2001 Pentagon Plan to Attack Lebanon
Bush's Plan for "Serial War" revealed by General Wesley Clark
by A Concerned Citizen
"[The] Five-year campaign plan [includes]... a total of seven countries, beginning with Iraq, then Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Iran, Somalia and Sudan" (Pentagon official quoted by General Wesley Clark)
According to General Wesley Clark--the Pentagon, by late 2001, was Planning to Attack Lebanon
"Winning Modern Wars" (page 130) General Clark states the following:
"As I went back through the Pentagon in November 2001, one of the senior military staff officers had time for a chat. Yes, we were still on track for going against Iraq, he said. But there was more. This was being discussed as part of a five-year campaign plan, he said, and there were a total of seven countries, beginning with Iraq, then Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Iran, Somalia and Sudan.
...He said it with reproach--with disbelief, almost--at the breadth of the vision. I moved the conversation away, for this was not something I wanted to hear. And it was not something I wanted to see moving forward, either. ...I left the Pentagon that afternoon deeply concerned."
Of course, this is fully consistent with the US Neocons' master plan, "Rebuilding America's Defenses," published in August 2000 by the Project for the New American Century (PNAC)
And, as PNAC's website ( http://www.newamericancentury.org ) notes, that the lead author of that plan, Thomas Donnelly, was a top official of Lockheed Martin--a company well acquainted with war and its profit potential.
It's no surprise that Republicans are starting to talk about withdrawing troops from Iraq; the troops will be needed in Lebanon. And maybe Sudan and Syria?
by A Concerned Citizen
"[The] Five-year campaign plan [includes]... a total of seven countries, beginning with Iraq, then Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Iran, Somalia and Sudan" (Pentagon official quoted by General Wesley Clark)
According to General Wesley Clark--the Pentagon, by late 2001, was Planning to Attack Lebanon
"Winning Modern Wars" (page 130) General Clark states the following:
"As I went back through the Pentagon in November 2001, one of the senior military staff officers had time for a chat. Yes, we were still on track for going against Iraq, he said. But there was more. This was being discussed as part of a five-year campaign plan, he said, and there were a total of seven countries, beginning with Iraq, then Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Iran, Somalia and Sudan.
...He said it with reproach--with disbelief, almost--at the breadth of the vision. I moved the conversation away, for this was not something I wanted to hear. And it was not something I wanted to see moving forward, either. ...I left the Pentagon that afternoon deeply concerned."
Of course, this is fully consistent with the US Neocons' master plan, "Rebuilding America's Defenses," published in August 2000 by the Project for the New American Century (PNAC)
And, as PNAC's website ( http://www.newamericancentury.org ) notes, that the lead author of that plan, Thomas Donnelly, was a top official of Lockheed Martin--a company well acquainted with war and its profit potential.
It's no surprise that Republicans are starting to talk about withdrawing troops from Iraq; the troops will be needed in Lebanon. And maybe Sudan and Syria?
C-SPAN BROADCAST REVITALIZES 9/11 TRUTH?
The broadcast this past weekend of the proceedings of the American Scholars Symposium may have won more members for the 9/11 Truth movement. According to Paul Joseph Watson, whose Infowars partner Alex Jones hosted and moderated the event, the program, aired Saturday and Sunday and due to repeat on Tuesday evening, has generated a whole new audience for skepticism about the official version of the attacks five years ago.
He cites Webster Tarpley, who was a keynote speaker and panel member at the symposium, said: “Let us mobilize to organize the biggest audience ever by an incessant and sustained intervention in radio and television call-in talk shows, by blast emails, by direct personal contact alerts, by public signs, leaflets, and by every other means at our disposal.”
Watson notes concerns prior to the airing of the program, since “the conference was so unrelenting in its hardcore stance on 9/11, that C-Span would be pressured into canning the show.” He calls the airing, and its repeated showings, “another hammer blow to the establishment kingpins who had hoped questions about 9/11 would evaporate as we approach the fifth anniversary of the attack.” - ST
He cites Webster Tarpley, who was a keynote speaker and panel member at the symposium, said: “Let us mobilize to organize the biggest audience ever by an incessant and sustained intervention in radio and television call-in talk shows, by blast emails, by direct personal contact alerts, by public signs, leaflets, and by every other means at our disposal.”
Watson notes concerns prior to the airing of the program, since “the conference was so unrelenting in its hardcore stance on 9/11, that C-Span would be pressured into canning the show.” He calls the airing, and its repeated showings, “another hammer blow to the establishment kingpins who had hoped questions about 9/11 would evaporate as we approach the fifth anniversary of the attack.” - ST
Third of Americans suspect 9-11 government conspiracy
Thomas Hargrove
More than a third of the American public suspects that federal officials assisted in the 9/11 terrorist attacks or took no action to stop them so the United States could go to War in the Middle East, according to a new Scripps Howard/Ohio University poll.
The national survey of 1,010 adults also found that anger against the federal government is at record levels, with 54 percent saying they “personally are more angry” at the government than they used to be.
Widespread resentment and alienation toward the national government appears to be fueling a growing acceptance of Conspiracy theories about the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
Suspicions that the 9/11 attacks were “an inside job” _ the common phrase used by Conspiracy theorists on the Internet _ quickly have become nearly as popular as decades-old Conspiracy theories that the federal government was responsible for President John F. Kennedy’s assassination and that it has covered up proof of space aliens.
Seventy percent of people who give credence to these theories also say they’ve become angrier with the federal government than they used to be.
Thirty-six percent of respondents overall said it is “very likely” or “somewhat likely” that federal officials either participated in the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon or took no action to stop them “because they wanted the United States to go to War in the Middle East.”
“One out of three sounds high, but that may very well be right,” said Lee Hamilton, former vice chairman of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (also called the 9/11 commission.) His congressionally appointed investigation concluded that federal officials bungled their attempts to prevent, but did not participate in, the attacks by al Qaeda five years ago.
“A lot of people I’ve encountered believe the U.S. government was involved,” Hamilton said. “Many say the government planned the whole thing. Of course, we don’t think the evidence leads that way at all.”
The poll also found that 16 percent of Americans speculate that secretly planted explosives, not burning passenger jets, were the real reason the massive twin towers of the World Trade Center collapsed.
-continued-
More than a third of the American public suspects that federal officials assisted in the 9/11 terrorist attacks or took no action to stop them so the United States could go to War in the Middle East, according to a new Scripps Howard/Ohio University poll.
The national survey of 1,010 adults also found that anger against the federal government is at record levels, with 54 percent saying they “personally are more angry” at the government than they used to be.
Widespread resentment and alienation toward the national government appears to be fueling a growing acceptance of Conspiracy theories about the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
Suspicions that the 9/11 attacks were “an inside job” _ the common phrase used by Conspiracy theorists on the Internet _ quickly have become nearly as popular as decades-old Conspiracy theories that the federal government was responsible for President John F. Kennedy’s assassination and that it has covered up proof of space aliens.
Seventy percent of people who give credence to these theories also say they’ve become angrier with the federal government than they used to be.
Thirty-six percent of respondents overall said it is “very likely” or “somewhat likely” that federal officials either participated in the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon or took no action to stop them “because they wanted the United States to go to War in the Middle East.”
“One out of three sounds high, but that may very well be right,” said Lee Hamilton, former vice chairman of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (also called the 9/11 commission.) His congressionally appointed investigation concluded that federal officials bungled their attempts to prevent, but did not participate in, the attacks by al Qaeda five years ago.
“A lot of people I’ve encountered believe the U.S. government was involved,” Hamilton said. “Many say the government planned the whole thing. Of course, we don’t think the evidence leads that way at all.”
The poll also found that 16 percent of Americans speculate that secretly planted explosives, not burning passenger jets, were the real reason the massive twin towers of the World Trade Center collapsed.
-continued-
Profits of Doom
Soaring temperatures, water droughts, War in the Middle East and a mad scramble for dwindling energy supplies… Despite facing climate chaos, politicians - and the corporations they serve - continue as if nothing is happening to our ecosystem. Instead, the multinationals are rampantly exploiting away so that consumers can enjoy breakthroughs like cheaper plasma TV sets. And now climatologists are predicting that global temperatures will rise quicker than previously expected, as tipping points are reached and irreversible changes to our climate are just round the corner.
Faced with this, are the most powerful institutions on our planet slamming on the economic brakes before we get to the cliff edge? Er no, they’re plotting ‘profit driven’ solutions to the oncoming tumble into the abyss. OK, those bunny-huggin’ eco-nuts might have had some valid points about the whole global warming thing, but don’t think of Climate Chaos as a problem, look on it as a window to new markets! Judging by the tsunami of greenwash at the moment, rather than causing a major problem for big business, it looks there’s real cash to be made with global warming and investors are being told to look greenwards to make some serious loot. General Electric, the world’s 11th biggest corporation with £9billion worth of annual profits, have just launched ‘Ecomagination’, a subsidiary company which seeks to make as much cash as possible from all things solar-powered and run by the wind. Looking according to one former US government official, “to make money in a carbon constrained world”. Last autumn investment heavyweights, Goldmann Sachs, published its ‘Environmental Policy Framework’, which aims to “find effective market-based solutions to address climate change, ecosystem degradation and other critical environmental issues.”
-continued-
Faced with this, are the most powerful institutions on our planet slamming on the economic brakes before we get to the cliff edge? Er no, they’re plotting ‘profit driven’ solutions to the oncoming tumble into the abyss. OK, those bunny-huggin’ eco-nuts might have had some valid points about the whole global warming thing, but don’t think of Climate Chaos as a problem, look on it as a window to new markets! Judging by the tsunami of greenwash at the moment, rather than causing a major problem for big business, it looks there’s real cash to be made with global warming and investors are being told to look greenwards to make some serious loot. General Electric, the world’s 11th biggest corporation with £9billion worth of annual profits, have just launched ‘Ecomagination’, a subsidiary company which seeks to make as much cash as possible from all things solar-powered and run by the wind. Looking according to one former US government official, “to make money in a carbon constrained world”. Last autumn investment heavyweights, Goldmann Sachs, published its ‘Environmental Policy Framework’, which aims to “find effective market-based solutions to address climate change, ecosystem degradation and other critical environmental issues.”
-continued-
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