Thursday, February 28, 2008
On Torture:
Quite surprised to see this on Yahoo!
AFP: Abu Ghraib prison turned soldiers evil by design: researcher
"'If you give people power without oversight it is a formula for abuse,' Zimbardo said to a stunned audience the included famous actors, entrepreneurs and politicians.
'Abu Ghraib abuses went on for three months ... Who was watching the store? Nobody, and it was on purpose.'
Zimbardo, 75, is renowned for the 1971 Stanford prison experiment in which students on summer break play roles as guards or prisoners in a mock prison in the basement of a building on the university's campus in Northern California.
The pretend guards grew so sadistic and the prisoners so cowed that the experiment was halted prematurely out of concern for the students.
Zimbardo detailed stark parallels to abuses of suspected terrorists by US soldiers at Abu Graib prison in Iraq, and how environment can turn people into heroes or demons.
'I was shocked when I saw those pictures but I wasn't surprised,' Zimbardo said..."
Selective Use Of Law:
Jeremy Scahill: The Real Story Behind Kosovo's Independence
"All of a sudden, DC establishment figures care about 'international law' when it suits their interests in Kosovo..."
This Colonel is quite brave.
NY Times: Former MIlitary Prosecutor to Testify for Detainee
"Until four months ago, Col. Morris D. Davis was the chief prosecutor at Guantánamo Bay and the most colorful champion of the Bush administration's military commission system. He once said sympathy for detainees was nauseating and compared putting them on trial to dragging 'Dracula out into the sunlight.'
Then in October he had a dispute with his boss, a general. Ever since, he has been one of those critics who will not go away: a former top insider, with broad shoulders and a well-pressed uniform, willing to turn on the system he helped run.
Still in the military, he has irritated the administration, saying in articles and interviews that Pentagon officials interfered with prosecutors, exerted political pressure and approved the use of evidence obtained by torture.
Now, Colonel Davis has taken his most provocative step, completing his transformation from Guantánamo's chief prosecutor to its new chief critic. He has agreed to testify at Guantánamo on behalf of one of the detainees, Salim Ahmed Hamdan, a driver for Osama bin Laden.Colonel Davis, a career military lawyer nearing retirement at 49, said that he would never argue that Mr. Hamdan was innocent, but that he was ready to try to put the commission system itself on trial by questioning its fairness. He said that there 'is a potential for rigged outcomes' and that he had 'significant doubts about whether it will deliver full, fair and open hearings.'
'I'm in a unique position where I can raise the flag and aggravate the Pentagon and try to get this fixed,' he said, acknowledging that he is enjoying some aspects of his new role. He was replaced as chief Guantánamo prosecutor after he stepped down but is still a senior legal official for the Air Force..."
Surveillance Of Society:
I fear we don't have a majority of such fairminded U.S. Supreme Court judges.
AP: Court shoots down computer surveillance
"BERLIN - Government surveillance of personal computers would violate the individual right to privacy, Germany's highest court found Wednesday, in a ruling that German investigators say will restrict their ability to pursue terrorists.
The Karlsruhe-based Federal Constitutional Court said in a precedent-setting decision that data stored or exchanged on a personal computer is effectively covered under principles of the constitution that enshrine the right to personal privacy.
'Collecting such data directly encroaches on a citizen's rights, given that fear of being observed ... can prevent unselfconscious personal communication,' presiding judge Hans-Juergen Papier said in his ruling.
While the ruling directly addressed a state law that had widely permitted authorities to monitor criminal suspects' personal computer use, it also set out the ground rules for a hotly disputed federal law governing secret services' ability to use virus-like software to monitor suspected terrorists' online activity..."
Quite surprised to see this on Yahoo!
AFP: Abu Ghraib prison turned soldiers evil by design: researcher
"'If you give people power without oversight it is a formula for abuse,' Zimbardo said to a stunned audience the included famous actors, entrepreneurs and politicians.
'Abu Ghraib abuses went on for three months ... Who was watching the store? Nobody, and it was on purpose.'
Zimbardo, 75, is renowned for the 1971 Stanford prison experiment in which students on summer break play roles as guards or prisoners in a mock prison in the basement of a building on the university's campus in Northern California.
The pretend guards grew so sadistic and the prisoners so cowed that the experiment was halted prematurely out of concern for the students.
Zimbardo detailed stark parallels to abuses of suspected terrorists by US soldiers at Abu Graib prison in Iraq, and how environment can turn people into heroes or demons.
'I was shocked when I saw those pictures but I wasn't surprised,' Zimbardo said..."
Selective Use Of Law:
Jeremy Scahill: The Real Story Behind Kosovo's Independence
"All of a sudden, DC establishment figures care about 'international law' when it suits their interests in Kosovo..."
This Colonel is quite brave.
NY Times: Former MIlitary Prosecutor to Testify for Detainee
"Until four months ago, Col. Morris D. Davis was the chief prosecutor at Guantánamo Bay and the most colorful champion of the Bush administration's military commission system. He once said sympathy for detainees was nauseating and compared putting them on trial to dragging 'Dracula out into the sunlight.'
Then in October he had a dispute with his boss, a general. Ever since, he has been one of those critics who will not go away: a former top insider, with broad shoulders and a well-pressed uniform, willing to turn on the system he helped run.
Still in the military, he has irritated the administration, saying in articles and interviews that Pentagon officials interfered with prosecutors, exerted political pressure and approved the use of evidence obtained by torture.
Now, Colonel Davis has taken his most provocative step, completing his transformation from Guantánamo's chief prosecutor to its new chief critic. He has agreed to testify at Guantánamo on behalf of one of the detainees, Salim Ahmed Hamdan, a driver for Osama bin Laden.Colonel Davis, a career military lawyer nearing retirement at 49, said that he would never argue that Mr. Hamdan was innocent, but that he was ready to try to put the commission system itself on trial by questioning its fairness. He said that there 'is a potential for rigged outcomes' and that he had 'significant doubts about whether it will deliver full, fair and open hearings.'
'I'm in a unique position where I can raise the flag and aggravate the Pentagon and try to get this fixed,' he said, acknowledging that he is enjoying some aspects of his new role. He was replaced as chief Guantánamo prosecutor after he stepped down but is still a senior legal official for the Air Force..."
Surveillance Of Society:
I fear we don't have a majority of such fairminded U.S. Supreme Court judges.
AP: Court shoots down computer surveillance
"BERLIN - Government surveillance of personal computers would violate the individual right to privacy, Germany's highest court found Wednesday, in a ruling that German investigators say will restrict their ability to pursue terrorists.
The Karlsruhe-based Federal Constitutional Court said in a precedent-setting decision that data stored or exchanged on a personal computer is effectively covered under principles of the constitution that enshrine the right to personal privacy.
'Collecting such data directly encroaches on a citizen's rights, given that fear of being observed ... can prevent unselfconscious personal communication,' presiding judge Hans-Juergen Papier said in his ruling.
While the ruling directly addressed a state law that had widely permitted authorities to monitor criminal suspects' personal computer use, it also set out the ground rules for a hotly disputed federal law governing secret services' ability to use virus-like software to monitor suspected terrorists' online activity..."
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
The Election As A Reflection of 'Culture':
Susan Jacoby: The Dumbing Of America
"'The mind of this country, taught to aim at low objects, eats upon itself.' Ralph Waldo Emerson offered that observation in 1837, but his words echo with painful prescience in today's very different United States. Americans are in serious intellectual trouble -- in danger of losing our hard-won cultural capital to a virulent mixture of anti-intellectualism, anti-rationalism and low expectations...
...Dumbness, to paraphrase the late senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, has been steadily defined downward for several decades, by a combination of heretofore irresistible forces. These include the triumph of video culture over print culture (and by video, I mean every form of digital media, as well as older electronic ones); a disjunction between Americans' rising level of formal education and their shaky grasp of basic geography, science and history; and the fusion of anti-rationalism with anti-intellectualism.
First and foremost among the vectors of the new anti-intellectualism is video. The decline of book, newspaper and magazine reading is by now an old story. The drop-off is most pronounced among the young, but it continues to accelerate and afflict Americans of all ages and education levels.
Reading has declined not only among the poorly educated, according to a report last year by the National Endowment for the Arts. In 1982, 82 percent of college graduates read novels or poems for pleasure; two decades later, only 67 percent did. And more than 40 percent of Americans under 44 did not read a single book -- fiction or nonfiction -- over the course of a year. The proportion of 17-year-olds who read nothing (unless required to do so for school) more than doubled between 1984 and 2004. This time period, of course, encompasses the rise of personal computers, Web surfing and video games..."
Democracy Now! - Noam Chomsky: Why is Iraq Missing from 2008 Presidential Race?
"In a major address, Noam Chomsky says there has been little change in the conventional debate over a US invasion abroad: from Vietnam to Iraq, the two main political parties and political pundits differ only on the tactics of US goals, which are assumed to be legitimate. On the other hand, public opposition to war has also remained consistent, Chomsky says, but, whether Iraqi or American, ignored..."
Susan Jacoby: The Dumbing Of America
"'The mind of this country, taught to aim at low objects, eats upon itself.' Ralph Waldo Emerson offered that observation in 1837, but his words echo with painful prescience in today's very different United States. Americans are in serious intellectual trouble -- in danger of losing our hard-won cultural capital to a virulent mixture of anti-intellectualism, anti-rationalism and low expectations...
...Dumbness, to paraphrase the late senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, has been steadily defined downward for several decades, by a combination of heretofore irresistible forces. These include the triumph of video culture over print culture (and by video, I mean every form of digital media, as well as older electronic ones); a disjunction between Americans' rising level of formal education and their shaky grasp of basic geography, science and history; and the fusion of anti-rationalism with anti-intellectualism.
First and foremost among the vectors of the new anti-intellectualism is video. The decline of book, newspaper and magazine reading is by now an old story. The drop-off is most pronounced among the young, but it continues to accelerate and afflict Americans of all ages and education levels.
Reading has declined not only among the poorly educated, according to a report last year by the National Endowment for the Arts. In 1982, 82 percent of college graduates read novels or poems for pleasure; two decades later, only 67 percent did. And more than 40 percent of Americans under 44 did not read a single book -- fiction or nonfiction -- over the course of a year. The proportion of 17-year-olds who read nothing (unless required to do so for school) more than doubled between 1984 and 2004. This time period, of course, encompasses the rise of personal computers, Web surfing and video games..."
Democracy Now! - Noam Chomsky: Why is Iraq Missing from 2008 Presidential Race?
"In a major address, Noam Chomsky says there has been little change in the conventional debate over a US invasion abroad: from Vietnam to Iraq, the two main political parties and political pundits differ only on the tactics of US goals, which are assumed to be legitimate. On the other hand, public opposition to war has also remained consistent, Chomsky says, but, whether Iraqi or American, ignored..."
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
The 2008 Campaign:
The field of 'major' candidates is still dysmally sad. McCain's Washington 'experience' may end up being his undoing, but he, nor the GOP election machine are to be underestimated.
Expect voter caging, malfunctioning voting machines in low income areas, long lines, maximized use of provisional ballots and other assorted illegalities.
Clinton is not to be discounted either, as it seems she pleased all the right people at the DLC early on, and likely has more support among the powerful in the party.
Obama is a brilliant campaigner, and may not have the DLCs blessing, nor sufficiently good contacts within his own party. opensecrets.org lists the who these candidates take money from. Both Democrats are backed by investment banks and corporate lawyers. Surprising, at least to me, was Obama accepting $226,000 from the nuclear industry (individuals associated with Exelon Corp). McCain wants more war, Clinton seems eager to prove she can do so, too, and I can't really tell whether Obama means what he says. None of this bodes well for the choice the average American voter faces...
ABC News: McCain's New York Times Rebuttal in Question
"A public broadcasting activist is accusing Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign of lying in its statements rebutting last week's New York Times story about McCain's connections to Washington lobbyist Vicki Iseman.
After the story broke, the McCain campaign distributed a lengthy document stating that the senator's commerce committee staff 'met with public broadcasting activists from the Pittsburgh area' who opposed a controversial license swap involving Iseman's client, Paxson Communications, before it sent two letters to the Federal Communication Commission urging the commissioners to vote on the issue..."
Frank Rich: The Audacity of Hopelessness
"When people one day look back at the remarkable implosion of the Hillary Clinton campaign, they may notice that it both began and ended in the long dark shadow of Iraq..."
The field of 'major' candidates is still dysmally sad. McCain's Washington 'experience' may end up being his undoing, but he, nor the GOP election machine are to be underestimated.
Expect voter caging, malfunctioning voting machines in low income areas, long lines, maximized use of provisional ballots and other assorted illegalities.
Clinton is not to be discounted either, as it seems she pleased all the right people at the DLC early on, and likely has more support among the powerful in the party.
Obama is a brilliant campaigner, and may not have the DLCs blessing, nor sufficiently good contacts within his own party. opensecrets.org lists the who these candidates take money from. Both Democrats are backed by investment banks and corporate lawyers. Surprising, at least to me, was Obama accepting $226,000 from the nuclear industry (individuals associated with Exelon Corp). McCain wants more war, Clinton seems eager to prove she can do so, too, and I can't really tell whether Obama means what he says. None of this bodes well for the choice the average American voter faces...
ABC News: McCain's New York Times Rebuttal in Question
"A public broadcasting activist is accusing Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign of lying in its statements rebutting last week's New York Times story about McCain's connections to Washington lobbyist Vicki Iseman.
After the story broke, the McCain campaign distributed a lengthy document stating that the senator's commerce committee staff 'met with public broadcasting activists from the Pittsburgh area' who opposed a controversial license swap involving Iseman's client, Paxson Communications, before it sent two letters to the Federal Communication Commission urging the commissioners to vote on the issue..."
Frank Rich: The Audacity of Hopelessness
"When people one day look back at the remarkable implosion of the Hillary Clinton campaign, they may notice that it both began and ended in the long dark shadow of Iraq..."
Monday, February 25, 2008
Congress:
The Raw Story: Moyers: Political pork and the military-industrial complex
"PBS' Bill Moyers Journal profiles Seattle Times investigative reporters David Heath and Hal Bernton in their investigation of congressional earmarks, and their recipients, in the Pacific Northwest.
So far this year, members of Congress have appropriated 12,881 earmarks for 'pet projects,' some to be conducted by campaign contributors, which would cost taxpayers over $18 billion.
David Heath, for the Seattle Times' 'Favor Factory' feature, had to build his own database, now available online, in order to research the recipients of earmarks in the 2007 defense budget.
The appropriations bill itself did not list the earmarks, requiring Heath to enlist the help of veteran Washington staffer Winslow Wheeler.
'If you look at a Department of Defense appropriations bill,' says Wheeler, 'you'll not find very much pork in it. What you need to do is look at the committee report; 99% of the pork is in the committee report, not in the statute,'..."
The Raw Story: Moyers: Political pork and the military-industrial complex
"PBS' Bill Moyers Journal profiles Seattle Times investigative reporters David Heath and Hal Bernton in their investigation of congressional earmarks, and their recipients, in the Pacific Northwest.
So far this year, members of Congress have appropriated 12,881 earmarks for 'pet projects,' some to be conducted by campaign contributors, which would cost taxpayers over $18 billion.
David Heath, for the Seattle Times' 'Favor Factory' feature, had to build his own database, now available online, in order to research the recipients of earmarks in the 2007 defense budget.
The appropriations bill itself did not list the earmarks, requiring Heath to enlist the help of veteran Washington staffer Winslow Wheeler.
'If you look at a Department of Defense appropriations bill,' says Wheeler, 'you'll not find very much pork in it. What you need to do is look at the committee report; 99% of the pork is in the committee report, not in the statute,'..."
Thursday, February 21, 2008
The 2008 Campaign:
NY Times: For McCain, Self-Confidence on Ethics Poses Its Own Risk
"Early in Senator John McCain's first run for the White House eight years ago, waves of anxiety swept through his small circle of advisers.
A female lobbyist had been turning up with him at fund-raisers, in his offices and aboard a client's corporate jet. Convinced the relationship had become romantic, some of his top advisers intervened to protect the candidate from himself - instructing staff members to block the woman's access, privately warning her away and repeatedly confronting him, several people involved in the campaign said on the condition of anonymity.
When news organizations reported that Mr. McCain had written letters to government regulators on behalf of the lobbyist's clients, the former campaign associates said, some aides feared for a time that attention would fall on her involvement.
Mr. McCain, 71, and the lobbyist, Vicki Iseman, 40, both say they never had a romantic relationship. But to his advisers, even the appearance of a close bond with a lobbyist whose clients often had business before the Senate committee Mr. McCain led threatened the story of redemption and rectitude that defined his political identity.
It had been just a decade since an official favor for a friend with regulatory problems had nearly ended Mr. McCain's political career by ensnaring him in the Keating Five scandal. In the years that followed, he reinvented himself as the scourge of special interests, a crusader for stricter ethics and campaign finance rules, a man of honor chastened by a brush with shame..."
NY Times: For McCain, Self-Confidence on Ethics Poses Its Own Risk
"Early in Senator John McCain's first run for the White House eight years ago, waves of anxiety swept through his small circle of advisers.
A female lobbyist had been turning up with him at fund-raisers, in his offices and aboard a client's corporate jet. Convinced the relationship had become romantic, some of his top advisers intervened to protect the candidate from himself - instructing staff members to block the woman's access, privately warning her away and repeatedly confronting him, several people involved in the campaign said on the condition of anonymity.
When news organizations reported that Mr. McCain had written letters to government regulators on behalf of the lobbyist's clients, the former campaign associates said, some aides feared for a time that attention would fall on her involvement.
Mr. McCain, 71, and the lobbyist, Vicki Iseman, 40, both say they never had a romantic relationship. But to his advisers, even the appearance of a close bond with a lobbyist whose clients often had business before the Senate committee Mr. McCain led threatened the story of redemption and rectitude that defined his political identity.
It had been just a decade since an official favor for a friend with regulatory problems had nearly ended Mr. McCain's political career by ensnaring him in the Keating Five scandal. In the years that followed, he reinvented himself as the scourge of special interests, a crusader for stricter ethics and campaign finance rules, a man of honor chastened by a brush with shame..."
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Revenge For Political Gain, Rather Than Justice:
This is the most damning piece of evidence yet of the political manipulation the prosecution of these suspects. It makes the U.S. look really bad. Even at Nuernberg, after WWII, aquittal was possible, and did occur.
Ross Tuttle: Rigged Trials at Gitmo
"Secret evidence. Denial of habeas corpus. Evidence obtained by waterboarding. Indefinite detention. The litany of complaints about the legal treatment of prisoners at Guantánamo Bay is long, disturbing and by now familiar...
...Now, as the murky, quasi-legal staging of the Bush Administration's military commissions unfolds, a key official has told The Nation that the trials are rigged from the start. According to Col. Morris Davis, former chief prosecutor for Guantánamo's military commissions, the process has been manipulated by Administration appointees in an attempt to foreclose the possibility of acquittal. Colonel Davis's criticism of the commissions has been escalating since he resigned this past October, telling the Washington Post that he had been pressured by politically appointed senior defense officials to pursue cases deemed 'sexy' and of 'high-interest' (such as the 9/11 cases now being pursued) in the run-up to the 2008 elections. Davis, once a staunch defender of the commissions process, elaborated on his reasons in a December 10, 2007, Los Angeles Times op-ed. 'I concluded that full, fair and open trials were not possible under the current system,' he wrote. 'I felt that the system had become deeply politicized and that I could no longer do my job effectively,'..."
The So-Called War On Terror:
Anti-terror is clearly not the only thing the CIA does this sort of thing for...
AFP: CIA set up 12 bogus companies mostly in Europe after 9/11: report
"Following the September 11, 2001, attacks, the US Central Intelligence Agency set up 12 bogus companies in Europe and other parts of the world in the hope of penetrating Islamic organizations, The Los Angeles Times reported on its website late Saturday.
But citing current and former CIA officials, the newspaper said the agency had now shut down all but two of them after concluding they were ill-conceived..."
Shooting Down Satellites: Do As We Say, Not As We Do?
AP: Russia: US Satellite Shot a Weapons Test
"Russia said Saturday that U.S. military plans to shoot down a damaged spy satellite may be a veiled test of America's missile defense system.
The Pentagon failed to provide 'enough arguments' to back its plan to smash the satellite next week with a missile, Russia's Defense Ministry said in a statement.
'There is an impression that the United States is trying to use the accident with its satellite to test its national anti-missile defense system's capability to destroy other countries' satellites,' the ministry said.
The Bush administration says the operation is not a test of a program to kill other nations' orbiting communications and intelligence capabilities. U.S. diplomats around the world have been instructed to inform governments that it is meant to protect people from 1,000 pounds of toxic fuel on the bus-sized satellite hurtling toward Earth.
The diplomats were told to distinguish the upcoming attempt from last year's test by China of a missile specifically designed to take out satellites, which was criticized by the United States and other countries..."
This is the most damning piece of evidence yet of the political manipulation the prosecution of these suspects. It makes the U.S. look really bad. Even at Nuernberg, after WWII, aquittal was possible, and did occur.
Ross Tuttle: Rigged Trials at Gitmo
"Secret evidence. Denial of habeas corpus. Evidence obtained by waterboarding. Indefinite detention. The litany of complaints about the legal treatment of prisoners at Guantánamo Bay is long, disturbing and by now familiar...
...Now, as the murky, quasi-legal staging of the Bush Administration's military commissions unfolds, a key official has told The Nation that the trials are rigged from the start. According to Col. Morris Davis, former chief prosecutor for Guantánamo's military commissions, the process has been manipulated by Administration appointees in an attempt to foreclose the possibility of acquittal. Colonel Davis's criticism of the commissions has been escalating since he resigned this past October, telling the Washington Post that he had been pressured by politically appointed senior defense officials to pursue cases deemed 'sexy' and of 'high-interest' (such as the 9/11 cases now being pursued) in the run-up to the 2008 elections. Davis, once a staunch defender of the commissions process, elaborated on his reasons in a December 10, 2007, Los Angeles Times op-ed. 'I concluded that full, fair and open trials were not possible under the current system,' he wrote. 'I felt that the system had become deeply politicized and that I could no longer do my job effectively,'..."
The So-Called War On Terror:
Anti-terror is clearly not the only thing the CIA does this sort of thing for...
AFP: CIA set up 12 bogus companies mostly in Europe after 9/11: report
"Following the September 11, 2001, attacks, the US Central Intelligence Agency set up 12 bogus companies in Europe and other parts of the world in the hope of penetrating Islamic organizations, The Los Angeles Times reported on its website late Saturday.
But citing current and former CIA officials, the newspaper said the agency had now shut down all but two of them after concluding they were ill-conceived..."
Shooting Down Satellites: Do As We Say, Not As We Do?
AP: Russia: US Satellite Shot a Weapons Test
"Russia said Saturday that U.S. military plans to shoot down a damaged spy satellite may be a veiled test of America's missile defense system.
The Pentagon failed to provide 'enough arguments' to back its plan to smash the satellite next week with a missile, Russia's Defense Ministry said in a statement.
'There is an impression that the United States is trying to use the accident with its satellite to test its national anti-missile defense system's capability to destroy other countries' satellites,' the ministry said.
The Bush administration says the operation is not a test of a program to kill other nations' orbiting communications and intelligence capabilities. U.S. diplomats around the world have been instructed to inform governments that it is meant to protect people from 1,000 pounds of toxic fuel on the bus-sized satellite hurtling toward Earth.
The diplomats were told to distinguish the upcoming attempt from last year's test by China of a missile specifically designed to take out satellites, which was criticized by the United States and other countries..."
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Blackmail:
Let's remember that Prince Bandar is 'Bandar Bush,' a long-time friend of the Bush Family.
The Guardian (UK) - BAE: secret papers reveal threats from Saudi prince
"Saudi Arabia's rulers threatened to make it easier for terrorists to attack London unless corruption investigations into their arms deals were halted, according to court documents revealed yesterday.
Previously secret files describe how investigators were told they faced 'another 7/7' and the loss of 'British lives on British streets' if they pressed on with their inquiries and the Saudis carried out their threat to cut off intelligence.
Prince Bandar, the head of the Saudi national security council, and son of the crown prince, was alleged in court to be the man behind the threats to hold back information about suicide bombers and terrorists. He faces accusations that he himself took more than £1bn in secret payments from the arms company BAE..."
Space:
There is bound to be more to this situation than meets the eye. Why are they so concerned about destroying this satellite? Did they deploy technology that's banned by international treaties?
Jeffrey Lewis: Skeptical About the Rogue Spy Sat 'Shot'
"The 'shot' -- that’s what Ambassador James Jeffrey called the decision to use an an Aegis SM-3 to try to shoot down satellite USA 193 in the next 3-12 days.
Holding the aside the politics of this — which are terrible — the briefing on debris risk left me cold. I have to say that I am very, very uneasy about this decision — our missile defense tests have been heavily scripted to minimize debris creation and modeling of debris creation isn’t an exact science.
The burden of proof really should be on these guys to demonstrate that the risks to the ISS and other objects in space are minimal..."
FISA & Fear:
Keith Olberman; Special Comment on FISA 'Veto'
Financial Markets:
Alexander Cockburn: Moody's: The Terrorist at Ground Zero
"Lusting after pools of Social Security and Medicare money, the Wall Street giant aims to dictate national policy through the barrel of a financial gun..."
Let's remember that Prince Bandar is 'Bandar Bush,' a long-time friend of the Bush Family.
The Guardian (UK) - BAE: secret papers reveal threats from Saudi prince
"Saudi Arabia's rulers threatened to make it easier for terrorists to attack London unless corruption investigations into their arms deals were halted, according to court documents revealed yesterday.
Previously secret files describe how investigators were told they faced 'another 7/7' and the loss of 'British lives on British streets' if they pressed on with their inquiries and the Saudis carried out their threat to cut off intelligence.
Prince Bandar, the head of the Saudi national security council, and son of the crown prince, was alleged in court to be the man behind the threats to hold back information about suicide bombers and terrorists. He faces accusations that he himself took more than £1bn in secret payments from the arms company BAE..."
Space:
There is bound to be more to this situation than meets the eye. Why are they so concerned about destroying this satellite? Did they deploy technology that's banned by international treaties?
Jeffrey Lewis: Skeptical About the Rogue Spy Sat 'Shot'
"The 'shot' -- that’s what Ambassador James Jeffrey called the decision to use an an Aegis SM-3 to try to shoot down satellite USA 193 in the next 3-12 days.
Holding the aside the politics of this — which are terrible — the briefing on debris risk left me cold. I have to say that I am very, very uneasy about this decision — our missile defense tests have been heavily scripted to minimize debris creation and modeling of debris creation isn’t an exact science.
The burden of proof really should be on these guys to demonstrate that the risks to the ISS and other objects in space are minimal..."
FISA & Fear:
Keith Olberman; Special Comment on FISA 'Veto'
Financial Markets:
Alexander Cockburn: Moody's: The Terrorist at Ground Zero
"Lusting after pools of Social Security and Medicare money, the Wall Street giant aims to dictate national policy through the barrel of a financial gun..."
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Food:
Democracy Now! - In Defense of Food: Author, Journalist Michael Pollan on Nutrition, Food Science and the American Diet
The Politics of Fear:
Why does it take a music magazine to do this sort of reporting? (Hint: who owns RS?)
Guy Lawson: The Fear Factory
"The FBI now has more than 100 task forces devoted exclusively to fighting terrorism. But is the government manufacturing ghosts?"
Tim Dickinson: Truth or Terrorism? The Real Story Behind Five Years of High Alerts
Washington:
The following might explain a lot of what, at least to me, has been very confusing behavior for a party that's supposedly in opposition to the Bush/GOP agenda. 'Just elect Democrats' simply is not an acceptable position on the illegal acts of the Executive.
Donna Norton: Conyers Staffer Says They Choose to Let Bush Keep Breaking Laws
"Continuing Battle with Conyers' Office on Impeachment
By Donna Norton, Sonoma County PDA
On January 25th, I had a telephone conversation (40 mins +) with a legislative assistant in Conyers' office regarding impeachment. He had obviously been well-instructed on how to express their current policy. Our conversation included both Bush and Cheney, and took some strange turns, but this is basically the stand they're taking:
* Impeachment's not necessary. The next election will take care of EVERYTHING. Just ELECT DEMOCRATS. (This chorus was repeated throughout our discussion.)
* A sitting President is not subject to court actions. Nothing in the Constitution says a President is subject to the law. He finally conceded this remains an "unsettle" question in the courts. (I insisted on documentation to support his statements, and he emailed me a Congressional report, 1978 "CRS Report for Congress" #98-186 A, on impeachment, about 30 pgs.)
* Congress does not have an OBLIGATION or duty to investigate or take any action to prevent a President from breaking the law or abusing his powers. It's totally up to THEIR DISCRETION.
* It's okay for their decision to be based on party politics rather than Constitutional considerations because the decision is solely theirs to make.
* The courts can follow up with any illegal acts of the President or Vice-President AFTER they're out of office, and all will be fine.
* Correcting power-abuse really has no meaning because power is what it's all about. They all abuse it. So what? It's just politics.
We both agreed that according to what he was telling me, it boils down to the following:
A sitting President is not subject to the law as long as he remains in office. He can CONTINUE to break laws as long as he remains in office. He can only be removed DURING his term of office (and therefore become subject to the law) through impeachment. Only Congress can impeach, and it's solely up to their DISCRETION. So, as long as Congress successfully blocks the impeachment process, they are willfully allowing the President to remain completely outside the law, condoning that principle, and, in effect, shielding him from being removed from office so that he will be subject to the law and can be prosecuted. Congress has no OBLIGATION to intervene.
The aide seemed not the least bit disturbed by the gravity or import of my conclusions. It is, after all, just politics. And, by the way, electing Democrats to office will take care of everything (just in case I forgot to mention that)."
Business To Receive Intel Before The Public:
BushCo is showing We The People how much we deserve to know and when...
Democracy Now! - Report: Over 23,000 Business Leaders Working With FBI and Homeland Security
" 'The Progressive' magazine is reporting that more than 23,000 representatives of private industry are working quietly with the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security. The business leaders form a group known as InfraGard that receives warnings of terrorist threats directly from the FBI before the public does. We speak with the the reporter who broke the story and the editor of The Progressive, Matt Rothschild..."
Democracy Now! - In Defense of Food: Author, Journalist Michael Pollan on Nutrition, Food Science and the American Diet
The Politics of Fear:
Why does it take a music magazine to do this sort of reporting? (Hint: who owns RS?)
Guy Lawson: The Fear Factory
"The FBI now has more than 100 task forces devoted exclusively to fighting terrorism. But is the government manufacturing ghosts?"
Tim Dickinson: Truth or Terrorism? The Real Story Behind Five Years of High Alerts
Washington:
The following might explain a lot of what, at least to me, has been very confusing behavior for a party that's supposedly in opposition to the Bush/GOP agenda. 'Just elect Democrats' simply is not an acceptable position on the illegal acts of the Executive.
Donna Norton: Conyers Staffer Says They Choose to Let Bush Keep Breaking Laws
"Continuing Battle with Conyers' Office on Impeachment
By Donna Norton, Sonoma County PDA
On January 25th, I had a telephone conversation (40 mins +) with a legislative assistant in Conyers' office regarding impeachment. He had obviously been well-instructed on how to express their current policy. Our conversation included both Bush and Cheney, and took some strange turns, but this is basically the stand they're taking:
* Impeachment's not necessary. The next election will take care of EVERYTHING. Just ELECT DEMOCRATS. (This chorus was repeated throughout our discussion.)
* A sitting President is not subject to court actions. Nothing in the Constitution says a President is subject to the law. He finally conceded this remains an "unsettle" question in the courts. (I insisted on documentation to support his statements, and he emailed me a Congressional report, 1978 "CRS Report for Congress" #98-186 A, on impeachment, about 30 pgs.)
* Congress does not have an OBLIGATION or duty to investigate or take any action to prevent a President from breaking the law or abusing his powers. It's totally up to THEIR DISCRETION.
* It's okay for their decision to be based on party politics rather than Constitutional considerations because the decision is solely theirs to make.
* The courts can follow up with any illegal acts of the President or Vice-President AFTER they're out of office, and all will be fine.
* Correcting power-abuse really has no meaning because power is what it's all about. They all abuse it. So what? It's just politics.
We both agreed that according to what he was telling me, it boils down to the following:
A sitting President is not subject to the law as long as he remains in office. He can CONTINUE to break laws as long as he remains in office. He can only be removed DURING his term of office (and therefore become subject to the law) through impeachment. Only Congress can impeach, and it's solely up to their DISCRETION. So, as long as Congress successfully blocks the impeachment process, they are willfully allowing the President to remain completely outside the law, condoning that principle, and, in effect, shielding him from being removed from office so that he will be subject to the law and can be prosecuted. Congress has no OBLIGATION to intervene.
The aide seemed not the least bit disturbed by the gravity or import of my conclusions. It is, after all, just politics. And, by the way, electing Democrats to office will take care of everything (just in case I forgot to mention that)."
Business To Receive Intel Before The Public:
BushCo is showing We The People how much we deserve to know and when...
Democracy Now! - Report: Over 23,000 Business Leaders Working With FBI and Homeland Security
" 'The Progressive' magazine is reporting that more than 23,000 representatives of private industry are working quietly with the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security. The business leaders form a group known as InfraGard that receives warnings of terrorist threats directly from the FBI before the public does. We speak with the the reporter who broke the story and the editor of The Progressive, Matt Rothschild..."
Thursday, February 07, 2008
State Of The Union:
Greg Palast: One Bush Left Behind
"...In his State of the Union, the President asked Congress for $300 million for poor kids in the inner city. As there are, officially, 15 million children in America living in poverty, how much is that per child? Correct! $20.
Here’s your second question. The President also demanded that Congress extend his tax cuts. The cost: $4.3 trillion over ten years. The big recipients are millionaires. And the number of millionaires happens, not coincidentally, to equal the number of poor kids, roughly 15 million of them. OK class: what is the cost of the tax cut per millionaire? That’s right, Richie, $287,000 apiece..."
Greg Palast: Off the Rails: Big Oil, Big Brother Win Big in the State of the Union
"...there was the announcement the regime will, 'give employers the tools to verify the legal status of their workers.' In case you missed that one, the President is talking about creating a federal citizen profile database.
There’s a problem with that idea. It’s against the law. The law in question is the United States Constitution. The Founding Fathers thought the government had no right to keep track on a citizen unless there is evidence they have committed, or planned to commit, a crime.But the Founding Fathers didn’t imagine there were millions and billions of dollars to be made by private contractors ready to perform this KGB operation for the Department of Homeland Security, tracking each and every one of us to keep tabs on our 'status.'
These work databases will tie into 'voter verification' databases required by the Help America Vote Act. And these will tie to the databases on citizenship and so on.
Will Big Brother abuse these snoop lists? The biggest purveyor of such hit lists is Choice Point, Inc. – those characters who, before the 2000 election, helped Jeb Bush purge innocent voters as 'felons' from Florida voter rolls. Will they abuse the new super-lists? Does Dick Cheney shoot in the woods?There were several other little IEDs (improvised execrable policy devices) planted in the State of the Union. Did you catch the one about doubling the Strategic Petroleum Reserve? If you’re unfamiliar with the SPR, it is supposed to be the stash of oil we keep in case the price of crude gets too high.
Well, the price of oil has been horribly high but Dick Cheney, the official who sits on the Reserve’s spigots, has refused to release the oil into the market.
Instead of unleashing the Reserve and busting Big Oil’s price gouging Bush will double the Reserve, which will require buying three-quarters of a billion barrels of oil. This is a nice $40 billion pay-out to Big Oil from the US Treasury. Compare this to the President’s health insurance plan which will be 'revenue neutral' — that is, have a net investment of zero.
But the $40 billion in loot the oilmen will get from us taxpayers for doubling the Reserve is nothing compared to the boost in the worldwide price of crude caused by this massive, mad purchase. While the Congressional audience didn’t even bother polite applause for the reserve purchase plan, there’s no doubt they were whooping it up in Saudi Arabia. Clearly, the state of the Saudi-Bush union is still pretty good..."
The Warfare State:
The Register (UK) - Boeing announces 'Laser Gunship' completion
"Airliners'n'deathware behemoth Boeing announced yesterday that it had fitted a high-energy laser cannon aboard a C-130 Hercules military cargo plane, creating a 'Laser Gunship'. The company expects to commence blasting 'mission representative' test targets next year, firing deadly energy bolts from a 'rotating turret that extends through the aircraft's belly'.
This flying-raygun project is called the Advanced Tactical Laser (ATL), as distinct from Boeing's other aerial beam cannon effort - the jumbo-jet mounted Airborne Laser (ABL). The 747 laser is intended to fry enemy nuclear missiles lifting from their silos, and needs immense range and power - hence the requirement for a massive carrying aircraft.
The ATL Hercules blaster-weapon is seen more as a raygun for every day, zapping things or people during more routine battles as opposed to saving the USA from atomic destruction. This should let it operate closer to its targets, reducing the weight of the system and thus the size of aeroplane required to carry it..."
Bush's War Agenda, The Facts Be Damned:
The Raw Story: The CIA operation that should have prevented the Iraq war
"When Saad Tawfiq watched Colin Powell's presentation to the United Nations on February 5 2003 he shed bitter tears as he realised he had risked his life and those of his loved ones for nothing.
As one of Saddam Hussein's most gifted engineers, Tawfiq knew that the Iraqi dictator had shut down his nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programmes in 1995 -- and he had told his handlers in US intelligence just that.
And yet here was the then US secretary of state -- Tawfiq's television was able to received international news through a link pirated from Saddam's spies next door -- waving a vial of white powder and telling the UN Security Council a story about Iraqi germ labs.
'When I saw Colin Powell I started crying. Immediately. I knew I had tried and lost,' Tawfiq told AFP five years later in the Jordanian capital Amman..."
Targeting Journalists
Can a war on the truth really be the most pressing item on the DoJ's agenda?
Glenn Greenwald: Is Michael Mukasey prioritizing the harassment and imprisonment of journalists?
"...Yesterday, the NYT reported that Jim Risen was served with a grand jury Subpoena, compelling him to disclose the identity of the confidential source(s) for disclosures in his 2006 book, State of War. The Subpoena seeks disclosure of Risen's sources not for the NSA program (for which he and Lichtblau won a Pulitzer Prize), but rather, for Risen's reporting on CIA efforts to infiltrate Iran's nuclear program. Nonetheless, Risen's work on State of War is what led to his discovery that the Bush administration was illegally spying on Americans without the warrants required by law.
The issuance of a grand jury Subpoena to a reporter seeking the disclosure of confidential sources is one of the most serious steps the DOJ can take. If the reporter refuses to disclose his source(s) -- as reporters feel duty-bound to do, and, independently, as their future ability to uncover government secrets requires -- the reporter can be held in contempt and consigned to prison (Risen has indicated he will not comply). Judy Miller's refusal to disclose her sources in the Libby case, in response to a grand jury Subpoena, is what led to her imprisonment for 85 days, until she finally relented and revealed her sources. Had she not done so, she could have (and likely would have) remained imprisoned indefinitely.
Risen's book, State of War, was published in early January, 2006 -- more than two years ago. Why is it now, suddenly, that he is being subpoenaed to reveal his sources?..."
Greg Palast: One Bush Left Behind
"...In his State of the Union, the President asked Congress for $300 million for poor kids in the inner city. As there are, officially, 15 million children in America living in poverty, how much is that per child? Correct! $20.
Here’s your second question. The President also demanded that Congress extend his tax cuts. The cost: $4.3 trillion over ten years. The big recipients are millionaires. And the number of millionaires happens, not coincidentally, to equal the number of poor kids, roughly 15 million of them. OK class: what is the cost of the tax cut per millionaire? That’s right, Richie, $287,000 apiece..."
Greg Palast: Off the Rails: Big Oil, Big Brother Win Big in the State of the Union
"...there was the announcement the regime will, 'give employers the tools to verify the legal status of their workers.' In case you missed that one, the President is talking about creating a federal citizen profile database.
There’s a problem with that idea. It’s against the law. The law in question is the United States Constitution. The Founding Fathers thought the government had no right to keep track on a citizen unless there is evidence they have committed, or planned to commit, a crime.But the Founding Fathers didn’t imagine there were millions and billions of dollars to be made by private contractors ready to perform this KGB operation for the Department of Homeland Security, tracking each and every one of us to keep tabs on our 'status.'
These work databases will tie into 'voter verification' databases required by the Help America Vote Act. And these will tie to the databases on citizenship and so on.
Will Big Brother abuse these snoop lists? The biggest purveyor of such hit lists is Choice Point, Inc. – those characters who, before the 2000 election, helped Jeb Bush purge innocent voters as 'felons' from Florida voter rolls. Will they abuse the new super-lists? Does Dick Cheney shoot in the woods?There were several other little IEDs (improvised execrable policy devices) planted in the State of the Union. Did you catch the one about doubling the Strategic Petroleum Reserve? If you’re unfamiliar with the SPR, it is supposed to be the stash of oil we keep in case the price of crude gets too high.
Well, the price of oil has been horribly high but Dick Cheney, the official who sits on the Reserve’s spigots, has refused to release the oil into the market.
Instead of unleashing the Reserve and busting Big Oil’s price gouging Bush will double the Reserve, which will require buying three-quarters of a billion barrels of oil. This is a nice $40 billion pay-out to Big Oil from the US Treasury. Compare this to the President’s health insurance plan which will be 'revenue neutral' — that is, have a net investment of zero.
But the $40 billion in loot the oilmen will get from us taxpayers for doubling the Reserve is nothing compared to the boost in the worldwide price of crude caused by this massive, mad purchase. While the Congressional audience didn’t even bother polite applause for the reserve purchase plan, there’s no doubt they were whooping it up in Saudi Arabia. Clearly, the state of the Saudi-Bush union is still pretty good..."
The Warfare State:
The Register (UK) - Boeing announces 'Laser Gunship' completion
"Airliners'n'deathware behemoth Boeing announced yesterday that it had fitted a high-energy laser cannon aboard a C-130 Hercules military cargo plane, creating a 'Laser Gunship'. The company expects to commence blasting 'mission representative' test targets next year, firing deadly energy bolts from a 'rotating turret that extends through the aircraft's belly'.
This flying-raygun project is called the Advanced Tactical Laser (ATL), as distinct from Boeing's other aerial beam cannon effort - the jumbo-jet mounted Airborne Laser (ABL). The 747 laser is intended to fry enemy nuclear missiles lifting from their silos, and needs immense range and power - hence the requirement for a massive carrying aircraft.
The ATL Hercules blaster-weapon is seen more as a raygun for every day, zapping things or people during more routine battles as opposed to saving the USA from atomic destruction. This should let it operate closer to its targets, reducing the weight of the system and thus the size of aeroplane required to carry it..."
Bush's War Agenda, The Facts Be Damned:
The Raw Story: The CIA operation that should have prevented the Iraq war
"When Saad Tawfiq watched Colin Powell's presentation to the United Nations on February 5 2003 he shed bitter tears as he realised he had risked his life and those of his loved ones for nothing.
As one of Saddam Hussein's most gifted engineers, Tawfiq knew that the Iraqi dictator had shut down his nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programmes in 1995 -- and he had told his handlers in US intelligence just that.
And yet here was the then US secretary of state -- Tawfiq's television was able to received international news through a link pirated from Saddam's spies next door -- waving a vial of white powder and telling the UN Security Council a story about Iraqi germ labs.
'When I saw Colin Powell I started crying. Immediately. I knew I had tried and lost,' Tawfiq told AFP five years later in the Jordanian capital Amman..."
Targeting Journalists
Can a war on the truth really be the most pressing item on the DoJ's agenda?
Glenn Greenwald: Is Michael Mukasey prioritizing the harassment and imprisonment of journalists?
"...Yesterday, the NYT reported that Jim Risen was served with a grand jury Subpoena, compelling him to disclose the identity of the confidential source(s) for disclosures in his 2006 book, State of War. The Subpoena seeks disclosure of Risen's sources not for the NSA program (for which he and Lichtblau won a Pulitzer Prize), but rather, for Risen's reporting on CIA efforts to infiltrate Iran's nuclear program. Nonetheless, Risen's work on State of War is what led to his discovery that the Bush administration was illegally spying on Americans without the warrants required by law.
The issuance of a grand jury Subpoena to a reporter seeking the disclosure of confidential sources is one of the most serious steps the DOJ can take. If the reporter refuses to disclose his source(s) -- as reporters feel duty-bound to do, and, independently, as their future ability to uncover government secrets requires -- the reporter can be held in contempt and consigned to prison (Risen has indicated he will not comply). Judy Miller's refusal to disclose her sources in the Libby case, in response to a grand jury Subpoena, is what led to her imprisonment for 85 days, until she finally relented and revealed her sources. Had she not done so, she could have (and likely would have) remained imprisoned indefinitely.
Risen's book, State of War, was published in early January, 2006 -- more than two years ago. Why is it now, suddenly, that he is being subpoenaed to reveal his sources?..."
Sunday, February 03, 2008
The Middle East:
The Raw Story: Sy Hersh confirms: Syrian facility bombed by Israel was not nuclear
"After Israel bombed a Syrian military facility last September, the United States and Israel both claimed the target had been a Syrian nuclear facility under construction.
RAW STORY's Larisa Alexandrovna was alone at the time in reporting that the actual target was a cache of North Korean No-Dong missiles, dating back to the 1990's, which Syria was converting for use as chemical warheads.
In a follow-up report, Alexandrovna added that Vice President Dick Cheney was suspected of being behind leaks to the press of misleading claims of a nuclear basis for the incident.
A third story in Alexandrovna's series reported that the US and Israel were refusing to cooperate with an attempted investigation by the International Atomic Energy Agency, but that the IAEA had concluded on the basis of satellite imagery that the target was unlikely to have been nuclear.
However, the US/Israeli version continued to dominate most accounts of the incident. As recently as December, the Sunday Times was still insisting that 'Israel's top-secret air raid on Syria in September destroyed a bomb factory assembling warheads fuelled by North Korean plutonium.'
Now veteran investigative journalist Seymour Hersh has weighed in on the matter. Hersh appeared on CNN's Late Edition on Sunday to discuss his upcoming article, 'A Strike in the Dark,' which will appear in the Feb. 11 issue of the New Yorker.
Hersh writes in that article, 'Whatever was under construction, with North Korean help, it apparently had little to do with agriculture -- or with nuclear reactors -- but much to do with Syria's defense posture, and its military relationship with North Korea. And that, perhaps, was enough to silence the Syrian government after the September 6th bombing.'
'This is a wonderful sort of a complicated story,' Hersh told CNN's Wolf Blitzer. 'Here Israel bombs another country, basically an act of war. ... They don't say anything publicly about it. The Israeli great ally, the United States, says nothing. Syria doesn't say much about it..."
The Raw Story: Sy Hersh confirms: Syrian facility bombed by Israel was not nuclear
"After Israel bombed a Syrian military facility last September, the United States and Israel both claimed the target had been a Syrian nuclear facility under construction.
RAW STORY's Larisa Alexandrovna was alone at the time in reporting that the actual target was a cache of North Korean No-Dong missiles, dating back to the 1990's, which Syria was converting for use as chemical warheads.
In a follow-up report, Alexandrovna added that Vice President Dick Cheney was suspected of being behind leaks to the press of misleading claims of a nuclear basis for the incident.
A third story in Alexandrovna's series reported that the US and Israel were refusing to cooperate with an attempted investigation by the International Atomic Energy Agency, but that the IAEA had concluded on the basis of satellite imagery that the target was unlikely to have been nuclear.
However, the US/Israeli version continued to dominate most accounts of the incident. As recently as December, the Sunday Times was still insisting that 'Israel's top-secret air raid on Syria in September destroyed a bomb factory assembling warheads fuelled by North Korean plutonium.'
Now veteran investigative journalist Seymour Hersh has weighed in on the matter. Hersh appeared on CNN's Late Edition on Sunday to discuss his upcoming article, 'A Strike in the Dark,' which will appear in the Feb. 11 issue of the New Yorker.
Hersh writes in that article, 'Whatever was under construction, with North Korean help, it apparently had little to do with agriculture -- or with nuclear reactors -- but much to do with Syria's defense posture, and its military relationship with North Korea. And that, perhaps, was enough to silence the Syrian government after the September 6th bombing.'
'This is a wonderful sort of a complicated story,' Hersh told CNN's Wolf Blitzer. 'Here Israel bombs another country, basically an act of war. ... They don't say anything publicly about it. The Israeli great ally, the United States, says nothing. Syria doesn't say much about it..."
Our (Fleeting) Constitutional Rights:
Keith Olbermann: Special Comment Regarding FISA & the Telocoms
Iraq:
I was somewhat surprised to see this story in the Wash. Times.
The Washington Times: Iraq not using oil cash to rebuild
"Increased Iraqi oil revenues stemming from high prices and improved security are piling up in the Federal Reserve Bank of New York rather than being spent on needed reconstruction projects, a Washington Times study of Iraq's spending and revenue figures has shown.
U.S. officials and outside analysts blame the collapse of the country's political and physical infrastructure for Baghdad's failure to spend the money on projects considered vital to restoring stability in the country.
Out of $10 billion budgeted for capital projects in 2007, only 4.4 percent had been spent by August, according to official Iraqi figures reported this month by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO). The report cited unofficial figures saying about 24 percent had been spent.
Meanwhile, some $6 billion to $7 billion from last year's budget is 'being rolled over' and invested in U.S. treasuries, said Yahia Said, director of Iraq Revenue Watch, part of the private watchdog group Revenue Watch Institute..."
Nuclear Proliferation Ignored By The U.S. Media
Luke Ryland: Sibel Edmonds: 'Buckle Up, There's Much More Coming'
"The heroic whistleblower on nuclear secrets corruption at the highest levels attacks the cowardly U.S. press and warns she has much more to reveal...
...In the last few weeks, UK's Times has run a series of articles about the so-called 'Sibel Edmonds case.' ('For sale: West’s deadly nuclear secrets,'FBI denies file exposing nuclear secrets theft' and 'Tip-off thwarted nuclear spy ring probe')
Former FBI translator Sibel Edmonds stumbled into a world of espionage, nuclear black market, narcotics trafficking, money laundering, and corruption at the highest levels of the US government..."
Investigating The Murder Of 3,000
...but making sure the finger never points at the White House.
The Raw Story: Book: Director of 9/11 commission secretly spoke with Rove, White House
"A book to be published next month contains an explosive allegation sure to call into question the independence of the 9/11 Commission: Its executive director secretly spoke with President Bush's close adviser Karl Rove and others within the White House while the ostensibly autonomous commission was completing its report.
Philip Zelikow, a former colleague of then-National Security Adviser Condoleeza Rice, was appointed executive director of the 9/11 Commission despite his close ties to the Bush White House, and he remained in regular contact with Rove while overseeing the commission, according to New York Times reporter Philip Shenon's new book, The Commission: The Uncensored History of the 9/11 Investigation. Shenon's book will not be released until Feb. 5, but author Max Holland purchased an audio copy of it at a New York bookstore and published a summary on his blog, Washington DeCoded.
'Shenon delivers a blistering account of Zelikow’s role and leadership, and an implicit criticism of the commissioners for appointing Zelikow in the first place—and then allowing him to stay on after his myriad conflicts-of-interest were revealed under oath,' Holland writes.
Shenon, who led the Times coverage of the 9/11 Commission and still writes for the paper, based his book on myriad interviews with staffers and members of the commission, according to Holland. In addition to his ties to Rice and Rove, Zelikow had been the 'architect' of a plan to demote Clinton-era counterterrorism czar Richard Clarke, who sounded the alarm about Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda months before the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks they perpetrated.
Zelikow 'had laid the groundwork for much of what went wrong at the White House in the weeks and months before September 11. Would he want people to know that?' Shenon writes, according to Holland's summary.
Shenon also reports that Zelikow received at least two calls from Rove while serving as 9/11 Commission executive director, and he made numerous calls to the White House, Holland says..."
Food:
Natural News: FDA Threatened Celestial Tea Company over Use of Natural Sweetener Stevia
"The FDA has sent a warning letter to the Hain Celestial Group, instructing the natural and organic food producer to relabel certain products that contain the sweetener stevia. The letter concerned the Celestial Zingers To Go tea and drink mix products, which the FDA charges are being labeled and marketed as food products, even though an ingredient they contain -- the stevia herb -- has not been approved for use in foods in the United States.
Stevia, derived from a South American plant, has become popular as a sweetener because it has 300 times the sweetness of table sugar but almost no impact on blood glucose levels. Its taste is said to have a slower onset than that of sugar and to last longer.
Stevia has been approved for use in food and beverage products in a number of countries, including Brazil, Canada, China and Japan, but to date the FDA has only approved it as an ingredient in dietary supplements...
...FDA said that current information is not sufficient to prove stevia safe as an ingredient for food.
'Data and information necessary to support the safe use have been lacking,' the FDA's letter to Hain Celestial read. 'In fact, literature reports have raised safety concerns about the use of stevia, including concerns about control of blood sugar and the effects of reproductive, cardiovascular and renal systems.'
Consumer health advocate Mike Adams, a long-time supporter of stevia, disagrees. 'The FDA has been stalling on stevia approval for well over a decade in order to protect the profits of aspartame,' Adams said. 'Stevia is safely used around the world by hundreds of millions of consumers with absolutely no problems, while aspartame is tied to seizures, blindness, headaches and other serious neurological problems. The FDA once ordered the destruction of books containing stevia recipes. That's how desperate this criminal organization is to protect the profit racket of aspartame,' Adams concluded."
Aspartame must be quite profitable. Profitable enough to defend in spite of it's risks?
The Daily Planet: This just in: Diet soda might be bad for you
"In May 1992, the official U.S. Air Force Magazine, Flying Safety explained: 'In pregnancy the effects of aspartame can be passed directly to the fetus, even in very small doses. People have suffered aspartame-related disorders with doses as small as that carried in a single stick of chewing gum. This could mean a pilot who drinks diet sodas is more susceptible to flicker vertigo or to flicker-induced epileptic activity. It also means that all pilots are potential victims of sudden memory loss, dizziness during instrument flight and gradual loss of vision.'
Aspartame is sold by Monsanto Chemical Co. as NutraSweet and EQUAL, and now under other names by other producers.
Aspartame is a molecule composed of three components: methanol, phenylalanine and aspartic acid. When ingested or heated, the methanol (wood alcohol) converts to formaldehyde (an embalming fluid) then formic acid (the active ingredient in household limescale remover). Phenylanine and aspartic acid, both amino acids, are toxic when unaccompanied by the other amino acids in proteins. It also has been shown to cause brain lesions in experimental animals..."
Keith Olbermann: Special Comment Regarding FISA & the Telocoms
Iraq:
I was somewhat surprised to see this story in the Wash. Times.
The Washington Times: Iraq not using oil cash to rebuild
"Increased Iraqi oil revenues stemming from high prices and improved security are piling up in the Federal Reserve Bank of New York rather than being spent on needed reconstruction projects, a Washington Times study of Iraq's spending and revenue figures has shown.
U.S. officials and outside analysts blame the collapse of the country's political and physical infrastructure for Baghdad's failure to spend the money on projects considered vital to restoring stability in the country.
Out of $10 billion budgeted for capital projects in 2007, only 4.4 percent had been spent by August, according to official Iraqi figures reported this month by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO). The report cited unofficial figures saying about 24 percent had been spent.
Meanwhile, some $6 billion to $7 billion from last year's budget is 'being rolled over' and invested in U.S. treasuries, said Yahia Said, director of Iraq Revenue Watch, part of the private watchdog group Revenue Watch Institute..."
Nuclear Proliferation Ignored By The U.S. Media
Luke Ryland: Sibel Edmonds: 'Buckle Up, There's Much More Coming'
"The heroic whistleblower on nuclear secrets corruption at the highest levels attacks the cowardly U.S. press and warns she has much more to reveal...
...In the last few weeks, UK's Times has run a series of articles about the so-called 'Sibel Edmonds case.' ('For sale: West’s deadly nuclear secrets,'FBI denies file exposing nuclear secrets theft' and 'Tip-off thwarted nuclear spy ring probe')
Former FBI translator Sibel Edmonds stumbled into a world of espionage, nuclear black market, narcotics trafficking, money laundering, and corruption at the highest levels of the US government..."
Investigating The Murder Of 3,000
...but making sure the finger never points at the White House.
The Raw Story: Book: Director of 9/11 commission secretly spoke with Rove, White House
"A book to be published next month contains an explosive allegation sure to call into question the independence of the 9/11 Commission: Its executive director secretly spoke with President Bush's close adviser Karl Rove and others within the White House while the ostensibly autonomous commission was completing its report.
Philip Zelikow, a former colleague of then-National Security Adviser Condoleeza Rice, was appointed executive director of the 9/11 Commission despite his close ties to the Bush White House, and he remained in regular contact with Rove while overseeing the commission, according to New York Times reporter Philip Shenon's new book, The Commission: The Uncensored History of the 9/11 Investigation. Shenon's book will not be released until Feb. 5, but author Max Holland purchased an audio copy of it at a New York bookstore and published a summary on his blog, Washington DeCoded.
'Shenon delivers a blistering account of Zelikow’s role and leadership, and an implicit criticism of the commissioners for appointing Zelikow in the first place—and then allowing him to stay on after his myriad conflicts-of-interest were revealed under oath,' Holland writes.
Shenon, who led the Times coverage of the 9/11 Commission and still writes for the paper, based his book on myriad interviews with staffers and members of the commission, according to Holland. In addition to his ties to Rice and Rove, Zelikow had been the 'architect' of a plan to demote Clinton-era counterterrorism czar Richard Clarke, who sounded the alarm about Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda months before the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks they perpetrated.
Zelikow 'had laid the groundwork for much of what went wrong at the White House in the weeks and months before September 11. Would he want people to know that?' Shenon writes, according to Holland's summary.
Shenon also reports that Zelikow received at least two calls from Rove while serving as 9/11 Commission executive director, and he made numerous calls to the White House, Holland says..."
Food:
Natural News: FDA Threatened Celestial Tea Company over Use of Natural Sweetener Stevia
"The FDA has sent a warning letter to the Hain Celestial Group, instructing the natural and organic food producer to relabel certain products that contain the sweetener stevia. The letter concerned the Celestial Zingers To Go tea and drink mix products, which the FDA charges are being labeled and marketed as food products, even though an ingredient they contain -- the stevia herb -- has not been approved for use in foods in the United States.
Stevia, derived from a South American plant, has become popular as a sweetener because it has 300 times the sweetness of table sugar but almost no impact on blood glucose levels. Its taste is said to have a slower onset than that of sugar and to last longer.
Stevia has been approved for use in food and beverage products in a number of countries, including Brazil, Canada, China and Japan, but to date the FDA has only approved it as an ingredient in dietary supplements...
...FDA said that current information is not sufficient to prove stevia safe as an ingredient for food.
'Data and information necessary to support the safe use have been lacking,' the FDA's letter to Hain Celestial read. 'In fact, literature reports have raised safety concerns about the use of stevia, including concerns about control of blood sugar and the effects of reproductive, cardiovascular and renal systems.'
Consumer health advocate Mike Adams, a long-time supporter of stevia, disagrees. 'The FDA has been stalling on stevia approval for well over a decade in order to protect the profits of aspartame,' Adams said. 'Stevia is safely used around the world by hundreds of millions of consumers with absolutely no problems, while aspartame is tied to seizures, blindness, headaches and other serious neurological problems. The FDA once ordered the destruction of books containing stevia recipes. That's how desperate this criminal organization is to protect the profit racket of aspartame,' Adams concluded."
Aspartame must be quite profitable. Profitable enough to defend in spite of it's risks?
The Daily Planet: This just in: Diet soda might be bad for you
"In May 1992, the official U.S. Air Force Magazine, Flying Safety explained: 'In pregnancy the effects of aspartame can be passed directly to the fetus, even in very small doses. People have suffered aspartame-related disorders with doses as small as that carried in a single stick of chewing gum. This could mean a pilot who drinks diet sodas is more susceptible to flicker vertigo or to flicker-induced epileptic activity. It also means that all pilots are potential victims of sudden memory loss, dizziness during instrument flight and gradual loss of vision.'
Aspartame is sold by Monsanto Chemical Co. as NutraSweet and EQUAL, and now under other names by other producers.
Aspartame is a molecule composed of three components: methanol, phenylalanine and aspartic acid. When ingested or heated, the methanol (wood alcohol) converts to formaldehyde (an embalming fluid) then formic acid (the active ingredient in household limescale remover). Phenylanine and aspartic acid, both amino acids, are toxic when unaccompanied by the other amino acids in proteins. It also has been shown to cause brain lesions in experimental animals..."
