The Wall Street Journal, January 28, 2008

Bush Looks to Beef Up Protection Against Cyberattacks
Estimated Cost Could Be $6 Billion; Democrats Are Wary

No they are not, they want that power passed like the touch of the olympics !

Brilliant 6 page article that exposes how the US government has made up most of the terror alert threats, and moreover has staged all of the post 9/11
"al qaeda terror plots"

Also see, Truth or Terrorism? The Real Story Behind Five Years of High Alerts

here is what I suspect is AQ in Iraq.
You know, kinda like the Parable of the broken window...

I'm thinking, you know, old patterns never die: Margaret Thatcher told navy to raid Swedish coast

As many of you now know, I was recently detained and questioned by the FBI regarding several posts on this blog. Two of the posts in question were first altered, then removed all together, by what appeared to be the Dept. of Homeland Security.

"You can say what you want about this country. I love this country. I love the freedoms that we used to think we had.

As many of you now know, I was recently detained and questioned by the FBI regarding several posts on this blog. Two of the posts in question were first altered, then removed all together, by what appeared to be the Dept. of Homeland Security.

"You can say what you want about this country. I love this country. I love the freedoms that we used to think we had.

Michael Ratner is President of the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) and says "under the Democrats, a few months ago caved and gave the president temporary authority for six months—it's called the Protect America Act. It expires on February 1. And that does allow the president to bypass the warrant requirements with regard to US citizens and US permanent residents."

Yet one more retroactive law to cover breaking the law in the first place, 'backdoor immunity', and the democrats let em..

AN investigation into the illicit sale of American nuclear secrets was compromised by a senior official in the State Department, a former FBI employee has claimed.

The official is said to have tipped off a foreign contact about a bogus CIA company used to investigate the sale of nuclear secrets.

Ok guys, this is pretty weird. About an hour ago I got an email from a friend. He was looking at my recent post on homemade explosives. He hit the refresh button for whatever reason, and some of the content magically disappeared, replaced by the words ---redacted---in bold letters. I figured I had made some kind of mistake and checked my content, then re-published the post. Ten minutes later, the content was missing again. I re-published. Another five minutes, and the content was gone again.

I contacted Typepad, who hosts this blog. They said that everything was fine on their end, and that they weren't in the habit of editing user content. They suggested I take a look at the tracking information for my site. So I did. I noticed that right before each redaction, the following IP address visited the page: 63.162.143.21. Now, I like to think that I'm fairly internet-savvy, but I don't know what the hell to do with an IP address. So I googled it.

As it turns out, the host, n021.dhs.gov, is registered to the Dept. of Homeland Security. It was at that point that I started sh#$$ing bricks. I posted an article about homegrown terrorism and included recipes for homemade explosives and incendiary devices. And I thought nothing was going to happen. I honestly don't know what I was thinking. I'm terrified right now that the men in the black helicopter are going to come and whisk me away to Syria or something and make me disappear. Is this a crime? There's similar content posted all over the internet, so if it is, a lot of people are in for some serious trouble starting in 3...2...1....

This is by all means an event still in progress. It's 3:15 pm on Saturday - if anything new comes up I (hopefully) or someone else will post here (assuming the blog is still around). Really, if anyone knows anything about this, comment here. I'm not sure what to expect.

The above is the cached version of a blog via recent commentor gregory. Perhaps it's a hoax or maybe a psyop, hell, it stands a very good chance of being real these days. Whatever it turns out to be, it's interesting.

Global warming ranks far down the concerns of the world's biggest companies, despite world leaders' hopes that they will pioneer solutions to the impending climate crisis, a startling survey will reveal this week.

Nearly nine in 10 of them do not rate it as a priority, says the study, which canvassed more than 500 big businesses in Britain, the US, Germany, Japan, India and China. Nearly twice as many see climate change as imposing costs on their business as those who believe it presents an opportunity to make money. And the report's publishers believe that big business will concentrate even less on climate change as the world economy deteriorates.

The survey demolishes George Bush's insistence that global warming is best addressed through voluntary measures undertaken by business – and does so at the most embarrassing juncture for the embattled President. For this week he is convening a meeting of the world's largest economies to try to persuade them to agree with him.
------------

The survey, carried out by the consulting firm Accenture, found that only 5 per cent of the companies questioned – and not one in China – regarded global warming as their top priority. And only 11 per cent put it in second or third place.

Capitalism, and big business, can fucking blow me.

Tangentially related, Amory Lovins presentation from a year or so ago. Even more relevant now

Here's a link to Amory's slide presentation as a PDF file.

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Some sane news in a mad newscape...

Original writing by Trevor Blake...

• Animal Sacrifice, Texas Style: "It appears that animal sacrifice is acceptable in Texas, but only if it is the correct religion."
• Coffee and Orange: "Through a long series of strange and wonderful turns of fate, I live in Portland Oregon USA yet I can buy coffee and oranges any time of the year."
• Suffrage: "In the United States, is there a relation between when a group of people gains suffrage and the percentage of that group that is registered to vote?"
  

... as well as references to...

• Cinnamon Stillwell: Honor killings
• Sara Corbett: A Cutting Tradition
• Richard Owen: Pope calls for continuous prayer to rid priesthood of paedophilia
• AP and Susan Harding: Mayor's racy photos become the talk of the town
• Christine Clarridge: Phony psychic sentenced for bilking woman of savings
• Shawn F. Peters: Abusing Children in the Name of God
• Jo-Ann Goodwin and David Jones: The unspeakable practice of female circumcision that's destroying young women's lives in Britain
• Maged Thabet Al-Kholidy: There must be violence against women

... see also twenty-one years worth of zines (going back to the days of photocopies and post office boxes), original art and more.

Labels: Art, sex, theocracy, zines

From POLTERGEIST II, Carol Ann: "They're back!" :

Wolfowitz appointed chairman of arms-control advisory panel

Well, if that isn't the perfect example of how utterly screwed up the US is
-- having a war criminal with the death of a million and a half people on his hands, personally involved in hyping a contrived war of opportunity using inhumane, banned weapons, now 'advising' the state dept. on disarmament, arms control and global security.

Rumsfeld: Ramp up information warfare*
The U.S. military can’t fight the war on terrorism alone. It needs help from a host of other U.S. government agencies, including a new one that should be created to use the Internet to wage an information offensive against Muslim extremists, former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Jan. 23.

In an address to an information warfare conference, Rumsfeld said the United States is “sitting on the sidelines” in a global battle of ideas. “We’re barely competing,” and for that reason we are losing, he said.

You know, to back up his pal Cheneys recent call for even more surveillance

It's like whack-a-mole with these guys. They keeps popping up -- over thar! Now over thar! WHACK!

It's like a bad dream that you keep having each night or a B movie......

Here's Wolfowitz practically giddy with excitement telling West Point academy students that 9/11 is about to happen, and will make war profitteers ricj
(june 2001)

Wolfowitz chilling speech

*Translation: Demonize the internet by any means necessary...

As I said below, "Bread and circuses" people, bread and circuses...Predictably, the Democratic Leadership caved on everything. Fuck the people on food stamps or unemployment...

Get ye some edjimencation...

"America: Host or Parasite?"

Interview with economist, Dr. Michael Hudson. Dr. Hudson is President of The Institute for the Study of Long-Term Economic Trend, a Wall Street Financial Analyst, Distinguished Research Professor of Economics at the University of Missouri, Kansas City and author of "Super-Imperialism: The Economic Strategy of American Empire". We discuss the US balance of payments trade deficit which creates US credit to finance the US national debt and war abroad; Russian economic shock therapy as the final stage of the cold war; the real estate bubble; permanent war and the inevitable collapse of the current US dominated global economic system.

SUPER-IMPERIALISM: The Shameful Legacy Of Liberal Democrats



Professor Michael Hudson, an independent Wall St. financial economist, has written an extraordinary book entitled Super Imperialism: The Origins and Fundamentals Of U.S. World Dominance I first heard of Michael Hudson when browsing Bonnie Faulkner’s “Guns And Butter” website, and as I listened to him, I knew that I needed to read Super Imperialism for many reasons, not the least of which is that I am not an economist and am only beginning to educate myself on how the money works in the domestic and world economies. For this reason, I have been reluctant to write a review of Hudson’s book; I am still learning, as are many of my readers, about dysfunctional and oppressive economic systems and how they work, as well as learning about how a healthy economy might function to meet the needs of its citizenry without harming them or the ecosystem. That said, as an historian, I believe that in order to fully appreciate the current tyranny of centralized financial systems, it is necessary to understand how they evolved within the past six decades.
...
In the current milieu of blatant neo-conservative world domination rhetoric and behavior, it is oh so tempting to believe that the Republican Party and political conservatism have been historically at the forefront of an imperialist foreign policy. What is crucial to understand is that from an historical perspective, the economic imperialism engineered by the United States was overwhelmingly the brain child of the liberal wing of the Democratic Party.


For those so inclined, head on over to michael-hudson.com; be sure to read his first link under "Interviews" section. (Debtor Nation - The Hijacking of America's Economy. from Acres, Jan. '08)

Meanwhile, Speaker Botox Buys $16K Worth of Flowers

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has spent $16,000 on flowers since taking office.

Pelosi (D-CA) spent a little more than $3 million in the first nine months of 2007, records show, compared to the $1.8 million Rep. Dennis Hastert (R-IL) spent during the same period in 2006.

Republicans say Pelosi’s office spending undercuts her message that Democrats are restoring fiscal responsibility to the halls of Congress.

Most of the $16,058 that Pelosi charged taxpayers for flowers, according to her reps, was for the visits of foreign dignitaries, such as Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Jordan’s King Abdullah.

not to mention, Madame, 'Queen of Capitol Hill's' "Green the Capitol" initiative...

Let em' [you know, the little people...] eat cake each other...



Someone over at DU asks, "how do you NOT extend unemployment benefits in a recession"???

To which there is this reply:

Maybe Nancy needed that money for the raise Congress just recently granted itself.Congress gets $4,100 pay raise.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress members in 2008 will receive salaries of $169,300, a boost of $4,100 over the salary they have had since January 2006.

That 2.5% increase is mirrored by similar raises for associate justices of the Supreme Court, who will see their pay go from $203,000 to $208,100, and Chief Justice John Roberts, whose pay will rise to $217,400 from $212,100.

The salary figures were published in Tuesday's edition of the Federal Register.

Last year was the first since 1999, when the pay was $136,700, that members of Congress did not receive a cost-of-living allowance raise along with other federal employees. Democrats, newly elected to the majority, had vowed to block an increase in their paychecks until Congress raised the minimum wage.

With the minimum wage increase accomplished last year, House Democratic leaders joined with their Republican counterparts to oppose a procedural vote to bring the COLA issue to the floor, leaving the way clear for their automatic raise.

[Better]get a move on...


*

Just sixteen days after the UK Times' published a blockbuster article, For sale: West’s deadly nuclear secrets, about how certain top US government officials were enabling Turkish and Israeli interests in supplying the nuclear black market, President Bush quietly announced on Tuesday that he wants Congress to approve sales of nuclear technology to Turkey.

Is this a reaction to the Times article? It sure looks like it. I wouldn't be surprised if we soon start hearing about retroactive immunity for the guilty parties, just as we are seeing in the illegal spying case currently in the Senate.

Summary

It appears as though certain administration officials have been illegally supplying the Turkish nuclear program for years, and now that they've been publicly outed, the Bush administration will simply make the entire program legal, just as they are trying to do with the illegal spying.

Congress has 90 days to amend or block this legislation, otherwise it automatically becomes law.

We need public open hearings to determine which officials have been supplying the nuclear black market before this becomes law.

Luke Ryland's latest update above gives a conjectural, but plausible reading of the behind the scenes maneuvering and public posturing about U.S. sponsored nuclear proliferation for Turkey, and its connection to the recent uptick of activity regarding the Sibel Edmonds case. Well worth reading.
For those following the Edmonds case I recommend subscribing to Ryland's mailing list.

My only objection would be to the headline which speaks of "White House panic": to me it seems more likely that it is just a bit of ordinary daily business for the Bush administration, namely, once again legalizing retroactively what, for mere mortals, would be criminal activity.

Kucinich Starts New Impeachment Drive
By David M. Herszenhorn, The New York Times

Representative Dennis J. Kucinich of Ohio may get excluded from Democratic presidential debates, as he has been recently, but no one can deny him the floor in the House.
And today Mr. Kucinich took to the floor to fire off his latest salvo at the Bush administration: his plans to introduce Articles of Impeachment against President Bush on Jan. 28 — the day of Mr. Bush’s State of the Union speech.
Accusing the administration of lying about the need for the war in Iraq, Mr. Kucinich said he did not need to hear the president’s
assessment. “We know the State of the Union,” he declared. “It’s a lie.”

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Pink Freud- Dziwny Jest Ten Kraj


In 1998, four young and open-minded musicians from Gdansk formed a group, which would explore new areas of improvisation. They named it Pink Freud. Pink Freud is an improvising trio. Its music is fresh and modern; inspired by jazz, rock, folk, jungle, drum'n'bass etc. Pink Freud demands audience's sensitivity and concentration. Musicians play subtle tunes fully aware of their music. In 1998, Gdansk was a center of yass music; trend impressing Poland with great influence in 19ties. Pink Freud however turned its back to this tradition and recorded debut album "Zawijassy".


Skalpel "1958"


Skalpel are Marcin Cichy and Igor Pudlo DJs/producers from Wroclaw, Poland. Being new recruits of Ninja Foreign Legion, they are rather hesitant to speak about their past. However, there they are among the best-known and most respected DJs and producers about, with even a Paszporty Polityki nomination to their name (the most prestigious culture award in the country).Sufficient to say, they are talented DJs, whose 4 mixes were aired on Solid Steel in the past, two of which were released as "Virtual Cuts" - namely the best mixtape released in the history of electronic music in Poland.

US President George W Bush and other top officials issued almost one thousand false statements about the national security threat from Iraq following the September 11 attacks, according to a study by two not-for-profit organisations.

The Associated Press reports the study, published on the website of the Centre for Public Integrity, concluded the statements “were part of an orchestrated campaign that effectively galvanised public opinion and, in the process, led the nation to war under decidedly false pretences”.

According to the study, 935 false statements were issued by the White House in the two years after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

You know this, I know this, but the masses.... "American Gladiators is back on the air ya know"

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For Trevor...
here is Senate bill 3930 regarding my President BUSH PARDON's HIMSELF against POTENTIAL WARCRIMES post. I tried 13 goddamn times to post this in the comments section there but, halo scam wouldn't let me, so fuck it, I made it it's own post. Vote Result: Bill Passed.

Text of S.3930: Sanctioning Torture, Abolishing the Right To A Trial and More....

Also, here is the American Civil Liberties Union : ACLU Letter to the Senate bout Retroactive Immunity to Government Officials Who Authorized or Ordered Illegal Acts of Torture and Abuse.

FBI whistleblower Sibel Edmonds spills her secrets.

by Philip Giraldi

And who you may ask is Philip Giraldi? Philip Giraldi, a former CIA Officer, is a partner in Cannistraro Associates, an international security consultancy.

There is very clearly an attempt in progress to put the Sibel Edmonds case on the "front burner" (or at least to take it out of the freezer). Further evidence here and above. These "signs of spring" (which certainly can't be characterized as "early" despite their appearance in January) seem to strengthen the belief that something has happened behind the scenes, in addition, of course, to the long term and up to now nearly fruitless efforts of Luke Ryland and other supporters of Sibel Edmonds. We'll know for sure that something is up if either Grassley or Leahy becomes visible, or some ambitious pol takes up the cause. One should, I think, bear in mind that the "dark side" has had five years to prepare a plausible refutation of Ms. Edmonds charges, so we may merely be witnessing a new attempt to swiftboat a pesky personality, and turn the accuser into the accused, or to use her in some way to put the derailed attack on Iran back on track. In any event, the congressional hearing at which Grossman is slated to testify could prove to be a compelling "media event", in the unlikely event that any of the "guardians of democracy" should decide to cover it. Which ain't fucking likely.

Funny, as the economy tanks, we have 'give em head, harry reid' on the floor today asking for an extension on the FISA bill. You know, because, that's what's most important today; protecting the telecomms...

the 'news' follows 4 rules

1. ignore important stories

2. raise triva to the level of news

3. if # 1 is not possible then muddy the waters to the point that the story is impossible to follow.

4. Put it out there in a sweet short blurb but never ever explain context, nor follow up.



How They Slant TV From A - Z, by USIA psy-ops expert

The tricks to manipulating TV news were exposed by an angry U.S. Information Agency video expert in his 1976 book, 'The Gods of Antenna.'

Ironically, this book by an award-winning US government propaganda expert, Bruce Herschensohn, helps us better understand the most valuable of the CIA's 'family jewels' revealed to the Church Senate sub-committee in 1975 by CIA Director, William Colby, the Central Intelligence Agency's control of mainstream media news used to manage public opinion and appropriately called 'Operation Mockingbird .'

He was an ultra-conservative Nixon staffer who was mad at the network newsrooms for their calculated campaign to create an atmosphere of outrage that enabled the 'Silent Coup' (different book) we call Watergate, a campaign enabled by Naval Intelligence officer, Bob Woodward at the CIA-Washington Post.

Sometimes when factions within the secret government duel, we find out how they work.
Both the Pentagon and CIA wanted to get policy control back from Nixon.

Instead of getting shot like JFK, Nixon was made to walk the media plank towards impeachment and then resigned the day after GHW Bush told him to, not wanting that crossfire of hot lead alternative.

Watergate hearings revived the myth of 'the rule of law in a system that works' and the outraged masses (recently called by Obama "the excesses of the sixties") were placated by Nixon's removal.

This enabled the Reagan cocaine-death squad years as 'investigative journalism' was stuffed back into its bottle by blaming it for losing the Vietnam War, the same 'stab in the back' psy-ops that helped the rise of Hitler.

Bruce Herschensohn saw all his own professional tricks being used by the CIA's network news writers and angrily let the psy-ops cat out of the bag himself, right into our hands, the hands of the 'outraged masses.'

Live and learn.

From Herschensohn's book on page 68-

"For years, film and video techniques were used only to enhance the productions for audiences that wished to be entertained; therefore, those techniques deserved to be as guarded as a magician's hat. But those techniques were being used, and at the writing are still being used, to enhance distortion for audiences that wish to be informed.
As in the days of varityped contracts, the fine print of television is more important than the bold print, but too often it passes unnoticed, just as it is intended to do."

After citing tactics used by Nazi propaganda master, Joseph Goebbels, such as "the list" technique of piling on charges so that some inevitably stick in the public's mind, Herschensohn gives us hints about the CIA's Operation Mockingbird by paying an insider's clever tribute to the musical nick-names for both major Cold War propaganda organizations, the Soviet KGB’s 'Red Orchestra' and the American CIA's 'Mighty Wurlitzer.'

page 45-

"The symphony was being conducted by network television, playing to the national audience for a year and a half. Its orchestration and performance were masterful. Its composer remained anonymous to most of the millions who watched as the musicians played their instruments almost flawlessly."

Bookjacket flap bio of author-

"Bruce Herschensohn was deputy special assistant to President Nixon in 1973-74, having first served as director of Motion Picture and Television Services of the United States Information Agency from 1968 through 1972.
Born in Milwaukee in 1932, he spent his teen years in Los Angeles and went to work for RKO Radio Pictures in the early 1950s. After a stint with the Air Force during the Korean War, he returned to Hollywood and the motion picture industry as producer, director, writer, and editor. For eleven years he headed his own motion picture company.

His film credits include the documentaries 'Years of Lightening, Day of Drums' and 'The Five Cities of June,' the latter nominated for an Academy Award in 1964. Under Herschensohn the USIA Film Division won an Academy Award and was nominated for five others. He was named one of the ten Outstanding Young Men in the Federal Government in 1969 and received the Distinguished Service Award in 1972, the second highest civilian honor."

Below are Herchsensohn's list of techniques for slanting TV news.
I've copied first the basic "A - Z" list and followed it with a second version with his general descriptions but omitting his examples that are specific to Watergate news coverage unless an example clarifies better than just the description.


These techniques are all examples of subliminal framing, something I find in news and entertainment alike.

That's why I took particular note of my favorite-

"V. Oblique emphasis reporting:
This is the most important and most often used technique of network news. Seemingly straight reports are very often subtle editorializations. The use of words and phrases gives transient and subliminal points of view to the audience, most often without audience knowledge. "


U.S. Information Agency Video Expert's 'How They Slant TV - A to Z' list

A. Story placement

B. The hold frame

C. Selective Segmentation

D. Commentator speculations that appear to be factual

E. The truth but not the whole truth

F. Catch phrases

G. Utilizing the chemistry of combined audio and visuals

H. Visual emphasis to audio by selection of phrases for audience to read

I. Pretense balancing

J. Selectivity of interviewees

K. Treatment and respect given an interviewee

L. Prompting an interviewee

M. Methods of reading

N. Set design for visual authority

O. Narration rather than visuals - when it suits the purpose


P. Recap of past news to relate to the present

Q. Crediting and discrediting

R. Creation of news

S. Inclusion or omission of crowd reaction

T. Focal length

U. Tragedy and comedy style reporting

V. Oblique emphasis reporting

W. Ignoring follow-up stories

X. Story association and grouping

Y. Acceptance of TV editorials

Z. Repetition

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

U.S. Information Agency Video Expert's 'How They Slant TV - A to Z' list plus descriptions

A. Story placement:
The first story on a network newscast is largely perceived by the audience as being the most important news of the day; the second story, the second most important; and so on through the first group of stories.
If a network would like to give particular significance to a story or less significance to a story, their placement within the newscast establishes an immediate priority of importance within the viewer's mind.
(3 examples)

B. The hold frame:
This is an old motion picture technique, which now has wider use in television than in historical films. Since November 1963 it has often been referred to as the "Jack Ruby Frame."
(When Ruby killed Lee Harvey Oswald, the technique was used on replays of the video tape to visually stop the action at the moment the bullet hit Oswald.)
The technique is used to "catch" something the audience might otherwise have missed. It interrupts the motion to hold on one still picture from the moving action so that a particular frozen image can be examined by the viewer. In sporting events such as football or the finish line of a close horse race, the hold frame is particularly useful.
It can also be used to give the impression of "catching" an event it did not "catch" or "catching" a person it did not "catch."
(1 example)

C. Selective Segmentation:
What was once a primitive or at least sloppy technique has become what is almost impossible to distinguish as it comes across the screen. The network's objective is to cut out portions of a speaker's comment and, by use of tied-together excerpts in false continuity, make the total effect different from his original in-context remarks. The primitive method was simply to physically cut out the film of the undesired area and splice and splice the two remaining wanted ends together. This results in a jump-cut, which can be seen by the audience and leaves room for suspicion and looks crude. The professional device is to use a cut-away of an interviewer or a cut-away of a chart, or whatever seems appropriate, and then cut back to the speaker. Both the visual and the audio cut can be accomplished while the cut-a-way is on screen. This can be used, and is most often used quite ethically to excerpt, cut down, or give certain segments of a speaker's performance without jarring visual effects, as would be evident without a cut-a-way. But it can and has been used unethically to change emphasis and meaning of what someone has said. It is difficult to recognize an excerption. At times, but not always, it can be ascertained by an inconsistency in audio quality behind the cut-a-way or as the shot changes.
(1 example)

D. Commentator speculations that appear to be factual:
Although the words are couched and the periods are in the right places separating information from speculation, the end effect of this technique is to give the listener the impression that only facts are being reported. The transient character of television airways reporting permits this to be effective whereas, if the report were printed in a newspaper or magazine for examination, there would be risk of discovery. "There's reason to believe..." and "could be" are often used.
(1 example)

E. The truth but not the whole truth:
Although the whole truth is known to the reporter or commentator, only a portion is told, which casts an invalid impression by intent.
(7 examples)

F. Catch phrases:
With unnoticed and unattributed bias, an editorialized catch-phrase is added to the nation's vocabulary, by force of habit. Catch phrasing is a printed-word and audio technique that has been streamlined by television with the use of "Anti-War Movement," "Peace Movement," "The Saturday Night Massacre," "The Mysterious Alert," "Operation Candor," "The White House Germans," and "The Christmas Bombing" (and, as previously mentioned, the word "Watergate" itself, used to house all charges of the period). The streamlining was applied by using catch phrases as matter-of-fact routine and by repetition as "fact phrases," making them appear to be nonbiased actualities.
(6 examples)

G. Utilizing the chemistry of combined audio and visuals:
Often a visual image gives one impression, the audio another, and the combination of the two used simultaneously creates a distortion. (Most significantly, as mentioned, this technique was used to inject "Watergate," without the use of the word, by the projection of the Watergate Complex on the rear screen behind the commentator while he talked of an unrelated story.) The modifications of this technique are endless.
(2 examples)

H. Visual emphasis to audio by selection of phrases for audience to read:
Charles Guggenheim used this technique of printed words upon the screen in the television commercials for Senator McGovern's race for the Presidency.
Examples: 1. The technique was steadily applied by the networks as a method to emphasize out-of-context areas of the transcripts of President Nixon's tape recordings.
(2 examples)

I. Pretense balancing:
The motive is to show that the presentation is showing all sides of a particular story when, in fact, the balance is tilted.
(3 examples)

J. Selectivity of interviewees:
The meaning of a news event can be given a decided tilt by those selected to be interviewed.
(2 examples)

K. Treatment and respect given an interviewee:
The audience is immediately given an impression about the person being interviewed by the questions he is asked and by the manner in which he is addressed by the reporter conducting the interview.
(2 examples)

L. Prompting an interviewee:
Words can easily be put into an interviewee's mouth by the interviewer. It is most effective if the interviewer's question is phrased so that it can be cut out, while the answer is retained as a complete statement. Obviously, if the manner in which the interviewee answers is not a complete statement, the question cannot be omitted. The objective is to coach the interviewee.
(1 example)

M. Methods of reading:
Reading slow or reading fast or an accent on a particular word or a faint smile or a shake of the head give editorialization that cannot be found by rereading the text of the report or interview, but can be found only by viewing and listening to the newscast.
(1 example)

N. Set design for visual authority:
Every executive knows that a desk can give a visual sense of importance to the man who sits behind it. When in the company of a visitor, most executives follow the rule of rising from the chair behind the desk and walking to another chair without the separation of the desk as a barrier importance between the host and guest. The very visual posture of a commentator gives him a look of authority.
(1 example)

O. Narration rather than visuals - when it suits the purpose:
Often a new event will occur in which visuals will create a negative effect when the producer hopes to achieve a positive impression, or a positive effect when the producer hopes to achieve a negative impression. In this case, visuals defeat the purpose, and only narrative is used.
(1 example)
Example: When President Nixon worked in his Executive Office Building Suite, Dan Rather would refer to it as "his small, hideaway office" to CBS viewers. There were stills of the office, but stills would have defeated the purpose of Dan Rather's line, since the office was a very large one, used as his working quarters. The term "hideaway" was also inaccurate. Dan Rather was informed when the President went to work within his Executive Office Building suite, as were all the members of the White House Press Corps. It was, in fact, a more public suite than the Oval Office as it was the one place the public could see him enter and exit as they watched from the street. Dan Rather's continual referral to it as "the President's small, hideaway office" had a sinister ring of secrecy and isolation, and it could have raised suspicions in the minds of some viewers: "What is he doing in there?" "Why does he go to a small hideaway?"

P. Recap of past news to relate to the present:
While telling a real news event, a re-cap is given to something that happened days, even weeks ago, as though it had direct relation to the current event. In that way audience interest may be revived in a non-news story.
(3 examples)

Q. Crediting and discrediting:
This newswriting technique is designed to give credit to an editorial factor of the writer's choosing.
(8 examples)

R. Creation of news:
Sometimes there is no event during the day relating to a continuing story that the network wants to sustain. Creating a related event is no real problem. One method is for the network to send a newsman and a camera crew over to the Capitol to talk to a senator or congressman about "the story." If the senator or congressman is willing, he or she can make news in an instant. Many are willing, since it is an opportunity to be seen and heard by millions. Networks generally recognize a particular senator's or congressman's point of view before an interview is filmed. If it doesn't turn out as they want, it can be discarded. Other methods of creating news are to give an unimportant item an extended story length, to have reporters quote other reporters, or to emphasize the fact that there is no news regarding a "continuing story."
(3 examples)

S. Inclusion or omission of crowd reaction:
When reporting a speech of a public figure, it is up to the film editor to decide whether to include the audience reaction of those witnessing the speech. Most often, reaction will be cut in the interest of time, but this is an option that can change the entire character of the address. The character can be retained without the loss of time by leaving in the applause, fading it to a low level, and bringing in the reporter's voice above the applause. During an election campaign report showing two candidates, this technique of inclusion or omission can be used to tilt the character of public reaction to one candidate against another.
(1 example)

T. Focal length:
Different lenses give separate impressions of the size of a crowd. Every photographer or cinematographer knows that a large crowd can look small, and a small crowd can look large simply by changing from a long lens to a short one, which changes the focal length. Television viewers who want to know the size of a crowd should look for the margins of crowd-ends, as it is the only sure manner in which to make an accurate judgement.
(1 example)

U. Tragedy and comedy style reporting:
There is no hiding of passions within this type of reporting. The commentator comes right out with it.
(2 examples)
Examples: 1. John Chancellor, usually one of the most responsible commentators, gave a chilling example of dramatic tragedy reporting on the night of Archibald Cox's discharge and resignations of Elliot Richardson and William Ruckelhaus. When televised passion exceeds the immediate magnitude of the event, such excess can sometimes create its ultimate importance. The following are excerpts from John Chancellor's report:
"The country, tonight, is in the midst of what may be the most serious constitutional crisis in its history...That is a stunning development, and nothing even remotely like it has happened in all of our history...You are watching a special NBC Report of another event this year that we never believed would have happened in the history of this Republic...A constitutional situation that is without precedent in the history of this Republic...In my career as a correspondent, I never thought I would be announcing these things..."

V. Oblique emphasis reporting:
This is the most important and most often used technique of network news. Seemingly straight reports are very often subtle editorializations. The use of words and phrases gives transient and subliminal points of view to the audience, most often without audience knowledge.
(5 examples)

W. Ignoring follow-up stories:
Follow-up stories are often ignored when their usage would be beneficial to those the networks oppose or harmful to those the networks endorse. This technique is similiar to, but not quite the same as, a total disregard of an important story, to which we devote a later chapter.
(3 examples)
Example: 2. Howard Hunt testified before the Senate Select Committee about spy work that was conducted against Senator Barry Goldwater in 1964. The story died the next day.

X. Story association and grouping:
Telling one story and without pause going into another story can imply association between the two. This can be achieved either with or without narrative bridges by grouping stories in succession.
(2 examples)

Y. Acceptance of TV editorials:
It has become an accepted fact that network news will have an editorial. But why? Why should an editorial view be placed in a news program? Why is it not possible for the audience to find out the news without hearing an editorial?
(1 example)
Example: NBC and CBS incorporated their editorials within the context of the news programming, which made it most impractical for a viewer to turn the television audio down and then up again just in time to catch the next piece of news. ABC uses a better method of placing its editorials at the end of the program, much like a newspaper editorial, which can be read or simply left unread.

Z. Repetition:
This is the simplest and oldest technique of any medium that wishes to propagandize a point of view. It was inherited from ages past and has never been used more strikingly or more effectively than it has in television newscasts. When a story appears night after night with little added to the account, or if a continuing story is repeatedly given precedence over other news items that are obviously more urgent in the context of the day's events, it is a safe bet that the network is setting up its own emphasis to maintain an objective, which is usually met. The creation of the most important story today, with repetition tomorrow, can truly make it important the day after tomorrow.
(4 examples)

The UK's Guardian is running a piece, "US journalists ignore Sunday Times scoop on FBI nuclear scandal," criticizing the US media for not picking up on the latest revelations by their competitor, the UK's Times, in the case of former FBI translator Sibel Edmonds.The author of the piece is the Guardian's media commentator, Roy Greenslade, a Professor of Journalism and former Managing Editor of the Times.

How to Stop Terrorism? Begin in School
Maryland High School Offers Homeland Security Courses


As if high school weren't terrifying enough, indeed.

Jewish Identity Can't Depend on Violence
by Arun Gandhi

Jewish identity in the past has been locked into the holocaust experience -- a German burden that the Jews have not been able to shed. It is a very good example of a community can overplay a historic experience to the point that it begins to repulse friends. The holocaust was the result of the warped mind of an individual who was able to influence his followers into doing something dreadful. But, it seems to me the Jews today not only want the Germans to feel guilty but the whole world must regret what happened to the Jews. The world did feel sorry for the episode but when an individual or a nation refuses to forgive and move on the regret turns into anger.

The Jewish identity in the future appears bleak. Any nation that remains anchored to the past is unable to move ahead and, especially a nation that believes its survival can only be ensured by weapons and bombs. In Tel Aviv in 2004 I had the opportunity to speak to some Members of Parliament and Peace activists all of whom argued that the wall and the military build-up was necessary to protect the nation and the people. In other words, I asked, you believe that you can create a snake pit -- with many deadly snakes in it -- and expect to live in the pit secure and alive? What do you mean? they countered. Well, with your superior weapons and armaments and your attitude towards your neighbors would it not be right to say that you are creating a snake pit? How can anyone live peacefully in such an atmosphere? Would it not be better to befriend those who hate you? Can you not reach out and share your technological advancement with your neighbors and build a relationship?

Apparently, in the modern world, so determined to live by the bomb, this is an alien concept. You don't befriend anyone, you dominate them. We have created a culture of violence (Israel and the Jews are the biggest players) and that Culture of Violence is eventually going to destroy humanity.

Arun Gandhi is President and co-founder of the M.K. Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence.
Mr Gandhi is the fifth grandson of India’s legendary leader, Mohandas K. “Mahatma” Gandhi. He is president and co-founder of the M. K. Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence, now at the University of Rochester in New York

Note: just thought I'd add, there are several comments to this post, however, they seem to not be showing. I don't know what is up with blogger and it's Peek-a-boo comments, but it seems this is the only post that it's happening to. And I have never seen this type behavior before from halo scam. But do recall reading about it... so for those so inclined if you try the comments a couple of times you will eventually get them. ~Uncle

totally dovetails with 9/11 and the ISI...



Also, the lastest here: UK Times: Official Documents Prove FBI lied to protect US officials

The UK's Sunday Times has another explosive article out tonight.

THE FBI has been accused of covering up a key case file detailing evidence against corrupt government officials and their dealings with a network stealing nuclear secrets.

'

The Times has obtained official documents which prove that the FBI is lying about the existence of a counterintelligence operation targeting high-level US officials and Turkish operatives.


The FBI's comments demonstrate conclusively that either:
a) They are lying, or
b) They have destroyed the evidence of this multi-year investigation concerning the corruption of high-level US officials, the nuclear black market, money laundering and narcotics trafficking.

Deeper more comprehensive analysis here...

I eagerly await the U.S.' "press" to report on this.

Yeah, it's a joke, about as funny as a mushroom cloud.



Daniel Ellsberg at BradBlog: American Media's Complicit Failure To Report On The Sibel Edmonds Case

For the second time in two weeks, the entire U.S. press has let itself be scooped by Rupert Murdoch's London Sunday Times on a dynamite story of criminal activities by corrupt U.S. officials promoting nuclear proliferation. But there is a worse journalistic sin than being scooped, and that is participating in a cover-up of information that demands urgent attention from the public, the U.S. Congress and the courts.

Labels: funny, music

This says it all...
President BUSH PARDON's HIMSELF against POTENTIAL WARCRIMES


Direct link.

President Bush Passes a Bill giving himself and his whitehouse retroactive immunity for possible war crimes

.

There is nothing left to say...

A useful summary of the CIA tapes scandal thus far, by Scott Horton of Harper's.

Monkey see,monkey do: School destroys video of students being shocked

After being ordered not to destroy video footage of school officials shocking students, the school destroyed them anyways

Buried on p A12 of the Sat NYT, under "National Briefing", a collection of AP stories of crime, murder and untimely death around the US, in the very last clip, headed merely "Former Secretary on Waterboarding."

It seems that

the original Sect of Homeland Security, Tom Ridge, states unequivocally that "under any set of rules, ... waterboarding was, is, and will always be torture."

Why did they feel compelled to report it at all? What goes through the minds of NYT editors?

The Bush administration’s emergency plan for a possible flu pandemic involves essentially police-state methods that have nothing to do with effectively combating the illness.

This was the finding of a report released by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) January 14 that criticized the government’s preparations for a pandemic. The study outlined how federal agencies have been adopting an increasingly heavy-handed approach toward what should be considered a public health problem.

The panel also discussed the fact that the current policies heavily emphasize the need for coerced vaccinations and military-enforced quarantines.

Patrick Cockburn
Published: 17 January 2008

The cultivation of opium poppies whose product is turned into heroin is spreading rapidly across Iraq as farmers find they can no longer make a living through growing traditional crops.

Afghan with experience in planting poppies have been helping farmers switch to producing opium in fertile parts of Diyala province, once famous for its oranges and pomegranates, north- east of Baghdad.

why I have heard tell that them poppy fields go all the way to the Emerald City.....

Is there anything, that doesn't further the Bush Mafia's agenda?

I wonder if Poppy Bush gave them the seeds. At any rate, I'm sure he's smiling at this development. Wall Street probably is too.

January 17, 2008
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

CAIRO – Omar Osama bin Laden bears a striking resemblance to his notorious father, except for the dreadlocks that dangle down his back.

Then there's the black leather biker jacket.

The 26-year-old doesn't renounce his father, Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, but said in an interview there's a better way to defend Islam than militancy.

Omar wants to be an "ambassador for peace" between Muslims and the West.

Omar, one of bin Laden's 19 children, raised a tabloid storm last year when he married a 52-year-old British woman, Jane Felix-Browne, who took the name Zaina Alsabah.

Now, the couple say they want to be peace advocates, planning a 5,000-kilometre horse race across North Africa to draw attention to the cause.

"It's about changing the ideas of the Western mind," Omar said in an interview. "A lot of people think Arabs, especially the bin Ladens, especially the sons of Osama, are all terrorists.

"This is not the truth."

Omar doesn't criticize his father and says Osama bin Laden is just trying to defend the Islamic world.

"My father thinks he will be good for defending the Arab people and stop anyone from hurting the Arab or Muslim people any place in the world," he said.

Omar said the West didn't have a problem with his father when he was fighting the Russians in Afghanistan in the 1980s.

Osama bin Laden, believed to be in hiding in the Pakistan-Afghan border region, offered a truce to Europe in a 2004 audiotape and a conditional truce to the United States in a 2006 message.

In November, he called on European nations to pull out of Afghanistan in a message seen by some experts as an effort to reach out to Europe.

However, in a series of messages since last fall, he also has been calling for Muslims to rally around jihad, or "holy war."

During his epic peace ride, Omar said they plan to ride 50 kilometres a day, with periodic weeklong rests in each country they pass through.

Teams from around the world will be encouraged to join in what the couple envisions as an equine version of the Paris-Dakar car rally.

That rally was cancelled this year due to fears over terrorist threats made by Al Qaeda-affiliated groups in North Africa.

Omar, however, said he isn't worried.

"I heard the rally was stopped because of Al Qaeda," he said. ``I don't think they are going to stop me."

These are the results of an independent investigation into GNN by about four former site members, including myself. It was originally posted at GNN itself, but I'm re-posting it here because it needs a new home in light of my decision to delete my account at GNN. Since its original writing, it has been edited to include new information, as well as edited for clarity in certain parts. I hope you all enjoy the read, and even if you don’t accept my thesis, at the very least I’m sure you’ll find this information intriguing. It will also likely bring significantly more traffic to
this message board than normal; hopefully nobody minds.

My primary thesis is this: Guerrilla News Network is an American Intelligence disinfo operation designed to attract young political dissidents, draw them into the community, document their beliefs, and moderate their opinions.

This thesis is not merely a hunch of mine, and I will now delve into the primary evidence which suggests collusion between GNN and the American intelligence community.

It is good to know where the people we trust with information are coming from. The link will bring you to a PDF file telling a bunch about GNN's owners/motive forces.

Here is the info in HTML form, about impossible to read though.

Let me know how the reading strikes you.

The United States Constitution never uses the word "God" or makes mention of any religion, drawing its sole authority from "We the People." However, Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee thinks it's time to put an end to that.
Advertisement

"I have opponents in this race who do not want to change the Constitution," Huckabee told a Michigan audience on Monday. "But I believe it's a lot easier to change the Constitution than it would be to change the word of the living god. And that's what we need to do -- to amend the Constitution so it's in God's standards rather than try to change God's standards so it lines up with some contemporary view."

When Willie Geist reported Huckabee's opinion on MSNBC's Morning Joe, co-host Mika Brzezinski was almost speechless, and even Joe Scarborough couldn't immediately find much to say beyond calling it "interesting,"

Scarborough finally suggested that while he believes "evangelicals should be able to talk politics ... some might find that statement very troubling, that we're going to change the Constitution to be in line with the Bible. And that's all I'm going to say."

Geist further noted of Huckabee that if "someone without his charm," said that, "he'd be dismissed as a crackpot, but he's Mike Huckabee and he's bascially the front-runner."


Video Goodness Here.

Shooting War, written by GNN founder Anthony Lappe, also has a trailer here:

Labels: Political Graphic Novels, Shooting War

I think an excellent way for John Edwards to cut through to democratic voters is to take a truly fighting stance against "election fraud." There is some evidence that the kind of suspected primary election fraud that the election fraud "community" (Bob Fitrakis of Free Press, Black Box Voting, Mark Crispin Miller and others who are largely unrebutted by the GOP) has noticed may have occurred in New Hampshire.(One.)

To summarize, it looks like exit polling, which would be immune to unaccounted for pre polling surges and/or skulldoggery by republican independents (and is reliable within .1 percent in places like Germany), is wildly at odds with the final result. The election fraud community smells a rat as well they should. Now, there is a counter view posted at Dkos. (Two.) I don't find it as compelling as the chart shown here:

http://ronrox.com/paulstats.php?party=DE MOCRATS

I think John Edwards should ask for a full recount, but go a bit further and demand a full inquiry into "chain of custody" issues. You might wonder what the overall benefit would be of a successful recount effort which would give the election to Obama. Well, the most important thing it would do is it would show, in a very realistic and powerful way, that Edwards is a different kind of democrat who fights for principle, namely one person one vote. Afterall, a lot of dems, myself included, think that both the 2000 and the 2004 election were stolen. If you want to show me a different kind of democrat you could start by fighting for our votes.

I'm also an African American. If you wanted to sell other African Americans on your campaign you might remind those African American voters (most targeted by vote suppression and these new ID laws) who fought for their vote and who will be more likely to fight for their vote when the Ohio/Florida of 2008 inevitably arises. The reason I support John Edwards is that I think he'll do more for the black community than some triangulating appeaser. Here's a chance for Edwards to prove me right.

You could also make your critiques of the voting system while supporting the New Holt Bill and wondering aloud why Sens. Obama and Clinton aren't more vocal or aren't offering amendments against voter ID Laws. I just think it creates a new dynamic for the race. A man who bills himself as a "fighting democrat" should, well, do some fighting...

Sincerely,

Philip Shropshire
www.threeriversonline.com

One: If you're interested in the details then look here:

http://politics.slashdot.org/politics/08 /01/10/1635225.shtml

And Here:

http://ronrox.com/paulstats.php?party=DE MOCRATS

And Here:

Two:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/1/10/ 02623/2264/85/434176

Labels: Hail Mary, Throw Deep

How things really work or why you should enjoy your tasty lead based toys. From Eyes on Trade:

By contrast, industry holds hegemonic sway in Washington. At an event held this morning at the Ronald Reagan International Trade Center, representatives from the Bush administration, and toy and retail industries - despite a year of record outcry about imported product safety - brazenly held forth about how, in their opinion, the public and the government has little to no role in regulatory checks and balances. Corporations can do it better. Among some of the choicer quotes:

• "While we welcome lower lead standards, they are difficult to implement in the next year. We may have already placed our Christmas orders months ahead. We will be covered this year by the same high lead standard that has protected consumers for years."
• "We think that the recent recalls do not indict the system. On a strict numerical basis, we’re consistent with past years. The CPSC is getting more efficient… like the private sector, the public sector is getting better at doing more with less. The recalls of the last year show that the current system of self-reporting is working."
• "We’ve heard from our supply chain that the costs of complying with duplicative testing – and a CBO study confirmed this – increase the costs to consumers by 10%. This is not a good thing for consumers."
• "there’s no credible report of injury from lead inside the products… we should focus on hazards that post the biggest threat… it would be shame if parents were looking through their toy box while ignoring their window sills."
• "Our economic viability has to do with confidence of consumers, with our brand integrity. There are specific complexities to sourcing overseas, in addition to the efficiencies and cost savings from this vast production capacity. The worst thing that could happen is that we turn inward, that we turn protectionist. The marketplace is much more complex than the 1950s’ model of domestic supply."
  
• There were loads of other good nuggets on the ongoing attemptsby Congress to put together a Consumer Product Safety Commission bill, including slams on CPSC disclosure to the public of company information, on efforts to create a STOP button to block unsafe imports at the ports, on an increased role for state attorney generals (who are apparently "political people" in contrast to Bush appointee Nancy Nord), and the Senate for not getting permission from industry before writing their bill.

That industry lobbyists feel they can even getting away with suggesting that parents' safety concerns are not real, or that the industry can self-regulate, just indicate how far we've come from any sense of shared societal responsibilities and class co-existence.

But what's even more disheartening is the reaction from "the other side of the aisle." Progressives on our side are often having the debate while looking at their own feet, fixated on the legislative details while corporations rule the roost.

Labels: capitalism is really swell yeah right, my tasty lead based toys

As a class, lower income people have been well
represented in some of the best-covered food stories of
our day, particularly hunger, obesity, and diabetes. As
these issues have faded in and out of the public's eye
over the last 25 years, another food trend was rapidly
becoming a national obsession -- namely, local and
organic.

At about the same time that Berkeley diva Alice Waters
was first showing us how to bestow style and grace on
something as ordinary as a local tomato, the Reagan
administration's anti-poor policies were driving an
unprecedented number of people into soup kitchens and
food banks. And as organic food advocates were putting
the finishing touches on what was to become the first
national standard for organic food, supermarket chains
were nailing plywood across their city store windows
bidding farewell to lower income America.

We'll nuke Iran - Bush promises Israel

Thu, 01/10/2008 - 16:08 - Wire Services - US President George W. Bush promised Israel's opposition leader Binyamin Netanyahu that the United States will join the Jewish state in a nuclear strike against Iran, Israel Radio reported today.

Former Prime Minister Netanyahu, opposition Likud party's hardline chairman who opposes the US-backed Annapolis peace process, reiterated to President Bush his stance, that a pre-emptive nuclear strike against Iran's nuclear installations was the only way to stop the Islamic nation's nuclear weapons ambitions.

"I told him my position and Bush agreed," Netanyahu told Israel Radio.

During their 45-minute meeting at King David hotel in Jerusalem Netanyahu also told Bush that "Jerusalem belongs to the Jewish people and will remain under Israeli sovereignty for eternity."

President Bush issued a stark warning to Iran over Strait of Hormuz incident, saying that "all options are on the table to protect our assets."

“There will be serious consequences if they attack our ships, pure and simple,” Bush said during the joint news conference with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in Jerusalem. “And my advice to them is, don't do it.”

Bush criticized those who interpret the National Intelligence Estimate, which found that Iran gave up its nuclear weapons program in 2003, as a sign that Iran was no longer a threat.

"Let me remind you what the NIE actually said," Bush stold reporters. "It said that as far as the intelligence community could tell, at one time the Iranians had a military -- covert military program that was suspended in 2003 because of international pressure. My attitude is that a non-transparent country, a country which has yet to disclose what it was up to, can easily restart a program."

WTF is wrong with this bizarre suck ass Sheriff?

Wow, I can't believe I haven't seen this before now. As always, words fail at news like this. I was a huge fan of John Cieciel's work, and I never knew he had anything to do with News of the Weird. Long before there were a gazillion blogs highlighting weird news or Keith Olbermann doing his own Oddball spin, there was Chuck Sheperd's News of the Weird from 1988. Now almost every news program or news website capitalizes on some aspect of weird news. [Coincidentally, when I ran a college paper in Washington D.C. in the early nineties I wanted to run the News of the Weird, but they had an exclusive agreement with the DC City Paper which disallowed it.]

I was always proud to be on John's link list. Spitting Image was always one of the best little literate corners of the internet; John's work was fun and funny and influential and he will be missed.

Labels: friends, obits

Just two days after the U.S. Navy released the eerie video of Iranian speedboats swarming around American warships, which featured a chilling threat in English, the Navy is saying that the voice on the tape could have come from the shore or from another ship.
...
The Navy never said specifically where the voices came from, but many were left with the impression they had come from the speedboats because of the way the Navy footage was edited.

Today, the spokesperson for the U.S. admiral in charge of the Fifth Fleet clarified to ABC News that the threat may have come from the Iranian boats, or it may have come from somewhere else.

We're saying that we cannot make a direct connection to the boats there," said the spokesperson. "It could have come from the shore, from another ship passing by.
...

Chilling Threat Could Have Come From the Langley or Cheney's Basement, Navy Says /snark.

Perhaps a companion piece to my post
below, but I thought I'd give it it own blog.

"A United States military spokesman in Baghdad refused to describe the current rules of engagement governing the use of riot control agents," according to the Times story.

But to a great extent, those rules of engagement are specified in a U.S. Army Field manual which describes the permitted uses of riot control agents in wartime and in peacetime, as well as the authority required to employ them.

The 2003 Field Manual, which is still in effect, is FM 3-11.11,
"Flame, Riot Control, and Herbicide Operations," March 10, 2003 (pdf).

The document has not been approved for public release, but a copy was obtained by Secrecy News. About 25 pages of the document, which detail the preparation of explosive devices, have been withheld from online publication by Secrecy News.

The sheriff's department said Lauterbach's mother said that her daughter, of Montgomery, Ohio, had witnessed an incident at Camp Lejeune and was to testify about it.

Sheriff's department officials said evidence causes them to be concerned about Lauterbach's disappearance, WITN reported.

The Marine's car was found Monday at Jacksonville's bus station, Brown told the Daily News, and her cell phone had been found at Camp Lejeune's front gate on December 20.

Her mother reported her missing on December 19, and told the sheriff's department "that she was very suspicious that something bad may have happened to her daughter," the department said in a news release. [more]

Also see, Militarytimes:

Lance Cpl. Maria Frances Lauterbach was a witness to an incident that occurred on base and was due to testify about it, according to sheriff’s officials in Onslow County, N.C. Sheriff’s and Marine Corps officials declined to provide any more details regarding the incident for which Lauterbach was scheduled to testify.

’05 Use of Gas by Blackwater Leaves Questions

Suddenly, on that May day in 2005, the copter dropped CS gas, a riot-control substance the American military in Iraq can use only under the strictest conditions and with the approval of top military commanders. An armored vehicle on the ground also released the gas, temporarily blinding drivers, passers-by and at least 10 American soldiers operating the checkpoint.
...
Both the helicopter and the vehicle involved in the incident at the Assassins’ Gate checkpoint were not from the United States military, but were part of a convoy operated by Blackwater Worldwide, the private security contractor that is under scrutiny for its role in a series of violent episodes in Iraq, including a September shooting in downtown Baghdad that left 17 Iraqis dead.
...
Officers and noncommissioned officers from the Third Infantry Division who were involved in the episode said there were no signs of violence at the checkpoint. Instead, they said, the Blackwater convoy appeared to be stuck in traffic and may have been trying to use the riot-control agent as a way to clear a path.
...
The military, however, tightly controls use of riot control agents in war zones. They are banned by an international convention on chemical weapons endorsed by the United States,although a 1975 presidential order allows their use by the United States military in war zones under limited defensive circumstances and only with the approval of the president or a senior officer designated by the president.

“It is not allowed as a method or means of warfare,” said Michael Schmitt, professor of international law at the Naval War College in Newport, R.I. “There are very, very strict restrictions on the use of CS gas in a war zone.”

Also see, Blackwater Mercenaries Poised to Get Fat New Pentagon Contract for "Drug War"

Probably has something to do with THIS GUY .

Laura Carlsen over at FPIF gives a pretty good rundown HERE.

Iran has released via Press TV its own video footage of the incident, showing that it was a regular contact between the Guards and the US Navy.

"Seit 5.45 Uhr wird zurückgeschossen..."

Also see, Bush Castigates Iran, Calling Naval Confrontation ‘Provocative Act’.

Iran Accuses U.S. of Faking Persian Gulf Video

The audio includes a heavily accented voice warning in English that the Navy warships would explode. However, the recording carries no ambient noise — the sounds of a motor, the sea or wind — that would be expected if the broadcast had been made from one of the five small boats that sped around the three-ship American convoy.

primarily on building a reconstruction party/mvmt. if she does gets the green party nomination, lookout. appropriate quote here too:

Angela Davis made an interesting comment on the current presidential campaign. She said all the candidates are talking about "differences" that will not make a difference and "changes" that will not bring about any change. How true.

During the Vietnam War, North Vietnamese intelligence units sometimes succeeded in penetrating Allied communications systems, and they could monitor Allied message traffic from within. But sometimes they did more than that.

On several occasions "the communists were able, by communicating on Allied radio nets, to call in Allied artillery or air strikes on American units."

That is just one passing observation (at p. 392) in an exhaustive history of American signals intelligence (SIGINT) in the Vietnam War that has just been declassified and released by the National Security Agency.

From the first intercepted cable -- a 1945 message from Ho Chi Minh to Joseph Stalin -- to the final evacuation of SIGINT personnel from Saigon, the 500-page NSA volume, called "Spartans in Darkness," retells the history of the Vietnam War from the perspective of signals intelligence.

The most sensational part of the history (which was excerpted and disclosed by the NSA two years ago) is the recounting of the 1964 Gulf of Tonkin Incident, in which a reported North Vietnamese attack on U.S. forces triggered a major escalation of the war. The author demonstrates that not only is it not true, as Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara told Congress, that the evidence of an attack was "unimpeachable," but that to the contrary, a review of the classified signals intelligence proves that "no attack happened that night."

Several other important Vietnam War-era episodes are elucidated by the contribution of SIGINT, including the Tet Offensive, the attempted rescue of U.S. prisoners of war from Son Tay prison, and more.

In light of recent events of course...

A Non-Incident in the Gulf

In what U.S. officials called a serious provocation, Iranian boats harassed and provoked three U.S. Navy ships in the strategic Strait of Hormuz, threatening to explode the American vessels.
...
Five small boats began charging the U.S. ships, dropping boxes in the water in front of the ships and forcing the U.S. ships to take evasive maneuvers, the Pentagon official said.

There were no injuries but the official said there could have been, because the Iranian boats turned away "literally at the very moment that U.S. forces were preparing to open fire" in self defense.

Unsuprisingly (to some)the Iranians have a different view of the incident... read on.

There's a remarkable article For sale: West’s deadly nuclear secrets on the front page of the British Times today.

A WHISTLEBLOWER (Sibel Edmonds) has made a series of extraordinary claims about how corrupt government officials allowed Pakistan and other states to steal nuclear weapons secrets.
[...]
Edmonds described how foreign intelligence agents had enlisted the support of US officials to acquire a network of moles in sensitive military and nuclear institutions.

Sibel is in serious danger as a result of this article. Please support her by distributing widely.

Al-Qaeda video messages of Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahri can now be downloaded to cell phones, the terror network announced as part of its attempts to extend its influence.

You know, to serve terrorize you better?

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And pretty Bjork jump up and down in new predictably head spinning Gondrey video. Nice declaration for a free Mars as well.

Labels: music, pretty bjork

The Aircar is back! And it works. In India anyway. Check out this BBC Story.

Two: Inexpensive solar cells.

Labels: aircar, solar

vs.

Labels: music

ISLAMABAD: The controversy over former premier Benazir Bhutto's assassination has taken another turn with a section of her Pakistan People's Party (PPP) claiming she was targeted with sophisticated "laser beam technology".

This is the dimension of imagination. It is an area which we call the,
Twilight Zone

Bhutto's wounds were caused not by bullets but by some sort of laser weapon, The Nation newspaper said quoting sources in the PPP.

Wonder how long Dr. Musaddiq Kahn will be alive?

Doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo...


We just pasted the event horizon. Arlen (single bullet) Specter in Rawalpindi, "laser beam technology", bread and circuses, pony shows, Scotland Yard assisting in Bhutto death probe instead of the State Department, I've said it before, while Ken Kesey will be sorely missed, let's face it, in a world this twisted who needs fiction?

A new resolution introduced, by Congressman Randy Forbes December 18 in the US House Of Representatives, H. Res 888 claims to be about ""Affirming the rich spiritual and religious history of our Nation's founding and subsequent history and expressing support for designation of the first week in May as `American Religious History Week' for the appreciation of and education on America's history of religious faith."

Actually, the resolution is packed with lies - American history lies to be specific.

more at the link...

If tonight's Iowa results prove anything, it's that religion isn't leaving the public square when W. rides home to Texas.~Jeff Sharlet

God and Country are an unbeatable team; they break all records for oppression and bloodshed.
- Luis Buñuel

Jane Harman's Principled Stand Against Torture?

I believe that Rep. Harman's letter and the CIA response reveal that the entire concept of congressional oversight is a fraud.

Also, no murder charges for the goons that did the Haditha mass murder

try to read this horseshit without becoming physically ill:

Initially called a massacre by Iraqi residents of Haditha and later characterized as coldblooded murder by a U.S. congressman, the case has turned not on an alleged rampage but on a far more complex analysis of how U.S. troops fight an insurgency in the midst of a population they seek to protect.

...

Military law experts said the manslaughter charges reflect the military's reluctance to pursue murder charges because they are hard to win in court -- especially as military juries tend to give combat troops the benefit of the doubt. Investigating officers in the cases have recommended lesser charges because they have found that the Marines determined the houses were hostile and believed they could kill everyone inside, more likely a case of recklessness than intent to commit a crime.

"I think it's still going to be hard to get convictions in these types of cases when you're in a battlefield environment," said David P. Sheldon, a military law expert in Washington.

Mark Zaid, one of Wuterich's defense attorneys, said the charges show there was no "massacre" and that the case highlights how difficult it is for U.S. troops to make tough battlefield decisions. He said Wuterich and the other Marines were following their rules of engagement when they shot and killed their targets in Haditha, with unfortunate -- but not illegal -- consequences.

"Every Marine, period, is trained with the intent to kill," Zaid said. "What everyone will realize at the end of the day is that the characterization of the events was nothing like reality, that the training the troops on the ground received was primarily responsible for what happened, and that the fog of war sometimes ends up with terrible results."

bottom line: stern slaps on the wrists for war crimes. despicable. Murder inc. drive right over this speed bump and slows not one wit...

Iraqi Girl tells of US Attack in Haditha

3 Minute Video Report

Ten-year-old Iman Walid witnessed the killing of seven members of her family in an attack by American marines last November. The interview with Iman was filmed exclusively for ITV News by Ali Hamdani,our Iraqi video diarist.

Don't know about anyone else, but I recently bought a moderately priced headphone set from Sears, I wish I had know the following before hand.

Online communities to become more 'all-encompassing.' If you join the SHC community on Sears.com, all web traffic to and from your computer thereafter will be copied and sent to a third party marketing research firm - including, for example, your secure sessions with your bank! The Sears.com proxy will send your logins and passwords along with a cleartext copy of all the supposedly secure data. But wait, it gets better : you can only view the true TOS once the proxy has already been installed.

This isn't even opt in, apparently Sears has opened up it's entire database of all your purchases going back to '89 with so little security that anyone can pull up details on anyone else (apparently with just knowing a name and address).




Via Metafilter.

As one of the comments at mefi said, I hope some hacker finds and releases the 'cell number, SSN, home address, and boat landing of every suit on top of the food chain at Sears, the sniveling crop of MBAs that greenlighted this project, and the assholes who agreed to code and host it. Also: David Cross'.

Pass this info around, let the fucks feel some heat...