ring of power

[ericg]

The Consolidation of Power



How did George Bush assume such enormous powers over the law enforcement and covert operations of this country (not to mention the Presidency)? This was done through a series of Executives Orders and National Security Decision Directives (NSDDs) engineered by former CIA Director Bush signed by President Reagan.



On December 14, 1981, Reagan signed NSDD-2 on “Crisis Management,” which designated Vice President Bush Chairman of the Special Situation Group (SSG), responsible for crisis management.



On January 12, 1982, Reagan signed NSDD-3, which reaffirmed the existence of various interagency groups to deal with intelligence and covert operations. Under the interpretation of this document promoted by Bush, the SSG superseded and pre-empted the powers of the NSC in areas of “crisis management,” which encompassed covert operations and counter-terrorism.



On January 28, 1982, Bush was put in charge of the South Florida Task Force on drugs.



On May 14, 1982, a standing Crisis Pre-Planning Group (CPPG 1 and 2) was established under the SSG. Thus Bush was given responsibility for any area in which a “potential crisis” could emerge, and was charged with developing “preemptive policy options” for dealing with such a crisis.



On April 10, 1982, NSDD-30, on “Managing Terrorist Incidents,” was issued, giving Bush control over the convening of the SSG, and creating the “Terrorist Incident Working Group” (TIWG).



On March 23, 1983, Bush took charge of the National Narcotics Border Interdiction System.



In July 1985, the Vice President’s Terrorism Task Force was created, headed by Bush.



In February 1986, the Terrorism Task Force created the Operations Sub-Group, officially a sub-group of the TIWG, and also created a permanent counter-terrorism office located in the NSC staff, headed by Oliver North, but ultimately controlled by Bush.



In August 1986, Bush became the chief of “Operation Alliance,” an “anti-narcotics” effort to be conducted in cooperation with Mexico.



Thus from December 1981 to August 1986, Bush had consolidated his control over virtually aspect of U.S. covert operations, as well as every agency dealing with drug interdiction. Never before in peacetime in our country’s history had one man assumed as much power as Bush exercised while Vice President.[93]



George Jr would follow on the heals of his father’s silent coup de etat through his blatent manipulation of the U.S. Supreme Court in stealing the 2,000 Presidency via fraudulent vote tallies.



One year later, on January 4, 1984, Bush would travel to Miami to deliver one of his well-rehearsed “war on drugs” speeches at the Omni International Hotel. Later in the day Bush rendezvoused with boat builder and former racer Don Arnow at Islamorada in the Florida Keys. Bush’s high-priced “Cigarette” speedboat Fidelity was purchased from Arnow, his friend and fishing partner. As one local resident said, “everyone in Miami knew that if you needed a favor from Bush, you spoke to Arnow.”[94]



Arnow was reportedly a drug smuggler and suspected money launderer linked to the Genovese Purple Gang of New York through Frankie Viserto, one of the largest heroin smuggling kingpins, and the Meyer Lansky organized crime syndicate. Lansky had close ties to Israel and the Mossad, who played their own role in smuggling drugs out of Central and South America. Arnow’s role in marijuana smuggling was reportedly confirmed by Bill Norris, head of the Major Narcotics Unit at the Miami U.S. Attorney’s office.[95]



USA Racing, the company operated by Arnow was owned by Jack J. Kramer, President of Super Chief South Corporation. Kramer had married Lansky’s niece. On March 28, 1990 Jack and Ben Kramer were found guilty of 23 and 28 counts respectively of federal money laundering charges. Ben had previously been sentenced to life imprisonment for having imported half-a-million pounds of marijuana.



Nevertheless, a result of his favoritism with Bush, Arnow received a contract to build his “Blue Thunder” catamarans at $150,000 apiece for the U.S. Customs Service. As Tarpley and Chaitkin write:



“Bush had thus given a prime contract in waging the war on drugs to one of the leading drug-smuggling and money-laundering crime families in the US.... This was the same George Bush who in March, 1988 had stated: “I will never bargain with drug dealers on US or foreign soil.”



As Thomas Burdick and Charlene Mitchell add in Blue Thunder:



“Ultimately by awarding Arnow the Blue Thunder contract, Bush allowed not one, but two, drug smuggling arms of the mob to penetrate the government’s anti-drug program.”



Probably by design, the Blue Thunder catamarans were unseaworthy and practically unusable for chasing down high-speed craft, including Arnow’s Cigarette boats. Blue Thunder was capable of a top speed of only 56 miles per hour, and most of the boats spent more time undergoing repairs than chasing drug runners.



Ex-convict Tommy Teagle told author Thomas Burdick that he possessed information that implicated Bush’s son Jeb in cocaine smuggling. Teagle stated that Arnow and Jeb Bush had been partners in cocaine trafficking and were $2.5 million in debt to their Colombian suppliers.



According to former CIA operative Terry Reed, current President George Bush, Jr. and his brother Jeb were videotaped at Tamiami airport outside of Miami. They had arrived on the Bush family King Air from Texas, presumably piloted by George W., to pick up two kilos of cocaine which was delivered by Barry Seal from the Intermountain Regional airport in Mena Arkansas. Reed was the unwitting co-pilot. At the time he made his public statements, Reed indicated that he had both the tail number of the Bush Aircraft and the DEA (NADDIS) file number of the investigation.[96*]



Dr. Robert Magoon, a friend of Arnow, is quoted as having heard a similar report. Teagle said he feared that George Bush would have him killed, and rapidly changed his story.



But Arnow wouldn’t be around to testify. Ultimately, an imprisoned convict was indicted for Arnow’s murder—a murder that remains highly suspect.



According to an article by Joe Cuomo in Penthouse entitled “Family Ties,” one of Jeb’s business partners was Colombian “coffee” magnate Alberto Duque Rodriguez.



Federal prosecutors in Miami have a photo of Jeb and Leonel Martinez, a Miami-based Cuban-American drug trafficker, shaking hands, but won’t release the photo. Martinez and his wife made a $2,000 contribution to the Dade County Republican Party four months after Jeb became chair of the local GOP. Martinez also wrote $5,000 checks to then Vice President Bush’s Fund for America’s Future, and made a $2,000 contribution to the Bush for President campaign. This was during the time that Bush was serving as head of the South Florida Drug Task Force, then later as chair of the National Narcotics Interdiction System. While Bush was drug czar, the volume of cocaine smuggled into the U.S. tripled.[97]



Former CIA helicopter pilot Chip Tatum backs up allegations of Bush’s involvement in drug smuggling. On March 30, 1985, Tatum says he flew his helicopter to La Cieba, Honduras, where he picked up Bush Contra liason Felix Rodriguez, Honduran General Alvarez and Mossad agent Amirm Nir.



“We flew into several villages on the Nicaragua/Honduras border to recon for a later mission. I recorded actual village locations for cargo drops by CH-47’s scheduled later in April. Three of the villages were Rus Rus, Waspam and Santa Anna. Mr. [Oliver] North was pleased with the operations. He stated that Vice President Bush appreciated the extra effort I was giving. General Alvarez told Mr. North of my ability to sneak into his airfield under their radar. He asked North if I could instruct some of his security team and pilots for future use. North declined stating that I was a national secret, laughing. We landed at Santa Anna and met with Enrique Bermudez and other Contra leaders. We were then taken to a processing area of some sort. As we approached, there was a strong smell of jet fuel and acetone. There were several tactical bladders, used for carrying fuels, sitting around the area. Six large fuel pods were on the ground but had the tops torched off. Inside there was fuel and ground-up coca leaves. Mr. North stated the following to the other passengers, “One more year of this and we’ll all retire.” He then made a remark concerning Barry Seal and Governor Clinton. “If we can keep those Arkansas hicks in line, that is,” referring to the loss of monies as determined the week prior during their meeting in Costa Rica. I stood silently by the vat of leaves, listening to the conversation. General Alverez had gone with the Contra leader to discuss logistics. The other three—North, Rodriguez, and Ami Nir—continued through the wooden building, inspecting the cocaine. North continued, “...but he (Vice President Bush) is very concerned about those missing monies. I think he’s going to have Jeb (Bush) arrange something out of Colombia,” he told his comrades, not thinking twice of my presence. What Mr. North was referring to ended up being the assassination of Barry Seal by members of the Medellin Cartel in early 1986. “How about ‘Pineapple’?” Rodriguez asked. (Speaking of General Noriega.) “Naw,” North answered, “something’s up there.” Bush later insured Noriega was indicted and imprisoned for drug trafficking. I recalled the mysterious army officers remarks in Ojo de Agua, “Tell no one. There’s no one big enough in your chain of command.” I just heard North tell Rodriguez that the Vice President, the Governor of Arkansas and the three of them are manufacturing cocaine.”[98]



As a liason to the Contra/Anti-Castro Cuban community in Florida, Jeb Bush was responsible for freeing Cuban-American terrorist Orlando Bosch from prison. Bosch was responsible for a wave of bombings against Cuba, including the 1976 bombing of a Cuban airliner that killed 73 people. Bosch received his financing from a Florida company called the World Finance Corporation—the subject of one of the largest drug-smuggling investigations in the 1970s. The investigation was eventually dropped due to CIA interference. Bush was CIA Director during much of the company’s anti-Castro activities.



Westword, a Denver newspaper, reported Bush’s son Neil—who played a role in the bilking of Denver’s Silverado Savings & Loan, for which he walked away unscathed—being referred to as the “godfather” of a drug dealer who kept Neil’s photograph on his wall. According to the article, Neil let him know when “something was coming down.”[99*]



Silverado’s third largest borrower (Neil was on the Board), E. Trine Starnes, Jr., defaulted on $77.5 million in loans from the S&L, some of which went to the Contra arms and funding conduit the National Endowment for the Preservation of Liberty, directed by Carl “Spitz” Channell, a close crony of Oliver North. Silverado was shut down soon after Bush became President, and the American taxpayers picked up the $1 billion tab.[100]



By October of 1990, the S&L industry was losing money at the rate of $3 million a minute. The total cost was estimated at $325-500 billion. As President Bush commented, “The economy is headed in the right direction.”

Neil Bush would soon be back in the swindler’s circle through his west Florida Gulf Stream Realty land fraud company - a prelude to Bill Clinton’s Arkansas Whitewater land fraud scheme.



As Sherman Skolnick reports, Giorgio Pelossi, a prominent Swiss accountant and reputed cocaine bank money launderer for George Bush and two of his sons, was arrested in Chicago on January 20, 2000 after INS officials found he was wanted on an arrest warrant in Italy. Journalists in Spain wrote about Bush and two of his sons, George W. and Jeb, being reportedly implicated in billions of dollars of dope money laundered through banks in Spain, Italy, Mexico, and the U.S. The cocaine banking cartel, for which Pelossi reportedly was the brains, was centered in Milan and Barcelona. The Pelossi-Marcinkus-D’Onofrio ring reportedly, through the Vatican Bank and other financial institutions, trafficked in smuggled gold, osmium nuclear bomb triggers, high quality counterfeit foreign currencies, and other illicit goods and services. With the connivance of top officials of the IRS Chicago Regional office, Pelossi reportedly arranged the laundering of billions of dollars through concealed and dummy accounts, at the Harris Bank of Chicago, and their Foreign Exchange section, called ForEx, a unit of Bank of Montreal, and Republic National Bank of New York, for the Bushs.[101]



On May 15, 1984 Bush visited Pakistani President Gen. Zia ul-Haq in Islamabad. Bush praised the alleged successes of Zia’s anti-drug program which, Bush stated, was a matter of great “personal interest” to him. Among those present at the banquet where Bush made these statements were, reportedly, several of the officials most responsible for Pakistan’s narcotics trafficking. Pakistan had been responsible for approximately 70 percent of the world’s heroin supply at the time. Most of the dope was managed by an elite military unit that protected the truck convoys of CIA arms to Afghanistan.[102]

In August, 1986 Bush, working with Mexican officials, formally christened “Operation Alliance”, a new border enforcement initiative that followed on the heels of the South Florida Task Force. Bush was appointed chief of Operation Alliance, which involved 20 federal agencies, 500 federal officers, and a budget of $266 million. Bush even sought to obtain a cameo role for a brief appearance on the television series Miami Vice. As Tarpley and Chaitkin write:



“Bush had no intention of seriously pursuing such goals. For him, the war on drugs was a cruel hoax, a cynical exercise in demagogic self-promotion, designed in large part to camouflage activities by himself and his networks that promoted drug trafficking.”



In 1988, Congressman Glenn English stated that Bush’s war on drugs was “little more than lip service and press releases.”



CIA pilot Tosh Plumlee, who flew many drug flights, said he was provided with codes that allowed him to avoid drug interdiction planes. As Plumlee said: “I have seen interdiction planes turn away after we squawked our transponders, and let us into the country, [un]molested, and not have Customs waiting for us when we land.”[103]



Bush’s final act as “anti-drug” czar would come in 1990 with the invasion of Panama known as “Operation Just Cause.” The ostensible excuse was to shut down President Manuel Noriega’s drug trafficking (an operation run with Bush and CIA complicity). The real reason was to remove Noriega, who had gotten “out of control,” threatening to nationalize Bush’s extensive family investments in that country, and replace him with officials more loyal to Bush and the Agency.



On this pretext, the U.S. invaded the small sovereign country, killing thousands of people, mostly civilians. Twenty-six U.S. servicemen also lost their lives to protect Bush’s drug trafficking operation and the $350,000,000 worth of Bush financial investments, laundered through the Bush-connected Japanese Aoki Corporation with the help of brother Prescott. The puppets installed by Bush included President Gullermo Endura, head of a Panamanian bank used extensively by the Medellin Cartel, Vice President Gullermo Ford, part owner of Dadeland Bank of Florida, reportedly involved in drug money laundering, and Attorney General Rogello Cruz, allegedly a Cali drug Cartel boss.



As ex-CIA field officer John Stockwell noted: “[Bush] used to work with Noriega the drug-dealer. He has worked with a lot of other drug-dealers, in fact, but this one was screaming publicly.... In 1988, Noriega told Newsweek or a Newsweek interviewer that, quote: ‘I have George Bush by the balls!’ because he had the information on George Bush’s connections and ties and knowledge of drug smuggling. So Bush had to get rid of him!”[104*]



Frederick Kempe, a former Wall Street Journal diplomatic correspondent, wrote Divorcing the Dictator: America’s Bungled Affair with Noriega in 1990. This documents the Israeli connections with the CIA in the contra-cocaine program in Central America:



“Noriega, the new Comandante, made clear he was willing to be more cooperative than his predecessors. He was also feeling more heat for Panama’s role in laundering money for international drug traffickers, and he interpreted a George Bush visit in December 1983 as an appeal for more help for the Contras.... In Noriega’s mind, he thought Bush was saying that if Panama helped the Contras it could defuse criticism about money laundering. He passed this interpretation to a trusted adviser.”



Coincidentally, perhaps, in December 1983 the Israelis reportedly started using a CIA front company in Panama to start funneling support to the Contras. That company was IFMA Management Company, which had originally been created in 1969 in Panama as a conduit for CIA ‘black’ funds.[105]


While Noriega now languishes in a U.S. prison, the amount of drug money laundered through Panamanian banks is two-thirds higher than it was prior to the invasion (which, at the time, was approximately 70 percent of the CIA’s drug take). For those Panamanians who survived Operation “Just Cause,” 60 percent now live in poverty, with 17 percent in extreme poverty, and 24 percent of the population suffers from malnutrition. According to Olga Mejia of the Panama Human Rights Commission: “Now you can find 1,000 children begging in central Panama City.”[106]



The CIA/NSC/DoJ complicit smugglers and pilots who testified against Noriega, including pilot Floyd Carlton, Roberto Striedinger, and Ricardo Bilonick, were released or had their sentences greatly reduced. Carlton was paid several hundred thousand dollars by the “Justice” Department and given permanent U.S. residency. Striedinger had his seized bank accounts returned, along with his 40-foot yacht, an airplane, his AK-47, Uzi and MAC-10 submachine guns and his Mercedes-Benz. Carlos Lehder was released from prison in 1996.



Noriega wasn’t the only person to be silenced in the wake of the Iran-Contra revelations. Floyd Carlton testified that he offered information to the DEA in Panama in July of 1987, which refused to take the information. Carlton had frequent contacts with the Medellin and Cali cartels, as well as taped phone conversations, documents and information about money laundering, drugs, weapons and assassinations. Instead of accepting the evidence, the “Justice” Department, as they would do with hundreds of other whistleblowers over the years, had Carlton arrested.



When the FBI raided the home of Senator Gary Hart’s presidential campaign manager Michael Boren Williams, “the first item that was seized was a file pertaining to my investigation of Bush’s ordering CIA Costa Rica Station Chief Joe Hernandes to blow up a commercial civilian airliner he thought to be carrying Senators [Gary] Hart and [William] Cohen to Managua, Nicaragua on an Iran-Contra fact-finding mission. (Oh, just for good measure, the Managua Airport was blown up, too).”[107]



As Williams told this author: “[Cohen] was the co-author of a spy novel, along with Gary Hart. George Bush (the big daddy fascist, not the creep who the New World Order’s ordained as their next 4-year dictator) ordered the assassination of Hart and Cohen.... Fortunately for them, they took an earlier flight....”[108*]



As Tosh Plumlee told Rodney Stich: “We’ve lost a lot of people that’s been killed or assassinated or discredited because for whatever reasons, they were going to blow the whistle on current operations they were involved with. Elements within the agencies that are involved would definitely put hitmen out, if it was going to jeopardize their ongoing operation.”[109]



As Chip Tatum, one of the alleged hitmen, says: “During the next few years, I would be tasked by Mr. Bush with the neutralization of a Mossad agent in 1988, an army Chief of Staff in 1989, the President of a third-world country in 1989, and the leader of a revolutionary force in Central America in 1991. [Mossad Agent] Ami Nir was killed in 1988. General Gustavo Alverez was killed in 1989. Enrique Bermudez, Contra leader and overseer of the cocaine kitchens, was killed in 1991.”[110]





Operation Desert Massacre



“We are not going to achieve a new world order without paying for it in blood as well as in words and money.”

- Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., Foreign Affairs (July/August 1995)



“The world can therefore seize the opportunity (Persian Gulf crisis) to fulfill the long-held promise of a New World Order where diverse nations are drawn together in common cause to achieve the universal aspirations of mankind.”

- President George Herbert Walker Bush



In January of 1990, the U.S. Government under George Bush would again have the opportunity to demonstrate the “universal aspirations of mankind” when it attacked Iraqi forces in the Persian Gulf, driving them out of the oil-rich kingdom of Kuwait. President Bush immediately rallied to the cause of “freedom and democracy” for the tiny Arab sheikdom, where Iraqi forces were actively engaged in violating “the rights of the free world” by pillaging the populace and “pulling babies out of incubators.” Or so the White House and the State Department would have us believe.



Thus, under the guise of creating a “New World Order,” the U.S., with George Bush as the helm, once again heeded the call to “defend the free world.”



In reality, Kuwait was little more than a feudal kingdom ruled by a few immensely wealthy royal families, where such “freedoms” included being stoned to death for adultery (for women that is), having your hand cut off for thievery, and being arrested for practicing any religion except Islam. It is a place that Amnesty International reported torture is routine, and where 111 people were executed in one year alone by beheading, 16 of whom were political prisoners.[111]



So much for freedom and democracy.



What tiny Kuwait did have going for it was its vast oil reserves, whose ownership was in dispute with Iraq. Iraq’s Rumaila field, which dips into its disputed border with Kuwait, was being pumped for all its worth by the Kuwaitis—while Iraq, with the encouragement of both Kuwait and the U.S.—was fighting a bloody and costly war with Iran. The U.S. assisted Iraq in this endeavor by supplying them with detailed intelligence enabling their forces to bomb Iran’s oil terminals and power plants. As Jeffrey T. Richelson writes in The U.S. Intelligence Community:



“In 1984, when some feared that Iran might overrun Iraq, the United States began supplying Iraq with intelligence that reportedly enabled Iraq to calibrate mustard gas attacks on Iranian ground troops.”[112]



At the same time as Kuwait was stealing oil from Iraq, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, by exceeding their production quotas, were driving down the price of oil. Iraq, saddled with a $70 billion debt from its war with Iran, was losing billions of dollars in revenues.



Iraq’s demands were simple. They wanted payment for the oil taken from the Rumaila field (whose ownership had been in dispute ever since Britain had withdrawn from Kuwait), forgiveness of Kuwaiti loans during their war with Iran, and access to the Gulf ports for export of their oil. After negotiators failed to reach agreement over the thefts, the loans, and the access, Iraq invaded.[113]



As in Vietnam, President Bush attacked this “naked aggression,” rallying to the cause of freedom: “America stands where it always has,” declared Bush (whose family made its fortune backing Adolf Hitler), “against aggression, against those who would use force to replace the rule of law.”



So spoke King George, who, only months earlier, had imposed illegal sanctions against Nicaragua to prevent free elections there—a continuation of his and Reagan’s covert bloody war against that sovereign nation. As a result, Bush became the only head of state publicly condemned by the World Court for the “unlawful use of force.”[114]



Such a condemnation is hardly surprising, since barely two years earlier, Bush had invaded Panama to silence Manuel Noriega and install “democracy” in the U.S.-controlled banana republic.[115]



Not to tarnish Bush’s reputation as a champion of human rights. Bush was CIA Director when Argentine secret police launched their “Dirty War” in 1976, resulting in the “elimination” of tens-of-thousands of political dissidents.



On September 21, 1976, a bomb ripped apart the car carrying former Chilean Foreign Minister Orlando Letelier and two American co-workers on Embassy Row in Washington, D.C.. Letelier and a woman, Ronni Moffitt, died in the blast.



Letelier was a staunch critic of Chile’s murderous military dictatorship under General Augusto Pinochet, a CIA puppet. Represtnative James Abourezk, a personal friend of Letelier’s, asked DCI Bush to commit the CIA to the search “to find the bastards who killed” Letelier. Bush appeared concerned and responded, “I’ll see what I can do. We are not without assets in Chile.”



As Robert Parry writes:



“The problem with Bush’s promise, however, was that some of the CIA’s top “assets” in Chile were implicated in the murder. According to U.S. intelligence sources, one of those CIA assets was Gen. Manuel Contreras, the head of the intelligence agency, DINA, and the architect of the Letelier assassination. The other trouble with Bush’s pledge was that the assassination had been carried out almost literally under the CIA’s nose—and Bush had little interest in exposing his own failings.... There was also the darker possibility that Bush’s CIA had granted DINA license to hunt down and neutralize a Chilean dissident on American soil.”[116]



Bush was also CIA director when Indonesian General Suharto, with support from President Gerald Ford and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, invaded the small island nation of East Timor. Suharto had come to power in 1965, during a U.S.-backed genocidal coup that resulted in over a million deaths.[117] By comparison, Suharto’s invasion of East Timor merely resulted in a quarter-of-a-million deaths. According to the Australia East Timor Association:



“The atrocities of the Indonesian Military Junta are absolutely barbaric, torturing and killing thousands. Even women have been killed very slowly by stabbings.... Hundreds have been burnt to death.... Indonesian soldiers took hold of the legs of little children and threw them around in the air a number of times and smashed their tiny heads and bodies against a rock. A women asked that one of the children be given to her after it’s mother had been stripped naked and killed, but the soldier grabbed the child and killed it [instead]...”[118]



The Timorese massacres would continue with George Bush in the White House, as the Timor Gap Treaty was signed, giving Indonesian and Australian mining companies authority to begin joint oil exploration with major oil companies—resulting in a new wave of genocidal terror—all the while revealing the real reason behind U.S.-backed policies.[119*]



Ramos Horta, special representative of the National Council of Maubere Resistance, described how President Ford and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger visited Suharto shortly before the invasion and gave him the green light to invade, while assuring the benevolent tyrant that his supply of American weapons wouldn’t be affected. Kissinger told reporters at the time that “the United States understands Indonesia’s position.” *



Fifteen years later, George Bush would give his own green light to Saddam Hussein. On July 25, 1990, with Iraqi troops massed along the border, U.S. Ambassador to Iraq April Glaspie met with Hussein and informed him that the U.S. had “no opinion” on Iraq-Kuwait border disputes. When Glaspie asked Hussein what his intentions were, he replied that Kuwait’s actions amounted to “an economic war” and “military action against us.” Hussein said he hoped for a peaceful solution, but if not, he said, “it will be natural that Iraq will not accept death...”



As former CIA officer Phillip Agee notes, “A clearer statement of his intentions would be hard to imagine.”



“Glaspie gave no warning from Bush or Secretary of State [James] Baker that the U.S. would oppose an Iraqi takeover of Kuwait. On the contrary she said, “I have direct instructions from the President to seek better relations with Iraq.” On the same day Assistant Secretary of State Kelly killed a planned Voice of America broadcast that would have warned Iraq that the U.S. was “strongly committed” to the defense of its friends in the Gulf, which included, of course, Kuwait. During the week between the Ambassador’s meeting with Hussein and the invasion, the Bush administration forbade any warning to Hussein against invasion... Assistant Secretary Kelly, two days before the invasion, again testified publicly before Congress to the effect that the U.S. had no commitment to defend Kuwait.”[120]



While Bush was publicly condemning Iraq for its invasion of Kuwait on the one hand, he was secretly pursuing a policy of encouraging it on the other. “Big countries cannot invade small neighbors and get away with it,” Bush sanctimoniously announced to the world. Il Sabato, a Catholic weekly in Rome, noting Bush’s shameful hypocrisy, wrote that Bush is the “surly master of the world,” who deserves “the Nobel War Prize” for ignoring opportunities for peace in the Gulf. Bush “had the very concrete possibility of a just peace and he chose war.”[121]



While conspicuously avoiding all opportunities for a peaceful settlement, Bush arrogantly insisted that Iraq’s capacity for aggression be eliminated—a curious position considering that the U.S. had shared intelligence with Iraq right up to the start of the war, and Bush had encouraged Iraq’s bloody ten-year war with Iran as a bulwark against what he perceived as that state’s (and Israel’s) aggressive tendencies (Bush’s “Level Playing Field Doctrine”).



What was not mentioned however was the CIA’s role just a decade earlier in fomenting Kurdish rebellion inside Iraq, with arms supplied by the CIA’s good friend the Shah of Iran. That rebellion led to Iraq’s loss of the Shat al Arab, Iraq’s only access to Basra, its upriver port, and ultimately led to Iraq’s invasion of Iran which cost nearly a million lives.



All the while, the U.S. was building up huge military installations in Saudi Arabia in anticipation of a Gulf War scenario, one that had been gamed-out in Pentagon war rooms. It was easy to anticipate such a scenario, since Bush, like his father before him, had illegally armed Iraq with both conventional and biological weapons, paid for by U.S. taxpayers.[122]



According to a 1995 deposition by Reagan national security aide Howard Teicher, CIA Deputy Director Robert Gates was part of a secret operation in the 1980s to funnel sophisticated military equipment to Iraqi Dictator Saddam Hussein via Carlos Cardoen, a Chilean arms dealer with close ties to the murderous General Pinochet. “Under CIA director Casey and Deputy Director Gates, the CIA authorized, approved and assisted Cardoen in the manufacture and sale of cluster bombs and other munitions to Iraq,” Teicher wrote in the affidavit submitted as part of an arms-smuggling case in federal court.[123]



Some of those weapons passed through Customs disguised as agricultural loans funded by the Banca Nazionale del Lavoro (BNL, which was connected to the CIA’s BCCI: “Bank of Crooks and Criminals International”), and approved by the Department of Agriculture’s Commodity Credit Corporation.[124*]



Of course, not all these technological transfers were so open. Iraqi arms dealer Ishan Barbouti, who, with the help of Richard Secord (of Iran-Contra fame) and Wackenhut Security (an FBI/CIA/DoD proprietary), was secretly siphoning off huge quantities of cyanide from Product Ingredient Technologies, a food flavoring plant in Florida, which was subsequently shipped to Iraq to be used in Hussein’s chemical weapons production (Cyanide is a necessary ingredient in the development of nerve gas). Barbouti was also friends with Hussein’s brother-in-law—Hussein Kamil, who directed the flow of over $2 billion in BNL commercial loans to various high-profile Iraqi weapons projects.” Many of the biologicals sold to Iraq had the blessing of both President Bush and Secretary of State James Baker—both oil men. It is rumored that both men made a substantial amount of money from these deals, as did much of the U.S. military-industrial establishment.



But “smart bombs” and bullets weren’t the only killers of this Mid-East holocaust. Approximately 20 to 25 percent of the inhabitants of the Persian Gulf are now afflicted with Gulf War Syndrome (GWI), a deadly disease that has claimed 250,000 lives in Iraq alone, with another million sick, including those of other Gulf states. According to Dr. Nancy Nicholson of the Rhodon Foundation for Biomedical Research and her husband, Dr. Garth Nicholson, one of the most highly regarded scientists in biomedical research, more babies are being born deformed in Iraq than are being born normal.



This debilitating man-made disease has also claimed approximately 15,000 American lives (as of 1997), with another 100,000 to 200,000 veterans severely ill. This doesn’t include family members, friends and associates who are sick, disabled, or dead as a result of being infected with this highly communicable disease. (Unlike AIDS, GWI can reportedly be spread not only through sex, but by casual contact, through perspiration, or by being close to someone who coughs.) It is estimated that over 50,000 National Guardsmen who served in the Gulf have reported illnesses.



According to the British Gulf War Veterans Association, over 1,233 British veterans have died so far and thousands more are sick—17 percent of those committing suicide due to lack of treatment and intolerable pain levels. Thousands of babies have been born to vets with horrible deformities—missing limbs, eyes, and ears, and incomplete or missing organs.[125]



While the origins of GWI stem mainly from Iraqi biologicals launched from SCUDs and fall-out from destroyed Iraqi chemical depots, the effects—which include fatigue, vomiting, weight loss, joint pains, headaches, sleeplessness, memory loss, paralysis, tumors, and not least of all, death—were exacerbated by dangerous and experimental drugs administered to U.S. troops by the DoD. A Senate committee that surveyed 150 veterans discovered they were ordered, under threat of Article 15 or court martial, not to discuss their vaccinations with anyone, not even with doctors who were attempting to treat their adverse reactions.[126*]



Court records uncovered by Sherman Skolnick also reveal that Bush and Hussein engaged in private oil deals involving the splitting of $250 billion worth of oil profit kickbacks. As Skolnick reports:



“The records demonstrate private transactions involving $250 billion in oil money kickbacks from the entire Gulf region paid to Saddam Hussein. The Federal Reserve Board wanted Congressman [Henry] Gonzales (D-TX) to agree to never use these records in any of his congressional reports. He was only allowed to look at the records. But the Congressman refused to sign the secrecy oath that the Fed demanded.



“Following the May 19 hearing I told the attorneys that I had heard what the records were about. I spelled out these huge private transactions between Bush and Saddam.... One of the lawyers said, “Well, that’s true. I want you to know that what is involved here are non-bank records that the ‘Justice’ Department [doesn’t want released].”...



“Saddam got kickbacks to the tune of $250 billion arranged by George Bush and oil companies such as Penzoil which are connected to Bush [one of the heads of Penzoil]....”



According to Skolnick, the “Justice” Department used an investigation of a Court of Appeals Judge in order to blackmail the judge not to release the information. Representative Gonzales’ investigation was sabotaged by people on his own committee. After BCCI’s records were seized by the Reagan/Bush “Justice” Department, Gonzales tried, via congressional subpoena, to acquire them. Judge Brian Duff, who has connections with the Federal Reserve, impounded the records and chased Gonazles’ attorney out of court. As Skolnick writes:



“On the Senate side the investigation is also being hampered. On June 13 the Wall Street Journal pointed out that Senator John Kerry (D-MS) who is investigating BCCI became chairman of the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee which received large contributions from BCCI.”



In fact, Bush had a long-standing policy of supporting the Iraqi dictator. In 1987, Bush pressured the federal Export Import bank to give hundreds of millions in loans to Iraq. In a manner similar to what President Bill Clinton (and Bush) would do with Communist China, Bush had met with Iraqi ambassador Nizar Hamdoon to assure him that Hussein could import more dual-use technology.



At least $1 billion in military aid, disguised as Agriculture commodity loans, were funneled to Iraq through BNL. Under Bush’s Presidential Security Directive NSD 26, he overrode other government agency concerns about lending money to Saddam Hussein. In October of 1989, Secretary of State James Baker III intervened with Agriculture Department Secretary Clayton Yeutter to drop Agriculture’s opposition to the $1 billion in food credits for Hussein. This was a man who bragged in the spring of 1990 that he possessed enough chemical weapons to “burn half of Israel,” and attacked his own Kurdish population with poison gas, murdering thousands of men, women and children.



As late as July of 1990, the NSC pushed for the second installment of the $1 billion package despite evidence that Iraq was using the money for its ballistic missile program and other weapons.[127] As Congressman Gonzalez stated in a July 27 speech: “The Bush administration sent U.S. technology to the Iraqi military and to many Iraqi military factories, despite overwhelming evidence showing that Iraq intended to use the technology in its clandestine nuclear, chemical, biological, and long-range missile programs.”[128]



Yet by June of 1990, George Bush, Jr. sold his stock in Harken Energy, which had exclusive oil drilling rights with the island of Bahrain off the coast of Saudi Arabia. (Bush had been rescued by Harken in 1986 when Bush’s Specturm 7 Energy Corporation was in financial trouble. Harken made “Jr.” a director, and he and his partners were given more than $2 million in stock, while George received another $600,000 in stock as a “consultant,” not including his lucrative salary.) The Bahrain deal was brokered by David Edwards, a close pal of Bill Clinton’s and a former employee of the shady Arkansas-based bond brokerage house Stephens Inc.[129]



Industry analysts were amazed that such a small, unknown company won such a lucrative contract. Research by the Observer reveals, unsurprisingly, that Harken has links to institutions that are involved in drug smuggling, foreign currency manipulation and the CIA. (In 1987, Jackson Stephens of Stephens, Inc. would arrange a $25 million cash infusion to George Jr’s Harken through Switzerland’s Union Bank—both tied to the notorious scandal-ridden BCCI. Stephens was a large doner to both the Reagan/Bush ticket and to Bill Clinton’s presidential campaign. Stephens’ wife Mary Anne managed George Herbert Walker Bush’s 1988 presidential campaign in Arkansas.) As his pals at Enron would later do, George Jr. successfully dumped his Harken stock for $848,560—a nice 200 percent profit—just in time for Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait, conveniently forgetting to notify the Securities and Exchange Commission as required by law.[130*]



Illegal-insider-trader-Jr. avoided prosecution, thanks to some well-connected lawyers and Daddy-Bush-the-President who pulled the appropriate SEC strings. This, as Enron employees lost their pensions (or were “suicided”) as a result of illegal insider stock sales—another company directly connected to the Bushes.



As Iran-Contra insider Al Martin told journalist Uri Dowbenko, “Harken was one of those deals that was a combination fraud as well as a manipulation. There’s different types of fraud when you get into securities. When George Jr. was put in charge of Harken Energy by his father, he essentially took it down the tubes. You have to realize that every business that George Jr. has ever had has failed. That’s the man’s business record.



“George Bush, Sr. and James Baker and Senator Tower would heavily short Harken stock. I have a list of everybody because I was one of them but to a much smaller extent. Harken stock was trading at 7-3/4 or 8, when George Jr, was put in charge of it. A year later, the stock was trading at 1-1/8 bid, 3/8 offer. They pumped the stock back up through a lot of bogus press releases and by using essentially worthless leases in Bahrain and essentially worthless South American oil leases and through sympathetic geologists making them appear to be really worth something and making it appear that Harken’s about to make a strike when in fact it’s all made up. It’s all fictitious. And through carefully crafted broker releases and broker statements and press releases, you can pump the stock back up. This has happened sixteen times to my knowledge. Harken would get pumped back up from the dead, from say a buck, buck and a half, back to seven, seven and a half, then it would get dumped again. Originally George Jr. had control of the company. He stayed on the board.



“You have to look at the entire Bush Family in this context—as if the entire family ran a corporation called ‘Frauds-R-Us.’ Each member of the family, George Sr., George Jr., Neil, Jeb, Prescott, Wally, etc., have their own specialty of fraud.



“George Jr.’s specialty was insurance and security fraud. Jeb’s specialty was oil and gas fraud. Neil’s specialty was real estate fraud. Prescott’s specialty was banking fraud. Wally’s specialty was securities fraud. And George Bush Sr’s specialty? All of the above.”[131]



According to the National Journal, 43 percent of President George Bush Jr.’s top 300 appointees had worked for Bush Sr.



But Iraq wasn’t the only “enemy” doing business with the Bush family. George Bush’s brother Prescott was a consultant to Asset Management International Financing & Settlement, a New York firm with a contract to provide communications for 2,000 professional and university offices in China. After the Tienaman Square massacre of pro-democracy demonstrators in June of 1989, Bush publicly expressed his outrage, while quietly sending National Security Adviser Brent Scowcroft to China to make sure the Bush family assets were secure. Asset Management likewise enlisted Prescott’s help after his father imposed economic sanctions against China (which he would later lift for Hughes Aircraft). For this Prescott received a handsome $250,000 consulting fee from Asset Management.[132]



Prescott would go on to broker a deal between Asset Management and West Tsusho, a Tokyo-based investment firm linked to the Japansese mob—the Yakuza, for which he received a $250,000 finder’s fee and a $250,000 yearly “consultant” retainer. Unfortunately West Tsusho filed a $2.5 million lawsuit against Prescott claiming that he reneged on his promise to protect the firm’s $5 million investment.[133]



Like his brother George, Prescott would play his own role in illegal covert activities, as a spy for the Reagan/Bush presidential campaign against President Jimmy Carter. A September 3, 1980 letter from Prescott to James Baker (soon to become Secretary of State) offers his help in monitoring the activities of the Carter White House in their efforts to obtain the release of the American hostages being held in Iran. As the letter states:



“Herb Cohen—the guy that offered help on the Iranian hostage situation—called me yesterday afternoon. Herb has a couple of reliable sources on the National Security Council, about whom the [Carter] administration does not know, who can keep him posted on developments....”[134]



The Reagan/Bush plan to delay the release of the hostages until after the defeat of Jimmy Carter came to be known as “October Surprise.” (See Chapter XX) With George Bush’s tenure in the White House now secure, Prescott would help his brother funnel illegal aid to the Contras through his position on Americares’ board, the U.S.-based “relief” organization with ties to prominent right-wing Republicans and the CIA.



The late J. Peter Grace, chair of AmeriCares from 1982 to 1995, was a key participant in Project Paperclip, a covert operation which recruited Nazi scientists to work in the U.S. after World War II. Many of those Nazis had been found guilty of experimentation on humans. Grace also played a prominent role in organizing the fascist coup that overthrew the popular democratically elected government of Salvador Allende in Chile. Comfortingly, AmeriCares presents itself as the “humanitarian arm of Corporate America.”[135]



Americares also provided an undisclosed $680,000 to the Nicaraguan Miskito Indian guerrillas, and $91,383 in food and medicine (and $5,750 cash) to Mario Calero, the New Orleans-based quartermaster for the Contras.[136]



Bush, Sr’s wife, Barbara, is AmeriCares Ambassador-at-Large. Former Carter National Security Advisor and CFR member Dr. Zbigniew Brzezinski is its Honorary Chairman.[137]



The Miami link to the Contras would come through George Bush’s son Jeb, who acted as one key liason between the Contras and then-Vice President Bush—helping to set up an arms pipeline through friendly contacts in Guatemala. That contact, a right-wing politician named Dr. Mario Castejon, would have his CIA funding proposals hand-delivered to Ted Shackley himself.



The military-industrial complex was apprehensive as the 1990s dawned with the break-up of the Soviet Union and a consequential peace dividend. With their continuing shady arms deals in Central America, and with Bush’s Gulf War, the establishment no longer had to worry. “The war itself has done the most to stir interest in the acquisition of high-tech weapons,” stated the New York Times.



Ironically, 28 American soldiers killed by Iraqi SCUD missiles during the Gulf War came from Pennsylvania, where Greenburg-Latrobe had manufactured parts for those very weapons. SCUD launchers were manufactured in Connecticut, with other manufacturers being scattered throughout the country. As Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Peter Mantius wrote in Shell Game, following the war, “President Bush [used] the vast power of his office... to stall [Congressional] probes long enough for the American companies that supplied Iraq to blend quietly into the crowd.”[138] Some of companies were tied to Brown Brothers-Harriman Bank, managed by Bush’s father, the late Senator Prescott Bush, who, as discussed earlier, had not only financed Adolph Hitler, but had armed the Nazis during the war in violation of the Trading with the Enemy Act.



Ironically, Bush would later compare Saddam Hussein, his own former business partner, to Hitler, while condemning the Iraqi dictator for invading Kuwait and attacking the Kurds. At the same time, Bush’s friend, Turkish president Turgut Ozal (who was former director of the International Monetary Fund) was murdering his own Kurdish population by the thousands. Turkish-occupied Kurdistan resembled El Salvador during the 1980s, with imprisonment, torture, and mass-murder commonplace. At least 22,000 have died since the PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party) struggle against Turkey which began in 1984. But the government-controlled press wasn’t allowed to focus on that slaughter because Turkey was a client state of the U.S.[139]



In speaking about the so-called atrocities committed by Hussein, Bush stated: “No one can see the pictures or hear the accounts of this human suffering, men, women, and most painfully of all, innocent children, and not be deeply moved.... we must do everything in our power to save innocent life, and this is the American tradition and we will continue to live up to that tradition.”[140]



This “American tradition” employed by Bush and his murdering minions like General Collin Powell (later to become Secretary of State) and “Stormin’ Norman” Schwarzkopf, amounted to the unleashing of more bombs on both the military and the civilian population of Iraq than was dropped by the Allies during WWII; by burying thousands of Iraqi soldiers alive in their trenches with tanks equipped with plows; by openly machine-gunning thousands of unarmed surrendering troops; and by imposing severe economic sanctions on a civilian population, at least a million of whom—mostly children—have died as a result of malnutrition and disease. The Wall Street Journal quoted UN sources as saying that at least 560,000 Iraqi children have died since the war ended in 1991. That was in 1995.



“The foreign editor of Brazil’s major daily wrote that “What is being practiced in the Gulf is pure barbarism—ironically, committed in the name of civilization....”[141]



Conclusion





“George Bush, he’s bad on drugs, he’s sick mentally and physically,

if he was a dog he’d be shot. He’s a scumbag. That’s why he won’t be re-elected. He’s not morally, physically or mentally fit to be President.”



- Christopher Hitchens, columnist for The Nation,

Washington Editor for Harpers



These activities are just a sampling of the Bush family endeavors. What can one say about a man who makes brutal war on a soverign country, killing thousands, just to protect his own drug trade? Or murders a million innocent children in another country through war (read slaughter), starvation and disease to protect his and his cronies’ oil interests? Or participate in perverted sexual activities with prostituted children? Or illegally smuggle tons of narcotics into the United States while publicly declaring to be “anti-drug”—releasing major drug traffickers while ordinary people possessing a little marijuana are sentenced to long jail terms? Such a man could only be considered the most evil of creatures—on a scale rivaling that of a Hitler.



While George Bush slaughtered hapless millions in Iraq through war, starvation and disease (not to mention the devastation he caused in Panama, Central America and at home), President Clinton would be all too happy to take up the slack—bombing Baghdad with cruise missiles (killing 8 innocent civilians) to punish Saddam Hussein for an alleged assassination plot against Bush.



It is only too bad the plotters didn’t succeed.


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

Approximately 19 U.S. presidents descended from royal bloodlines. As researcher Brian Downing Quig writes: “John Galt (a pen name of a researcher fearing to be identified), in an unpublished manuscript (now in my possession), The Genealogy of the New World Order, has traced the royal ancestry of George Bush, which traces from Charlemagne and Alfred the Great, all the way down through George Bush’s 32 presidential cousins!”

There have been three S&B Presidents; at least ten Senators; two Chief Justices of the Supreme Court and many U.S. representatives and state governors. “Bonesmen” have held a myriad of lesser appointed posts and positions, with a particular affinity for Secretary of War/Defense; diplomatic posts to Europe, Russia, China and the Philippines; and in the national security state/intelligence apparatus. Some examples of Bonesmen: Time-Life publisher Henry Luce, New York Times General Manager Amory H. Bradford, CIA officers William F. Buckley, William P. Bundy, McGeorge Bundy, and Richard Bissel, Senator and David Bowen, Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Oversight Committee. Other members include: Lord (1635, Cambridge, Mass), Phelps (1630, Dorchester, Mass), Whitney (1635, Watertown, Mass), Perkins (1631, Boston, Mass), Stimson (1635, Watertown, Mass), Wadsworth (1632, Newtown, Mass), Gilman (1638, Hingham, Mass), Payne (Standard Oil), Davison (JP Morgan), Pillsbury (Flour Milling), Sloane (Retail), Weyerhaeuser (Lumber), Harriman (Railroads) and Rockefeller (Standard Oil).

[1]. Antony C. Sutton, America’s Secret Establishment: An Introduction to the Order of Skull and Bones (Billings, MT: Liberty House Press), quoted in “‘The Skulls’ - Insider Secrets Of The New World Orderlies,” review by Uri Dowbenko, 4/5/00.

[2]. Ibid.

[3]. Ibid.

[4]. Ibid.

Of course the Federal Reserve is not federal, but merely a consortium of private central banks. With profits exceeding 150 billion per year, no corporation in the world comes anywhere close. Interestingly, if the profits of the Federal Reserve were compounded from its inception, a sum roughly equivalent to the national debt results. Wall Street interests originally “fought” this bill while all along they were its authors.

[5]. “The Boodle Boys,” RA Kris Millegan, 1999, courtesy of Newshawk, 3/16/99. Millegan’s father entered was an OSS agent and G-2. During the early 19502 he was the CIA’s Branch Chief, Head of East Asia Intelligence Analyst Office.

The shipping manifests from those days have survived intact to make this claim solid.

[6]. Ibid.

[7]. Antony C. Sutton, America’s Secret Establishment: An Introduction to the Order of Skull and Bones (Billings, MT: Liberty House Press), quoted in “‘The Skulls’ - Insider Secrets Of The New World Orderlies,” Review By Uri Dowbenko, 4/5/00.

[8]. Max Warburg, who had been the Kaiser’s banker, was not exiled with him to Holland after the 1918 Armistice, but instead became the advisor to the latter government under the Nazis. Paul Warburg of the Wall Street investment house Kuhn, Loeb Company had also participated in the drafting of the Federal Reserve Act at Jekyll Island, and headed the U.S. banking system during the war. Warburg was Rockefeller’s partner in banking at the same time his brother Max was financing the Nazi war machine. Another principal Rockefeller partner, Jacob Schiff of Kuhn, Loeb, had been born in the Rothschild house in Frankfurt and was now the principal Rothschild representative in the U.S.

Contrary to popular opinion, Jews like the Rothschilds aren’t really Jewish, having forsaken their birthright and converted in order to move freely within the gentile business world. In Yiddish such Jews are known as “Hofjudn.”

[9]. Webster Griffin Tarpley and Anton Chaitkin, George Bush: The Unauthorized Biography. (Washington, DC, Executive Intelligence Review, 1992); Bowen, Op. Cit., p. 10.

“During the war, that Trust produced a massive 50.8% of Nazi Germany’s pig iron, 45.5% of their pipes and tubes, 22.1% of their wire, and 35% of their battlefield explosives. At the time, this information stunned the American public, and revealed the Bush family’s central role in financing and arming Adolf Hitler for his domination of Europe. But since then, the media has virtually buried all such reports.” (Webster Griffin Tarpley and Anton Chaitkin, George Bush: The Unauthorized Biography. (Washington, DC, Executive Intelligence Review, 1992.)

[10]. John Loftus and Mark Aarons, The Secret War Against The Jews: How Western Espionage Betrayed The Jewish People (New York, NY: St. Martin’s Press, 1994.), quoted in Tarpley and Chaitkin, pp. 357-361 2. Ibid., pp. 362-364.

[11]. A 1934 congressional investigation alleged that Walker’s Hamburg-Amerika Line subsidized a wide range of pro-Nazi propaganda efforts both in Germany and the United States.

[12]. Tarpley and Chaitkin, Op Cit.

[13]. Ibid.

[14]. Gyeorgos C. Hatonn, Rape of The Constitution; Death of Freedom.

As Lieutenant Colonel Bo Gritz writes in his book, Called to Serve, the man who wrote the Warren Commission report “was Dr. Rudolph August “Otto” Winnaker, who was described in “Who’s Who in the CIA” as an analyst for the wartime OSS, historian in the U.S. War Department from 1945-49, and then Chief of the Historical Division of the Pentagon. What is not listed is that Dr. Winnaker was once of 26 official historians for Hitler’s Third Reich!” Quite fitting.

[15]. Christopher Simpson, Blowback: America’s Recruitment of Nazi’s and Its Effect on the Cold War (New York, NY: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1988.)

[16]. Russell S. Bowen, The Immaculate Deception: The Bush Crime Family Exposed (Carson City, NV: America West Publishers, 1991), p. 2.

[17]. Ibid., p. 12.

[18]. John Loftus and Mark Aarons, The Secret War Against The Jews: How Western Espionage Betrayed The Jewish People (New York, NY: St. Martin’s Press, 1994.), quoted in Tarpley and Chaitkin, pp. 357-361 2. Ibid., pp. 362-364.

[19]. George Bush with Victor Gold, Looking Forward (New York, NY: Doubleday, 1987), pp. 36-39, quoted in Bowen, Op. Cit., pp. 15-16.

[20]. Dallas Morning News, 9/28/99; Dallas Morning News, 10/30/99.

[21]. The Boston Globe, 5/23/00.

[22]. Martin Heldt, “Isikoff manages to make gone with 9 of the 12 months G.W. Bush was missing from Air Guard duty,” On-Line Journal, 7/13/00.

[23]. Linda L. Starr and Bev Conove, “Former National Guard officer says Bush aide scrubbed military records,” On-Line Journal, 11/4/00. “This effort was further involved by General Daniel James and Chief of Staff William W. Goodwin at Camp Mabry,” said Burkett.

[24]. “Texas National Air Guard grounded George W. for failure to take medical exam,” On-Line Journal, 2/7/00.

[25]. According to Patricia Kilday Hart’s article on Dubya, he came under attack in the University Daily, a Texas Tech newspaper, for promising free beer at a campaign rally. Linda Starr, “Despite Yale diploma, George W. was rejected by U of Texas Law School,” 10/12/99, cited in On-Line Journal.

[26]. The Heritage Groups Council was also tied to Richard Nixon.

[27]. Ibid.

[28]. Loftus and Aarons, Op. Cit., pp. 365-371.

[29]. San Francisco Chronicle, 5/7/77, quoted in Bowen, pp. 30-31.

[30]. Stich, Op. Cit., p. 28. Parker was a Marine Colonel assigned to Naval Intelligence.

[31]. Ibid.

According to Bush’s account, Nixon told him that “the place I really need you is over at the National Committee running things.” In 1972, Nixon appointed Bush as head of the Republican National Committee. He later appointed Bush Ambassador to China.

[32]. Ibid., p. 32.

[33]. Ibid., pp.35-36; The memo addressed the possible reaction of Cubans in Miami who might have believed Fidel Castro was responsible for the plot.” (Harry V. Martin, “French Connection, The Smoking Gun If Bush went to Paris, the French and U.S. have documents to prove it,” Napa Sentinel, 1991 Sixth in a Series.)

[34]. Anthony L. Kimery, “George Bush and the CIA: In the Company of Friends,” Covert Action Quaterly, Summer, 1992.

When he was found riddled with bullet holes fired by Colombian drug cartel hitmen, drug-smuggler Barry Seal would have George Bush’s telephone number in his pocket.

[35]. Uri Dowbenko, “Up Against the Beast,” Nexus magazine, April-May, 2000.

This author met with Carone’s daughter, Dee Ferdinand, and was presented with her revealing depositions, plus a number of her fathers affidavits. In fact, a national radio interview I did with Dee Ferdinand caused Ted Shackley to go ballistic.

[36]. Kimery, Op. Cit.

Bush would play another role in domestic counter-intelligence. In 1962, Bush’s father Prescott, along with William Casey, founded the National Strategy Information Center, a right-wing think-tank which used CIA funds to publish anti-left tracts.

[37]. “Reputed Cocaine Bank Money Laundry Wizard for George Bush Family Arrested,” Skolnick Report, 1/28/00. Sherman Skolnick founded the Chicago-based Citizens’ Committee to Clean Up the Courts in 1961. He is an expert in tracking money flows.

[38]. Cathy O’Brien & Mark Phillips, Trance Formation of America, pp. 196-197.

[39]. Confidential interview with author. The Colonel told his wife about having sex with Bush and wrote about it in his diary. He was one of Oliver North’s bosses.

Casey had also been a friend of Bush’s father, Prescott.

King is now serving a 15-year federal prison sentence for fraud.

[40]. John DeCamp, The Franklin Cover-Up: Child Abuse, Satanism and Murder in Nebraska (Lincoln, Nebraska: AWT, Inc., 1992), p. 164.

[41]. “Homosexual Prostitution Probe Ensnares Official of Bush, Reagan: Call Boys Took Midnight Tour of White House.,” Washington Times , 6/29/89, quoted in: Webster G. Tarpley and Anton Chaitkin write in George Bush: The Unauthorized Biography (Washington, DC: EIR,

[42]. John Lichfield, “White House ‘Great Gatsby’ Lands in a New York Jail Cell,” The Independent (UK), 8/10/89; John Lichfield, “White House Midnight Rambler Found Dead,” The Independent, 11/13/89; John Mintz, Martha Sherill and Elsa Walsh “The Shadow World of Craig Spence,” Washington Post, 7/18/89.

FBI Agent Donald Rochon, in a lawsuit against the Bureau filed in 1989, states that he had observed Special Agent Dillon “French kissing” SA Agent Terry Bohle and had “personally witnessed” Dillon “exposing himself in the Omaha office during a regular work day to numerous employees, both male and female.” Rochon also heard reports, substantiated by another agent, that Dillon had allowed Bohle to urinate in his mouth and to “urinate into a beer bottle [from] which he subsequently drank.” For his part, Dillon said that the urinating in his mouth was an “accident.” (John DeCamp, The Franklin Cover-Up: Chile Abuse, Satanism and Murder in Nebraska [Lincoln, NE: AWT, 1996], pp. 198-199.)

[43]. Ibid., p. 250.

Witnesses saw explosions in the air. Naturally, the NTSB covered it up, as they would do in numerous other cases.

[44]. King was appointed to the Reagan/Bush re-election committee by National Republican Council Chairperson LeFree Daniels.

Some of the allegations involving the CIA’s mind-control “Monarch Project,” involving children, were confirmed by DeCamp’s long-time friend William Colby, former Director of the CIA, who wound up dead shortly after the publication of DeCamp’s book.

[45]. DeCamp, Op. Cit., p. 322.

[46]. Ibid., p. 12.

[47]. Omaha World-Herald, 7/23/89.

[48]. Gentleman’s Quarterly, December 1991.

[49]. Peter Sawyer, “The Original Allegations: Bush First Named in 1985,’’ Inside News, November, 1991, quoted in Tarpley and Chaitkin. “The newsletter reproduces several documents on Lisa’s case, including a Nebraska State Police report, a State of Nebraska Foster Care Review Board letter to the Attorney General, an investigative report prepared for the Franklin Committee of the Nebraska Senate, and a portion of the handwritten debriefing by Mrs. Julie Walters.”

[50]. Report, by Julie Walters, 3/25/86; authenticated by her in an interview in 1990 with authors Tarpley and Chaitkin.

[51]. Report, early 1989, compiled by Jerry Lowe, the first investigator for the Franklin Committee of the Nebraska State Senate, quoted in Tarpley and Chaitkin. “The March 1986 report on Bush was incorporated into the Foster Care Review Board’s official report presented to the Senate Franklin Committee and to law enforcement.”

[52]. “Department of the Treasury, United States Customs Service, Report of Investigation, Subject: ‘Finders,” 2/12/87, copy in author’s possession.

Italics mine.

[53]. “Department of the Treasury, United States Customs Service, Report of Investigation, Subject: ‘Finders,” 2/12/87, copy in author’s possession. Italics mine.

Revell would later sue this author, my publisher, Feral House, and several other parties for libel in federal court for what I wrote about him regarding his involvement in Pan Am 103 in my book, The Oklahoma City Bombing and the Politics of Terror. A federal judge ruled in our favor. Revell also sued the Columbia Journalsm Review over the same matter.

[54]. According to Aquino, Set visited him in 1975 and anointed him “Magus V of the Age of Set,” thereby terminating LaVey’s “Age of Satan.” To spruce himself up for the role, Aquino plucked his eyebrows, had the number “666” tattooed on his scalp, and cut his hair into a severe widow’s peak. He christened his wife Lilith as “Magistra” in the new Temple of Set.

[55]. David Hoffman, “Do What Thou Wilt, Satanism and The Temple of Set,” Haight Ashbury Free Press, September-October, 1995. Why do people join satanic groups? Sociologist Gini Graham Scott, who studied the group in the early 1980s and published her findings in a book titled The Magicians, described the average member as people frustrated with everyday problems who are led to want power. Scott ended by concluding that the Setians contributed, via their philosophy, to a “growing climate of fear and hatred in America,” a position which Acquino virulently denies, terming Satan[ism] “a champion of anti-hypocrisy - a crusader against the corruption and moral bankruptcy of society.” Such philosophies have sometimes led to brutal and bizarre deaths at the hands of disturbed teenagers eager to experiment with the occult. Said LaVey, the Heavy Metal kids who talk about Satan are usually not affiliated with either organization. “They make the sign of the horns at concerts,” “and they don’t know why they are doing it. But it’s good that they’re doing it.” (Raising Hell, Michael Newton, Avon Books, 1993) According to spokespersons, neither The Church of Satan nor The Temple of Set have ever practiced human or animal sacrifice. Anton LaVey once said, “I will have no mercy on people who are cruel to animals.” The use of magick, however, to harm ones enemies, is acceptable in these organizations. When Jane Mansfield died in a car accident, LaVey said it was because she had asked him to put a curse on her boyfriend. He did, it worked, and Jane unfortunately just happened to be in the car. When busybody neighbors made authorities evict LaVey’s pet lion, Tagore, LaVey put a curse on them. Before long, most of the culprits had died, disappeared or moved away.

[56]. Ibid., pp. 326-327.

[57]. Giovanni Caporaso and Massimilino Cocozza Lubisco, Pronto (Barcelona, Spain), 8/3/91 and 8/10/91.

[58]. DeCamp, Op. Cit., p. 188.

[59]. Ibid., p. 182.

[60]. Ibid., p. 195.

[61]. Ibid.

[62]. Ibid., p. 196.

[63]. Ibid.

This is a pattern that would be repeated by the FBI and the “Justice” Department at the Oklahoma City bombing trials. A tearful Daina Bradley—a bombing witness and victim—would be coerced into changing her story about her sighting of John Doe Two, a federal government agent, at the scene of the crime.

[64]. Ibid., p. 195.

[65]. Ibid., pp. 210-211.

[66]. Ibid., pp. 250-251.

[67]. Stich, Op. Cit., p. 442; Former NYPD Detective Jim Rothstein, interview with author.

[68]. DeCamp, Op. Cit., p. 175.

Emphasis mine.

[69]. DeCamp, Op. Cit., p. 240, pp. 322-323.

[70]. Bo Gritz, Called to Serve (Sandy Valley, NV: Lazarus Publishing, 1991), p. 403.

[71]. Stich, Op. Cit., pp. 23-28. Stich’s sources are all former CIA operatives: Trenton Parker, Gunther Russbacher, and Russell Bowen.

[72]. See Russell S. Bowen, Immaculate Deception (Carson City, NV: America West Publishers, 1991). The pilot has visited and worked in Colombia and much of the rest of South America for over three decades, establishing several national airlines in the process in conjunction with the State Department. Shackley has also been placed in meetings concerning the sale of TOW missiles to Iran with Iran-contra arms dealer Manucher Ghorbanifar in Hamburg, Germany in 1984. (Harry V. Martin, Lars C. Hansson, “Noriega,” Napa Sentinel series, 1995.)

When Bowen became disenchanted with the operations, he contacted U.S. Customs in Miami. Nothing happened. Then during a 1982 flight in which Shackley and CIA operative Henry Meierhoffer ferried 800 pounds of cocaine from Medellin to Miami, Bowen blew the whistle by landing the plane at a different airport—an airport heavily monitored by the authorities. The plan backfired and Bowen was arrested and denied his rights to defend himself at trial.

[73]. Stich, Op. Cit., p. 34.

[74]. Harry V. Martin, Lars C. Hansson, “Noriega,” Napa Sentinel series, 1995.

[75]. His letters arrived in envelopes with stamps and postmark clearly indicating they had been mailed from Medellin, Colombia. In was also conveyed to Snepp that the pilot claimed the company was tied directly to Interarms, the world's largest supplier of small-arm/automatic weapons, run by longtime CIA asset Samuel Cummings, brother-in-law of the late Senator John Tower of Texas.(Ibid.)

[76]. Martin and Hansson, Op Cit.

[77]. Stich, Op. Cit., pp. 23-28. Stich’s sources are all former CIA operatives: Trenton Parker, Gunther Russbacher, and Russell Bowen.

[78]. Tarpley and Chaitkin, Op. Cit.

“They also had government contracts with large U.S. steel companies, such as the steel foundry in Granite City, Illinois, located across from St. Louis, Mo,” says Maholy. “They were licensed by the U.S. government, to melt down and destroy confiscated weapons that various government, state and local law agencies acquired, during their raids on people in the drug and or other illegal businesses.” Maholy says the better weapons were not melted down, but traded for drugs. “A common tactic for the transfer of these weapons,” says Maholy, “would be to take the highly desired automatic weapons down to some South or Central American country, where there is little or no money, but large amounts of drugs. They would tell the militia groups that they can possess state-of-the-art weapons and ammunition, for whatever drugs they can produce. Since they have little, if any, money, the militia would cultivate large quantities of the drugs. They are easily swayed and convinced into doing business with agents of the CIA who are trained specially for this huge money making scam that benefits those few wealthy defrauders on Capitol Hill.”

[79]. Michael Maholy, e-mail to author.

Maholy was ultimately set up to take the fall. “People like Russell Bowen, and Basil Abbott, and the infamous and now deceased Barry Seal, whose brother is a co-defendant of mine, were taken out of the game also, along with me.”

[80]. Ibid., pp. 41.44.

[81]. Ibid., p. 60.

[82]. Ibid., p. 100. Other accounts were set up for William Casey and Richard Armitage.

The code names for the smuggling operations were: Short Flight, Burma Road, Morning Gold and Triangle. General Khun Sa, the source of approximately 40 percent of the heroin to the U.S., offered to replace his poppy production with other crops in exchange for financial aid. The State Department refused. Shackley’s chief aide was Thomas Clines.

[83]. Kimery, Op. Cit.

[84]. “Special Select Commission Appointed to Investigate Drug Traffic Crimes,” 7/20/89, quoted in Stich, Op. Cit., p. 7.

[85]. Texas Observer, 6/17/94.

[86]. Stich, Op. Cit., p. 3.

Some of the code names for the Central and South American operations were Snow Cone, Black Eagle, Toilet Seat and Watchtower.

[87]. “Joint Investigation by the Arkansas State Attorney General’s Office and the United States Congress,” 6/21/91, printed in the Portland Free Press, January/February, 1997.

[88]. Bowen, Op. Cit., p. 97.

[89]. Ibid., p. 102.

Seal was killed on February 19, 1986. The FBI seized his personal belongings, successfully hiding evidence of his involvement with CIA/NSC drug running, including a card with George Bush’s phone number.

[90]. The allegations were reported by Mike Ruppert and Terry Reed.

[91]. Stich, Op. Cit., p. 93.

[92]. Ibid., p. 88.

[93]. “Kingpin Indictment of George Bush,” excerpted from a draft indictment of George Bush prepared by former DEA agent Celerino Castillo and the editors of Executive Intelligence Review. All the evidence contained in this draft indictment has been thoroughly documented. Most of it has been taken either from the Kerry Report of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, or the Final Report on Iran-Contra.

[94]. Thomas Burdick and Charlene Mitchell, Blue Thunder (New York, NY: 1990), p. 34, quoted in Tarpley and Chaitkin.

According to CIA operative Richard Brenneke, Bush’s National Security Advisor, Donald Gregg, became Bush’s aide specifically to coordinate Israel’s Contra account. Brenneke claims he phoned Gregg’s office often in early 1983 for instructions to be given to his Israeli suppliers. It was known as Operation Tipped Kettle. As Gregg would later state regarding himself and George Bush: “We never discussed the contras. We had no responsibility for it. We had no expertise in it.” Bush mimed his oft-repeated mantra that he was “out of the loop.”

[95]. Stich, Op. Cit., p. 229.

[96]. Michael Ruppert, From the Wilderness, 7/28/99; “Bush Sting Witness Speaks Out Evidence that Could Burn Bush Campaign,” Nitro News, no date provided.

As Governor of Texas, Bush aggressively incarcerated ordinary citizens for relatively minor amounts of drug possession—invoking some of the country’s harshest sentences—at the same time he was reportedly involved with major drug smugglers! J.H. Hatfield, author of Fortunate Son, published by St Martins Press, quotes unnamed sources as saying that George W. Bush, Jr. was arrested for cocaine possession in 1972. The book said a Republican state judge had the record expunged in exchange for community service as a favor to Bush’s father, who had helped him get elected. Bush sanctimoniously said that he views himself as a “lowly sinner” but his religious faith brings him solace and reconciliation. “It’s where I find my strength and my solace and my comfort as a person.” (“Bush Finds Solace in Religious Faith,” Reuters, 1/28/00.)

[97]. Joe Conason and John Kelly, “Bush as Drug Czar, Village Voice, 10/11/88, quoted in Kimery, Op. Cit.

[98]. D.G. “Chip” Tatum and Nancy J. Tatum, “PEGASUS An American Spy Story Book Two,” 1996.

[99]. Bowen, Op. Cit., p. 194.

Some contend Silverado, at the hands of Neil Bush, was a money laundry for illicit funds including reportedly narcotics trafficking.

[100]. Jack Colhoun, “Contra Backer Dipped Into S&L’s Deep Pockets,” Guardian (New York), 10/31/90, quoted in Kimery, Op. Cit.

[101]. Skolnick, Op. Cit.

[102]. Bowen, Op. Cit., pp. 108-109; “Bush, Drugs, and Pakistan,” The Nation, 11/14/88, quoted in Tarpley and Chaitkin, Op. Cit.

[103]. Stich, Op. Cit., p. 90.

As CIA Director Stansfield Turner said: “I will affirm Bush had him (Noriega) on the CIA payroll.” (Bo Gritz, Called to Serve, p. 404)

[104]. John Stockwell, interview on the Pacifica Radio Network, quoted in John DiNardo, “Part 10, Lure To War: Bush Sucks Saddam Into Kuwait,” The Peoples’ Spell Breaker, 6/28/97. According to USA Today of 5/22/90, Noriega “will suspend potentially embarrassing subpoenas for CIA and other records the defense says show at least $11 million of the assets came from the U.S. government.”

Noriega had at least once been a house guest of Vernon Walters, DCI Bush’s Deputy Director.

[105]. Frederick Kempe, Divorcing the Dictator: America’s Bungled Affair with Noriega (1990), p. 162.

[106]. “Mejia made that assessment three days before the fourth anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Panama. Mejia spoke at a Dec. 17 meeting at the International Action Center in New York.” -Workers World Service, 12/27/93. “[The announcement came] less than six hours before H. Hour, making it impossible for reporters to make it to Panama in time for the start of JUST CAUSE.” - The Commanders - Bob Woodward p.178.

Carlton testified that he offered information to the DEA in Panama in July of 1987, who refused to take the information. Carlton had frequent contacts with the Medellin and Cali cartels, as well as taped phone conversations, documents and information about money laundering, drugs, weapons and assassinations. Instead of accepting the evidence, the “Justice” Department, as they would do with hundreds of other whistleblowers over the years, had Carlton arrested to silence him.

[107]. Michael Williams, e-mails to author.

[108]. Ibid.

As Congressman Larry McDonald’s stated before his plane was shot down: “The drive of the Rockefellers and their allies (Bush, et. al.) is to create a one-world government combining supercapitalism and Communism under the same tent, all under their control.... Do I mean conspiracy? Yes I do. I am convinced there is such a plot, international in scope, generations old in planning, and incredibly evil in intent.”

[109]. Ibid., p. 90

[110]. Tatum, Op. Cit.

This testimony was given by the daughter of the Kuwaiti ambassador, and was later proven to be a lie. In fact, no babies were pulled out of incubators. This is, however, similar to what George Creels’ American Alliance for Labor and Democracy did to stir up public emotions just prior to America’s involvement in WWI. As Professor Noam Chomsky writes: “...there was a good deal of fabrication of atrocities by the Huns, Belgian babies with their arms torn off, all sorts of awful things that you still read in history books. They were all invented by the British propaganda ministry, whose own commitment at the time, as they put it in their secret deliberations, was ‘to control the thought of the world.’” (Alternative Press Review, Fall 1993.)

[111]. Agee, Op Cit.

[112]. Jeffrey T. Richelson, The U.S. Intelligence Community, p.356.

[113]. Time, in fact, went so far as to say that Iraq’s claims to Kuwait were “without any historical basis.” - Agee

[114]. Agee, Op Cit. (author’s note: George Bush is actually the 13th cousin (twice removed) of Queen Elizabeth.)

[115]. For references to Noriega’s role in drug trafficking and laundering proceeds for the CIA through Panamanian banks, see the affidavit of Colonel Edward P. Cutolo, commander of the 10th Special Forces Group (Airborne), 1st Special Forces, 3/11/80.

[116]. Robert Parry, “Clouds Over George Bush,” The Consortium, 12/29/98.

[117]. Amnesty International figures.

[118]. Australia East Timor Association, “Tortures by Suharto’s Ratbags,” posted on website.

[119]. Noam Chomsky, “End The Atrocity In East Timor,” 3/22/95, posted on Internet. Australia also trains Indonesia's elite Kopassus troops, the very troops occupying East Timor.

General Suharto would make another concession on behalf of George Bush in 1996 when he allowed Bush’s favorite mining company, Barrick Goldstrike of Canada, owned by Peter Munk, to take over mining rights from geologist Mike de Guzman. De Guzman had announced the discovery of what was believed to be the world’s richest gold field. He was later told he would have to turn over 68 per cent of his claim to Barrick. Fortunately, De Guzman’s problems were solved when he fell out of a helicopter courtesy of Freeport-McMoRan Mining Company (owned by Louisianan Jim-Bob Moffett), who had his own stake in the deal. As for Munk, he was capitalized by Saudi arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi—a key supplier in Bush’s Iran-Contra pipeline. In 1996 Bush had a quiet chat with Mobutu Seko, then dictator of Zaire. Mobutu subsequently granted Barrick exclusive diamond mining rights. In a manner that would make General Suharto proud, Barrick’s operation in neighboring Tanzania was accused by Amnesty International of carrying out “extra-judicial killings.” Amnesty reports that 50 independent miners who refused to move off Barrick’s concessions were buried alive in the pits by company bulldozers. In 1992, in the final hours of the Bush Presidency, Barrick took control of U.S. government-owned property containing an estimated $10 billion in gold. For the works, Barrick paid the U.S. Treasury only $10,000. Barrick would subsequently reward Bush by donating $148,000 to the Republican Party while Bush was campaigning for President. (Gregory Palast, “Best democracy money can buy,” The Guardian [UK], 11/26/00.)

[**] The U.S. Oil companies which participated include Phillips Petroleum, Chevron, Oryx Energy, and USX/Marathon. In the next few years the American military doubled their supplies to Indonesian armed forces. “In December 1989 after he was exposed as having secretly violated his own announced sanctions against China over the Tiananmen massacre, Bush emphasized that ‘I think we were positioned in the forefront of human rights.’” - Michael Duffy and Dan Goodgame, Marching in Place, p.182.

In March of 1991, Glaspie testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, insisting the Iraqis had lied about her conversation with Hussein. In July, however, the Committee obtained copies of the secret cables she had sent from Iraq summarizing the meeting. They showed that the Iraqis had not lied. In September of 1991, a subcommittee of the House Foreign Affairs Committee revealed that State Department official Margaret Tutwiler and Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern and Far Eastern Affairs John H. Kelly had both repeated the identical “no commitment to defend Kuwait” stance when questioned by House members.

[120]. Agee, Op Cit.; Elaine Sciolino, “Envoy’s Testimony on Iraq is Assailed, Senators Say Glaspie Misled Them on Hussein Talks,” New York Times, 7/13/91; Elaine Sciolino with Michael R. Gordon, “U.S. Gave Iraq Little Reason Not to Mount Kuwait Assault,” New York Times, 9/ 23/91, quoted in John McManus, The Insiders (Appleton, WI: Western Islands, 1992).

[121]. Chomsky, Op Cit.

[122]. Noam Chomsky and David Barsamian, Chronicles of Dissent, p. 305; Both the Bush and Clinton administrations Justice Departments agreed not to prosecute these big name American corporations for trading with the enemy. Such trading with the enemy is tantamount to treason.

[123]. Ibid.

[124]. Jack Colhoun, “Bush Administration Uses CIA To Stonewall Iraqgate Investigation,” Covert Action Quarterly, date unknown. “The administration’s pro-Baghdad policy, spelled out in National Security Directive-26, adopted on October 2, 1989, was based on promoting U.S. trade with Iraq. The Commerce Department routinely approved applications from U.S. companies for the export to Iraq of “dual-use” technology, which has civilian and military applications.”

BCCI financed both Republicans and Democrats. The bank was formed with money from the Bank of America, the largest shareholders of which are the Rothschilds of Chicago, Paris, London and Switzerland. On Columbus Day weekend of 1988, BCCI’s U.S. offices were seized by the Reagan/Bush administration. One of the reasons was to stop BCCI’s funding of the Dukakis campaign.

Following the war, Bush wrote to the Oil Minister of Kuwait on behalf of Chevron Oil Corporation. Bush says he “had no stake in the Chevron operation.” “Following this selfless use of his influence, the oil company put $657,000 into Republican Party coffers.... Not all of the elder Bush’s work is voluntary. His single talk to the board of Global Crossing, the telecoms start-up, earned him $13m in stock. The company also kicked in another million for [Dubya’s Presidential] run. (Palast, Op. Cit. )

[125]. Donald S. McAlvany, “Germ Warfare Against America. Part I. Overseas Infections,” McAlvany Intelligence Advisor, August 1996, quoted in S.A.F.A.N. Internet Newsletter, No. 88, October 4, 1996. “In a New York Times article (5/22/91) entitled, ‘Health Crisis Said to Grip Iraq In Wake of War’s Destruction,’ It was reported that child mortality soared in the first four months of 1991, up 55,000 over the same period in 1990.”

[126]. As Captain Joyce Riley, a nurse and GWI activist testified: “They were given medications—they didn't know what they were.... Everybody was incredibly sick afterwards.... We don’t know what pills the troops took. We don’t know what we were subjected to. ”

Like the thousands of U.S. soldiers who were intentionally exposed to nuclear radiation during the 1950s—many of whom died of cancer, or the thousands exposed to Agent Orange during Vietnam, these veterans were just another casualty in the Federal Government’s long list of crimes against its own people—the same crimes it prosecuted Nazi doctors for at Nuremberg. The code that resulted from those trials was a 10-point declaration stating that voluntary and informed consent is essential from all human subjects who participate in research, whether during war or peace.

The Iraqi dictator received 25 percent of the proceeds of oil shipped to the West. When oil was 20 dollars per barrel, Hussein split the 5 dollar per barrel kick-back with Bush. A trillion dollars of oil was shipped from the Gulf during the decade 1980 to 1990. The corrupt rake-off amounted to 25 billion dollars per year, making Saddam Hussein and Bush the richest men on the planet. (Sherman H. Skolnick, “What is Whitewater Really All About?” Skolnick Report, no date provided.)

According to the Chicago Tribune, “In the 1950s [the Liedtke brothers] teamed up with then-oilman George Bush and John Overby to form Zapata Oil Co. Then they went on to form Penzoil.” BCCI also has records showing joint business ventures between Bush and Manuel Noriega.

Kerry would go on to play a role in covering up CIA/NSC’s drug running, including the frame-up of William Tyree, a Special Forces soldier who participated in drug-running operations under orders from his superiors (See Chapter XX). Other people, such as Clark Gifford, would be framed to take the fall for Bush.

[127]. Bowen, Op. Cit., pp. 152-154.

[128]. Jack Colhoun, “Bush Administration Uses CIA To Stonewall Iraqgate Investigation,” Covert Action Quarterly, date unknown. “The administration’s pro-Baghdad policy, spelled out in National Security Directive-26, adopted on October 2, 1989, was based on promoting U.S. trade with Iraq. The Commerce Department routinely approved applications from U.S. companies for the export to Iraq of “dual-use” technology, which has civilian and military applications.”

[129]. Rick Wiles, “Bush Family’s Dirty Little Secret,” American Freedom News, September, 2001.

[130]. Thomas Petzinger, Jr., Peter Truell, and Jill Abramson, “How Oil Firm Linked to a Son of Bush Won Bahrain Drilling Pact,” Wall Street Journal, 12/6/91; Johathan Beaty and S. G. Gwynne, “A Mysterious Mover of Money and Planes, Time, 10/8/91, quoted in Kimery, Op. Cit. According to the company’s 1989 proxy statement, Bush held 345,426 shares of Harken’s common stock, or less than 1.1 percent of the total. Bush, Jr.’s involvement with Harken was first revealed by Houston Post investigative reporter Pete Brewton.

The future President completed his key insider trade eight days before Harken announced a $23 million second quarter loss and about six weeks before the invasion. The chairman of the SEC at the time of the “investigation” was Richard Breedon, former lawyer with the Houston firm of Baker and Botts, who served as Deputy Counsel to Bush Sr. in the Reagan (read Bush) administration. The SEC investigation of George Jr. was led by General Counsel James R. Doty who, according to a UPI report, mysteriously neglected to interview any of the Harken directors, including Jr. himself. Doty had previously served as Jr.’s personal lawyer during his purchase of the Texas Rangers. (Tom Flocco and Michael C. Ruppert, “All Roads Lead to Deustchebank And Harken Energy, W’s Own 1991 Insider Trading Scam – The Mother of All Enrons, From the Wilderness, 2002.)

[131]. Uri Dowbenko, “The Man Who Knows Too Much: An Interview with Al Martin, author of “The Conspirators: Secrets of an Iran Contra Insider” (PART 1).

[132]. Kimery, Op. Cit.

[133]. Jack Colhoun, “Prescott Bush and the Gangsters,” Lies of Our Times, April, 1992; and Robert J. McCartney, “Japanese Company Sues Bush Brother,” Washington Post, 6/16/92, quoted in Ibid.

[134]. Kimery, Op. Cit.

[135]. “Censored 1999: The News That Didn’t Make The News,” Seven Stories Press, 1999, reported in, Carla Binion, “Anti-Semitism, racism and a Bush Family organization,” On-Line Journal, no date provided.

[136]. John Spicer Nichols, “La Prensa: The CIA Connection,” Columbia Journalism Review, July-August, 1988, quoted in Ibid.

[137]. AmeriCares website.

[138]. Quoted in the New American, 9/16/96.

[139]. Husayn Al-Kurdi, “What Really Happened in the ‘Safe Haven?’” Portland Free Press, November/December, 1996.

[140]. Bush’s April 16 Press Conference.

[141]. Chomsky, Op Cit.

Cathy O’Brien—claiming to have personally witnessed this, paranormal researcher and author David Icke and others—say that Bush and some other top leaders are actually reptilian aliens masquerading as human-beings.

[ericg]

http://www.ae911truth.org/links.php
http://www.911truth.org/article.php?story=20041026093059633
http://www.justicefor911.org/
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/

[Waus]

QUIT IT:mad:

[Bob]

if you start at the top of the page, and hold the "page down" key, it takes 13 seconds to reach the bottom

[Schmeltz]

Not if you have him on ignore it doesn't. (y)

[ericg]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_H3XzLUijA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBKbYsdlDGU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxRpYpVL9bE

SINCE TRYING TO PERFORM TESTING, DR BILL HAS HAD SPECIMENS AND LABS IN THE US TRY TO PERFORM INCORRECT TESTING PROTOCOLS -- HIS CONTACT DR ASAF DURAKOVICS MD PhD - NUCLEAR PHYSICIAN AND HIS WORK WITH DR YAMAMOTO RE JAPANESE TROOPS IN SOUTHER IRAQ POISONED WITH DU.

AFTER DR DEAGLE MD'S REQUEST, DR DURAKOVIC'S FAMILY AND DR YAMAMOTO PhD IN JAPAN RECEIVED DEATH THREATS FOR EVEN ATTEMPTING TO PERFORM --> GAMMA SPECTROSCOPY WITH GERMANIUM DETECTORS & NEUTRON ACTIVATION STUDIES THAT REQUIRE THE PRESENCE OF A NEUTRON SOURCE FROM A NUCLEAR REACTOR.


TESTING WILL PROCEED!

[ericg]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8b5Ea3dgK3c
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dw1uvaUAekw

[ericg]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kpWqdPMjmo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rRqeJcuK-A

the media shows concern in a form, not of 'reporting', but of decreeing...

[Lyman Zerga]

do you ever run out of words?

[NoFenders]

We can only pray.

:cool:

[ericg]

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2384105525501310962&q=msg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8kgJfw699E

MSG - The Slow Poisoning Of America

MSG Hides Behind 25+ Names, Such As 'Natural Flavouring'.
MSG Is Also In Your Favorite Coffee Shops And Drive-Ups.
I wondered if there could be an actual chemical causing the massive obesity epidemic, so did a friend of mine, John Erb.
He was a research assistant at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada, and spent years working for the government.
He made an amazing discovery while going through scientific journals for a book he was writing called "The Slow Poisoning of America".
In hundreds of studies around the world, scientists were creating obese mice and rats to use in diet or diabetes test studies. No strain of rat or mice is naturally obese, so the scientists have to create them. They make these morbidly obese creatures by injecting them with MSG when they are first born. The MSG triples the amount of insulin the pancreas creates; causing rats (and humans?) to become obese. They even have a title for the fat rodents they create: "MSG-Treated Rats".

I was shocked too. I went to my kitchen, checking the cupboards and the fridge. MSG was in everything: The Campbell's soups, the Hostess Doritos, the Lays flavoured potato chips, Top Ramen, Betty Crocker Hamburger Helper, Heinz canned gravy, Swanson frozen prepared meals, Kraft salad dressings, especially the 'healthy low fat' ones.

The items that didn't have MSG marked on the product label had something called ''Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein'', which is just another name for Monosodium Glutamate.
It was shocking to see just how many of the foods we feed our children everyday are filled with this stuff. They hide MSG under many different names in order to fool those who carefully read the ingredient list, so they don't catch on. (Other names for MSG: 'Accent' - 'Aginomoto' - 'Natural Meet Tenderizer', etc) But it didn't stop there. When our family went out to eat, we started asking at the restaurants what menu items had MSG.

Many employees, even the managers, swore they didn't use MSG. But when we ask for the ingredient list, which they grudgingly provided, sure enough MSG and Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein were everywhere:
Burger King
McDonalds
Wendy's
Taco Bell
And every restaurant like: TGIF, Chilis', Applebees and Denny's use MSG in abundance.
Kentucky Fried Chicken seemed to be the WORST offender: MSG was in EVERY chicken dish, salad dressing and gravy. No wonder I loved to eat that coating on the skin, their secret spice was MSG.
So, why is MSG in so many of the foods we eat?
Is it a preservative or a vitamin?? Not according to my friend John. In the book he wrote, an expose of the food additive industry called "The Slow Poisoning of America" he said that MSG is added to food for the addictive effect it has on the human body. http://www.spofamerica.com

Even the propaganda website sponsored by the food manufacturers lobby group supporting MSG at: http://www.msgfactscom/facts/msgfact12.html explains that the reason they add it to food is to make people EAT MORE OF THEIR PRODUCTS.
A study of the elderly showed that people eat more of the foods it is added to.The Glutamate Association lobby group says eating more benefits the elderly, but what does it do to the rest of us? 'Betcha can't eat just one', takes on a whole new meaning where MSG is concerned! And we wonder why the nation is overweight?

The MSG manufacturers themselves admit that it addicts people to their products. It makes people choose their product over others, and makes people eat more of it than they would if MSG wasn't added.
Not only is MSG scientifically proven to cause obesity, it is an addictive substance! Since its introduction into the American food supply fifty years ago, MSG has been added in larger and larger doses to the pre-packaged meals, soups, snacks and fast foods we are tempted to eat everyday.The FDA has set no limits on how much of it can be added to food. They claim it's safe to eat in any amount. How can they claim it safe when there are hundreds of scientific studies with titles like these? :-
'The monosodium glutamate (MSG) obese rat as a model for the study of exercise in obesity'. GobattoCA, Mello MA, Souza CT, Ribeiro IA.Res Commun Mol Pathol Pharmacol. 2002.
'Adrenalectomy abolishes the food-induced hypothalamic serotonin release in both normal and monosodium glutamate-obese rats'. Guimaraes RB, Telles MM, Coelho VB, Mori C, Nascimento CM, Ribeiro Brain Res Bull. 2002 Aug.
'Obesity induced by neonatal monosodium glutamate treatment in spontaneously hypertensive rats: an animal model of multiple risk factors'. Iwase M, Yamamoto M, Iino K, IchikawaK, Shinohara N, Yoshinari Fujishima Hypertens Res. 1998 Mar.
'Hypothalamic lesion induced by injection of monosodium glutamate in suckling period and subsequent development of obesity'. Tanaka K,
Shimada M, Nakao K, Kusunoki Exp Neurol. 1978 Oct.

Yes, that last study was not a typo, it WAS written in 1978. Both the "medical research community" and "food manufacturers" have known about MSG's side effects for decades! Many more studies mentioned in John Erb's book link MSG to Diabetes, Migraines and headaches, Autism, ADHD and even Alzheimer's. But what can we do to stop the food manufactures from dumping fattening and addictive MSG into our food supply and causing the obesity epidemic we now see?

Even as you read this, G. W. Bush and his corporate supporters are pushing a Bill through Congress called the "Personal Responsibility in Food Consumption Act" also known as the "Cheeseburger Bill", this sweeping law bans anyone from suing food manufacturers, sellers and distributors. Even if it comes out that they purposely added an addictive chemical to their foods. The Bill has already been rushed through the House of Representatives, and is due for the same rubber stamp at Senate level. It is important that Bush and his corporate supporters get it through before the media lets everyone know about 'MSG, the intentional Nicotine for food'.
Several months ago, John Erb took his book and his concerns to one of the highest government health officials in Canada. While sitting in the Government office, the official told him "Sure, I know how bad MSG is, I wouldn't touch the stuff." But this top level government official refused to tell the public what he knew.

The big media doesn't want to tell the public either, fearing legal issues with their advertisers. It seems that the fallout on fast food industry may hurt their profit margin. The food producers and restaurants have been addicting us to their products for years, and now we are paying the price for it. Our children should not be cursed with obesity caused by an addictive food additive. But what can I do about it?... I'm just one voice.

What can I do to stop the poisoning of our children, while our governments are insuring financial protection for the industry that is poisoning us.
This e-mail is going out to everyone I know in an attempt to tell you the truth that the corporate owned politicians and media won't tell you. The best way you can help to save yourself and your children from this drug-induced epidemic, is to forward this email to everyone. With any luck, it will circle the globe before politicians can pass the legislation protecting those who are poisoning us. The food industry learned a lot from the tobacco industry. Imagine if big tobacco had a bill like this in place before someone blew the whistle on Nicotine?
If you are one of the few who can still believe that MSG is good for us, and you don't believe what John Erb has to say, see for yourself. Go to the National Library of Medicine, at http://www.pubmed.com. Type in the words "MSG Obese" and read a few of the 115 medical studies that appear.

We the public, do not want to be rats in one giant experiment and we do not approve of food that makes us into a nation of obese, lethargic, addicted sheep, feeding the food industry's bottom line, while waiting for the heart transplant, diabetic induced amputation, blindness or other obesity induced, life threatening disorders. With your help we can put an end to this poison. Do your part in sending this message out by word of mouth, e-mail or by distribution of this print-out to all your friends all over the world and stop this 'Slow Poisoning of Mankind' by the packaged food industry.

Blowing the whistle on MSG is our responsibility, get the word out.

[ericg]

Statement Regarding Impeachment of Vice President Cheney
Ron Paul Speech to Congress

by Ron Paul
November 6, 2007

Mr. Speaker, I rise, reluctantly, in favor of the motion to table House Resolution 799, Impeaching Richard B. Cheney, Vice President of the United States, of high crimes and misdemeanors, and in favor of referring that resolution to the House Judiciary Committee for full consideration. I voted to table this resolution not because I do not share the gentleman from Ohio’s desire to hold those responsible for the Iraqi debacle accountable; but rather, because I strongly believe that we must follow established protocol in matters of such importance. During my entire time in Congress, I have been outspoken in my opposition to war with Iraq and Iran. I have warned my colleagues and the administration against marching toward war in numerous speeches over the years, and I have voted against every appropriation to continue the war on Iraq.

I have always been strongly in favor of vigorous congressional oversight of the executive branch, and I have lamented our abrogation of these Constitutional obligations in recent times. I do believe, however, that this legislation should proceed through the House of Representatives following regular order, which would require investigation and hearings in the House Judiciary Committee before the resolution proceeds to the floor for a vote. This time-tested manner of moving impeachment legislation may slow the process, but in the long run it preserves liberty by ensuring that the House thoroughly deliberates on such weighty matters. In past impeachments of high officials, including those of Presidents Nixon and Clinton, the legislation had always gone through the proper committee with full investigation and accompanying committee report.

I noted with some dismay that many of my colleagues who have long supported the war changed their vote to oppose tabling the motion for purely political reasons. That move was a disrespectful to the Constitutional function of this body and I could not support such actions with my vote.

I was pleased that the House did vote in favor of sending this legislation to the Judiciary Committee, which essentially directs the committee to examine the issue more closely than it has done to this point.

[ericg]

Zetetic
Date: Nov 11, 2007 11:56 AM


First oil spill in San Francisco Bay. Now this?

Russian oil tanker breaks in two?

MOSCOW, Russia (AP) -- A Russian oil tanker split in two during a fierce storm early Sunday, spilling some 560,000 gallons of fuel into a strait leading to the Black Sea in one of the worst environmental disasters in the region in years, authorities said.

Two freighters carrying sulfur also sank nearby in the Strait of Kerch, a narrow strait linking the Black Sea and the smaller Sea of Azov to the northeast, said Sergei Petrov, a spokesman for the regional branch of Russia's Emergency Situations Ministry.

Operations to rescue the crews of all three ships were under way, officials said.

The oil tanker, the Volganeft-139 -- loaded with about 1.3 million gallons of fuel oil -- was stranded several miles from shore. Stormy weather was preventing emergency workers from collected the spilled oil, authorities said.

"There is serious concern that the spill will continue," Oleg Mitvol, head of the state environmental safety watchdog Rosprorodnadzor said on Vesti 24 television.

He said it could take "several years" to clean up the spill, one of the worst in the region in recent years.

Maxim Stepanenko, a regional prosecutor, told Vesti 24 that the oil tanker -- designed during Soviet times to transport oil on rivers -- was not built to withstand a fierce storm. He said a similar tanker battered by storm developed a crack in its hull but hasn't yet leaked any oil.

Mitvol said while the spilled sulfur did not present an environmental danger, the two freighters could also leak fuel oil from their tanks, adding to the pollution.

A Turkish freighter also has run around in the strait, the RIA Novosti news agency quoted Vladimir Yerygin, chief administrator in the nearby Russian port city of Novorossiisk, as saying.

The Black Sea is bordered by Russia, Turkey, Romania, Bulgaria, Ukraine and Georgia.

Source:
http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/europe/11/11/russia.oilslick.ap/index.html

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The Coup at Home
By Frank Rich


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As Gen. Pervez Musharraf arrested judges, lawyers and human-rights activists in Pakistan last week, our Senate was busy demonstrating its own civic mettle. Chuck Schumer and Dianne Feinstein, liberal Democrats from America’s two most highly populated blue states, gave the thumbs up to Michael B. Mukasey, ensuring his confirmation as attorney general.

So what if America’s chief law enforcement official won’t say that waterboarding is illegal? A state of emergency is a state of emergency. You’re either willing to sacrifice principles to head off the next ticking bomb, or you’re with the terrorists. Constitutional corners were cut in Washington in impressive synchronicity with General Musharraf’s crackdown in Islamabad.

In the days since, the coup in Pakistan has been almost universally condemned as the climactic death knell for Bush foreign policy, the epitome of White House hypocrisy and incompetence. But that’s not exactly news. It’s been apparent for years that America was suicidal to go to war in Iraq, a country with no tie to 9/11 and no weapons of mass destruction, while showering billions of dollars on Pakistan, where terrorists and nuclear weapons proliferate under the protection of a con man who serves as a host to Osama bin Laden.

General Musharraf has always played our president for a fool and still does, with the vague promise of an election that he tossed the White House on Thursday. As if for sport, he has repeatedly mocked both Mr. Bush’s “freedom agenda” and his post-9/11 doctrine that any country harboring terrorists will be “regarded by the United States as a hostile regime.”

A memorable highlight of our special relationship with this prized “ally” came in September 2006, when the general turned up in Washington to kick off his book tour. Asked about the book by a reporter at a White House press conference, he said he was contractually “honor bound” to remain mum until it hit the stores — thus demonstrating that Simon & Schuster had more clout with him than the president. This didn’t stop Mr. Bush from praising General Musharraf for his recently negotiated “truce” to prevent further Taliban inroads in northwestern Pakistan. When the Pakistani strongman “looks me in the eye” and says “there won’t be a Taliban and won’t be Al Qaeda,” the president said, “I believe him.”

Sooner than you could say “Putin,” The Daily Telegraph of London reported that Mullah Omar, the Taliban leader, had signed off on this “truce.” Since then, the Pakistan frontier has become a more thriving terrorist haven than ever.

Now The Los Angeles Times reports that much of America’s $10 billion-plus in aid to Pakistan has gone to buy conventional weaponry more suitable for striking India than capturing terrorists. To rub it in last week, General Musharraf released 25 pro-Taliban fighters in a prisoner exchange with a tribal commander the day after he suspended the constitution.

But there’s another moral to draw from the Musharraf story, and it has to do with domestic policy, not foreign. The Pakistan mess, as The New York Times editorial page aptly named it, is not just another blot on our image abroad and another instance of our mismanagement of the war on Al Qaeda and the Taliban. It also casts a harsh light on the mess we have at home in America, a stain that will not be so easily eradicated.

In the six years of compromising our principles since 9/11, our democracy has so steadily been defined down that it now can resemble the supposedly aspiring democracies we’ve propped up in places like Islamabad. Time has taken its toll. We’ve become inured to democracy-lite. That’s why a Mukasey can be elevated to power with bipartisan support and we barely shrug.

This is a signal difference from the Vietnam era, and not necessarily for the better. During that unpopular war, disaffected Americans took to the streets and sometimes broke laws in an angry assault on American governmental institutions. The Bush years have brought an even more effective assault on those institutions from within. While the public has not erupted in riots, the executive branch has subverted the rule of law in often secretive increments. The results amount to a quiet coup, ultimately more insidious than a blatant putsch like General Musharraf’s.

More Machiavellian still, Mr. Bush has constantly told the world he’s championing democracy even as he strangles it. Mr. Bush repeated the word “freedom” 27 times in roughly 20 minutes at his 2005 inauguration, and even presided over a “Celebration of Freedom” concert on the Ellipse hosted by Ryan Seacrest. It was an Orwellian exercise in branding, nothing more. The sole point was to give cover to our habitual practice of cozying up to despots (especially those who control the oil spigots) and to our own government’s embrace of warrantless wiretapping and torture, among other policies that invert our values.

Even if Mr. Bush had the guts to condemn General Musharraf, there is no longer any moral high ground left for him to stand on. Quite the contrary. Rather than set a democratic example, our president has instead served as a model of unconstitutional behavior, eagerly emulated by his Pakistani acolyte.

Take the Musharraf assault on human-rights lawyers. Our president would not be so unsubtle as to jail them en masse. But earlier this year a senior Pentagon official, since departed, threatened America’s major white-shoe law firms by implying that corporate clients should fire any firm whose partners volunteer to defend detainees in Guantánamo and elsewhere. For its part, Alberto Gonzales’s Justice Department did not round up independent-minded United States attorneys and toss them in prison. It merely purged them without cause to serve Karl Rove’s political agenda.

Tipping his hat in appreciation of Mr. Bush’s example, General Musharraf justified his dismantling of Pakistan’s Supreme Court with language mimicking the president’s diatribes against activist judges. The Pakistani leader further echoed Mr. Bush by expressing a kinship with Abraham Lincoln, citing Lincoln’s Civil War suspension of a prisoner’s fundamental legal right to a hearing in court, habeas corpus, as a precedent for his own excesses. (That’s like praising F.D.R. for setting up internment camps.) Actually, the Bush administration has outdone both Lincoln and Musharraf on this score: Last January, Mr. Gonzales testified before Congress that “there is no express grant of habeas in the Constitution.”

To believe that this corruption will simply evaporate when the Bush presidency is done is to underestimate the permanent erosion inflicted over the past six years. What was once shocking and unacceptable in America has now been internalized as the new normal.

This is most apparent in the Republican presidential race, where most of the candidates seem to be running for dictator and make no apologies for it. They’re falling over each other to expand Gitmo, see who can promise the most torture and abridge the largest number of constitutional rights. The front-runner, Rudy Giuliani, boasts a proven record in extralegal executive power grabs, Musharraf-style: After 9/11 he tried to mount a coup, floating the idea that he stay on as mayor in defiance of New York’s term-limits law.

What makes the Democrats’ Mukasey cave-in so depressing is that it shows how far even exemplary sticklers for the law like Senators Feinstein and Schumer have lowered democracy’s bar. When they argued that Mr. Mukasey should be confirmed because he’s not as horrifying as Mr. Gonzales or as the acting attorney general who might get the job otherwise, they sounded whipped. After all these years of Bush-Cheney torture, they’ll say things they know are false just to move on.

In a Times OpEd article justifying his reluctant vote to confirm a man Dick Cheney promised would make “an outstanding attorney general,” Mr. Schumer observed that waterboarding is already “illegal under current laws and conventions.” But then he vowed to support a new bill “explicitly” making waterboarding illegal because Mr. Mukasey pledged to enforce it. Whatever. Even if Congress were to pass such legislation, Mr. Bush would veto it, and even if the veto were by some miracle overturned, Mr. Bush would void the law with a “signing statement.” That’s what he effectively did in 2005 when he signed a bill that its authors thought outlawed the torture of detainees.

That Mr. Schumer is willing to employ blatant Catch-22 illogic to pretend that Mr. Mukasey’s pledge on waterboarding has any force shows what pathetic crumbs the Democrats will settle for after all these years of being beaten down. The judges and lawyers challenging General Musharraf have more fight left in them than this.

Last weekend a new Washington Post-ABC News poll found that the Democratic-controlled Congress and Mr. Bush are both roundly despised throughout the land, and that only 24 percent of Americans believe their country is on the right track. That’s almost as low as the United States’ rock-bottom approval ratings in the latest Pew surveys of Pakistan (15 percent) and Turkey (9 percent).

Wrong track is a euphemism. We are a people in clinical depression. Americans know that the ideals that once set our nation apart from the world have been vandalized, and no matter which party they belong to, they do not see a restoration anytime soon.

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House Dem defends leadership decision to quash impeachment
by Nick Juliano
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A House Democratic leader defended the party's decision not to pursue the impeachment of Vice President Dick Cheney, saying an effort to oust the man who is among the most vocal pushing for war with Iran is "not even in the top 10" of voters' priorities and would benefit Republicans at the polls next year.

In a heated exchange Thursday with liberal radio host Ed Schultz, Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the deputy Democratic whip, said the party, which dramatically swept into power last year, was more focused on other priorities.

Voters asked Congress "to focus on withdrawing our troops from iraq, on expanding healthcare access. ... They did not ask us to spend any time on the impeachment of the vice president," Wasserman Schultz insisted.

Impeachment would prevent Congress from addressing issues like the war in Iraq, healthcare, renewable energy and the environment.

"That is all the media would focus on. ... And to what end?" she asked, arguing that Bush was the real problem and removing Cheney wouldn't make a significant difference with only a year until the next election.

"We need to tough out the next 12 months and focus hard on the results-oriented Democratic Congress that we know we are," she said.

Schultz argued that results were precisely what was lacking -- especially Democrats' inability to force a change in course in the president's war in Iraq.

"This president has gotten everything that he's wanted from the Democratic Congress since the day you folks took power," the host charged.

Schultz said Democrats need to stand firm and refuse to pass any more funding for the war in Iraq; he said Cheney's impeachment might be the country's best hope to avoid war in Iran.

This week, Democratic Rep. Dennis Kucinich brought a privileged resolution to the House floor that would have impeached Cheney. Republicans foiled an attempt by Democratic Majority Leader Steny Hoyer to kill the motion, and the bill was referred to the Judiciary Committee. Wasserman Schultz voted for Hoyer's motion to table the impeachment bill, and she was defending that vote on Schultz's show Thursday.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has said Conyer's committee would not begin impeachment hearings, although several members of the committee are co-sponsors of Kucinich's impeachment resolution. Rep. Robert Wexler (D-FL), who's district neighbors Wasserman Schultz's, called for the committee to "schedule impeachment hearings immediately".

"I believe Robert Wexler is off base," Wasserman Schultz said.

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Spooks refuse to toe Cheney's line on Iran

By Gareth Porter
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WASHINGTON - The US National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Iran has been held up for more than a year in an effort to force the intelligence community to remove dissenting judgments on the Iranian nuclear program. The aim is to make the document more supportive of Vice President Dick Cheney's militarily aggressive policy toward Iran, according to accounts provided by participants in the NIE process to two former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) officers.

But this pressure on intelligence analysts, obviously instigated by Cheney himself, has not produced a draft estimate without those dissenting views, these sources say. The White House has now apparently decided to release the "unsatisfactory" draft NIE, but without making its key findings public.

A NIE coordinates the judgments of the US's 16 intelligence agencies on a specific country or issue.

A former CIA intelligence officer who has asked not to be identified told Inter Press Service (IPS) that an official involved in the NIE process says the Iran estimate was ready to be published a year ago but has been delayed because the director of national intelligence wanted a draft reflecting a consensus .. conclusions - particularly on Iran's nuclear program.

There is a split in the intelligence community on how much of a threat the Iranian nuclear program poses, according to the intelligence official's account. Some analysts who are less independent are willing to give the benefit of the doubt to the alarmist view coming from Cheney's office, but others have rejected that view.

The draft NIE, first completed a year ago, which had included the dissenting views, was not acceptable to the White House, according to the former intelligence officer. "They refused to come out with a version that had dissenting views in it," he says.

As recently as early October, the official involved in the process was said to be unclear about whether a NIE would be circulated and, if so, what it would say.

Former CIA officer Philip Giraldi provided a similar account, based on his own sources in the intelligence community. He told IPS that intelligence analysts have had to review and rewrite their findings three times, because of pressure from the White House.

"The White House wants a document that it can use as evidence for its Iran policy," says Giraldi. Despite pressures on them to change their dissenting conclusions, however, Giraldi says some analysts have refused to go along with conclusions that they believe are not supported by the evidence.

In October 2006, Giraldi wrote in The American Conservative that the NIE on Iran had already been completed, but that Cheney's office had objected to its findings on both the Iranian nuclear program and Iran's role in Iraq. The draft NIE did not conclude that there was confirming evidence that Iran was arming Shi'ite insurgents in Iraq, according to Giraldi.

Giraldi said the White House had decided to postpone any decision on the internal release of the NIE until after the November 2006 congressional elections.

Cheney's desire for a "clean" NIE that could be used to support his aggressive policy toward Iran was apparently a major factor in the replacement of John Negroponte as director of national intelligence in early 2007. Negroponte had angered neo-conservatives in the administration by telling the press in April 2006 that the intelligence community believed that it would still be "a number of years off" before Iran would be "likely to have enough fissile material to assemble into or to put into a nuclear weapon, perhaps into the next decade".

Neo-conservatives immediately attacked Negroponte for the statement, which merely reflected the existing NIE on Iran issued in spring 2005. Robert G Joseph, the under secretary of state for arms control and an ally of Cheney, contradicted Negroponte the following day. He suggested that Iran's nuclear program was nearing the "point of no return" - an Israeli concept referring to the mastery of industrial-scale uranium enrichment.

Richard Perle, complained that Negroponte was "absurdly declaring the Iranian regime to be years away from having nuclear weapons".

This January 5, President George W Bush announced the nomination of retired Vice Admiral John Michael "Mike" McConnell to be director of national intelligence. McConnell was approached by Cheney himself about accepting the position, according to Newsweek.

McConnell was far more amenable to White House influence than his predecessor. On February 27, one week after his confirmation, he told the Senate Armed Services Committee he was "comfortable saying it's probable" that the alleged export of explosively formed penetrators to Shi'ite insurgents in Iraq was linked to the highest leadership in Iran.

Cheney had been making that charge, but Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, as well as Negroponte, have opposed it.

A public event last spring indicated that the White House had ordered a reconsideration of the draft NIE's conclusion on how many years it would take Iran to produce a nuclear weapon. The previous Iran estimate completed in the spring of 2005 had estimated it at five to 10 years.

Two weeks after Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad announced in mid-April that Iran would begin producing nuclear fuel on an industrial scale, the chairman of the National Intelligence Council, Thomas Fingar, said in an interview with National Public Radio that the completion of the NIE on Iran had been delayed while the intelligence community determined whether its judgment on the time frame within which Iran might produce a nuclear weapon needed to be amended.

Fingar said the estimate "might change", citing "new reporting" from the International Atomic Energy Agency as well as "some other new information we have". And then he added, "We are serious about reexamining old evidence."

That extraordinary revelation about the NIE process, which was obviously ordered by McConnell, was an unsubtle signal to the intelligence community that the White House was determined to obtain a more alarmist conclusion on the Iranian nuclear program.

A decision announced in late October indicated, however, that Cheney did not get the consensus findings on the nuclear program and Iran's role in Iraq that he had wanted. On October 27, David Shedd, a deputy to McConnell, told a congressional briefing that McConnell had issued a directive making it more difficult to declassify the key judgments of national intelligence estimates.

That reversed a Bush administration practice of releasing summaries of key judgments in NIEs that began when the White House made public the key judgments from the controversial 2002 NIE on Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction program in July 2003.

The decision to withhold key judgments on Iran from the public was apparently part of a White House strategy for reducing the potential damage of publishing the estimate with the inclusion of dissenting views.

As of early October, officials involved in the NIE were "throwing their hands up in frustration" over the refusal of the administration to allow the estimate to be released, according to the former intelligence officer. But the Iran NIE is now expected to be circulated within the administration in late November, says Ray McGovern, former CIA analyst and founder of the anti-war group Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity.

The release of the Iran NIE will certainly intensify the bureaucratic political struggle over Iran policy. If the NIE includes both dissenting views .. issues, a campaign of selective leaking to news media of language from the NIE that supports Cheney's line on Iran will soon follow, as well as leaks of the dissenting views by his opponents.

Both sides may be anticipating another effort by Cheney to win Bush's approval of a significant escalation of military pressure on Iran in early 2008.

Gareth Porter is a historian and national-security policy analyst. His latest book, Perils of Dominance: Imbalance of Power and the Road to War in Vietnam, was published in June 2005.

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The prison industry in the United States: big business or a new form of slavery?


BY VICKY PELAEZ (Taken from El Diario-La Prensa, New York)

HUMAN rights organizations, as well as political and social ones, are condemning what they are calling a new form of inhumane exploitation in the United States, where they say a prison population of up to 2 million – mostly Black and Hispanic – are working for various industries for a pittance. For the tycoons who have invested in the prison industry, it has been like finding a pot of gold. They don’t have to worry about strikes or paying unemployment insurance, vacations or comp time. All of their workers are full-time, and never arrive late or are absent because of family problems; moreover, if they don’t like the pay of 25 cents an hour and refuse to work, they are locked up in isolation cells.

There are approximately 2 million inmates in state, federal and private prisons throughout the country. According to California Prison Focus, "no other society in human history has imprisoned so many of its own citizens." The figures show that the United States has locked up more people than any other country: a half million more than China, which has a population five times greater than the U.S. Statistics reveal that the United States holds 25% of the world’s prison population, but only 5% of the world’s people. From less than 300,000 inmates in 1972, the jail population grew to 2 million by the year 2000. In 1990 it was one million. Ten years ago there were only five private prisons in the country, with a population of 2,000 inmates; now, there are 100, with 62,000 inmates. It is expected that by the coming decade, the number will hit 360,000, according to reports.

What has happened over the last 10 years? Why are there so many prisoners?

"The private contracting of prisoners for work fosters incentives to lock people up. Prisons depend on this income. Corporate stockholders who make money off prisoners’ work lobby for longer sentences, in order to expand their workforce. The system feeds itself," says a study by the Progressive Labor Party, which accuses the prison industry of being "an imitation of Nazi Germany with respect to forced slave labor and concentration camps."

The prison industry complex is one of the fastest-growing industries in the United States and its investors are on Wall Street. "This multimillion-dollar industry has its own trade exhibitions, conventions, websites, and mail-order/Internet catalogs. It also has direct advertising campaigns, architecture companies, construction companies, investment houses on Wall Street, plumbing supply companies, food supply companies, armed security, and padded cells in a large variety of colors."

According to the Left Business Observer, the federal prison industry produces 100% of all military helmets, ammunition belts, bullet-proof vests, ID tags, shirts, pants, tents, bags, and canteens. Along with war supplies, prison workers supply 98% of the entire market for equipment assembly services; 93% of paints and paintbrushes; 92% of stove assembly; 46% of body armor; 36% of home appliances; 30% of headphones/microphones/speakers; and 21% of office furniture. Airplane parts, medical supplies, and much more: prisoners are even raising seeing-eye dogs for blind people.

CRIME GOES DOWN, JAIL POPULATION GOES UP

According to reports by human rights organizations, these are the factors that increase the profit potential for those who invest in the prison industry complex:

• Jailing persons convicted of non-violent crimes, and long prison sentences for possession of microscopic quantities of illegal drugs. Federal law stipulates five years’ imprisonment without possibility of parole for possession of 3.5 ounces of heroin, and 10 years for possession of less than 2 ounces of rock-cocaine or crack. A sentence of 5 years for cocaine powder requires possession of 500 grams – 100 times more than the quantity of rock cocaine for the same sentence. Most of those who use cocaine powder are white, middle-class or rich people, while mostly Blacks and Latinos use rock cocaine. In Texas, a person may be sentenced for up to two years’ imprisonment for possessing 4 ounces of marijuana. Here in New York, the 1973 Nelson Rockefeller anti-drug law provides for a mandatory prison sentence of 15 years to life for possession of 4 ounces of any illegal drug.

• The passage in 13 states of the "three strikes" laws (life in prison after being convicted of three felonies), made it necessary to build 20 new federal prisons. One of the most disturbing cases resulting from this measure was that of a prisoner who for stealing a car and two bicycles received three 25-year sentences.
• Longer sentences.
• The passage of laws that require minimum sentencing, without regard for circumstances.
• A large expansion of work by prisoners creating profits that motivate the incarceration of more people for longer periods of time.
• More punishment of prisoners, so as to lengthen their sentences.

HISTORY OF PRISON LABOR IN THE UNITED STATES

Prison labor has its roots in slavery. After the 1861-1865 Civil War, a system of "hiring out prisoners" was introduced in order to continue the slavery tradition. Freed slaves were charged with not carrying out their sharecropping commitments (cultivating someone else’s land in exchange for part of the harvest) or petty thievery – which were almost never proven – and were then "hired out" for cotton picking, working in mines and building railroads. From 1870 until 1910 in the state of Georgia, 88% of hired-out convicts were Black. In Alabama, 93% of "hired-out" miners were Black. In Mississippi, a huge prison farm similar to the old slave plantations replaced the system of hiring out convicts. The notorious Parchman plantation existed until 1972.

During the post-Civil War period, Jim Crow racial segregation laws were imposed on every state, with legal segregation in schools, housing, marriages and many other aspects of daily life. "Today, a new set of markedly racist laws is imposing slave labor and sweatshops on the criminal justice system, now known as the prison industry complex," comments the Left Business Observer.

Who is investing? At least 37 states have legalized the contracting of prison labor by private corporations that mount their operations inside state prisons. The list of such companies contains the cream of U.S. corporate society: IBM, Boeing, Motorola, Microsoft, AT&T, Wireless, Texas Instrument, Dell, Compaq, Honeywell, Hewlett-Packard, Nortel, Lucent Technologies, 3Com, Intel, Northern Telecom, TWA, Nordstrom’s, Revlon, Macy's, Pierre Cardin, Target Stores, and many more. All of these businesses are excited about the economic boom generation by prison labor. Just between 1980 and 1994, profits went up from $392 million to $1.31 billion. Inmates in state penitentiaries generally receive the minimum wage for their work, but not all; in Colorado, they get about $2 per hour, well under the minimum. And in privately-run prisons, they receive as little as 17 cents per hour for a maximum of six hours a day, the equivalent of $20 per month. The highest-paying private prison is CCA in Tennessee, where prisoners receive 50 cents per hour for what they call "highly skilled positions." At those rates, it is no surprise that inmates find the pay in federal prisons to be very generous. There, they can earn $1.25 an hour and work eight hours a day, and sometimes overtime. They can send home $200-$300 per month.
Thanks to prison labor, the United States is once again an attractive location for investment in work that was designed for Third World labor markets. A company that operated a maquiladora (assembly plant in Mexico near the border) closed down its operations there and relocated to San Quentin State Prison in California. In Texas, a factory fired its 150 workers and contracted the services of prisoner-workers from the private Lockhart Texas prison, where circuit boards are assembled for companies like IBM and Compaq.
Oregon State Representative Kevin Mannix recently urged Nike to cut its production in Indonesia and bring it to his state, telling the shoe manufacturer that "there won’t be any transportation costs; we’re offering you competitive prison labor (here)."

PRIVATE PRISONS

The prison privatization boom began in the 1980s, under the governments of Ronald Reagan and Bush Sr., but reached its height in 1990 under William Clinton, when Wall Street stocks were selling like hotcakes. Clinton’s program for cutting the cutting the federal workforce resulted in the Justice Departments contracting of private prison corporations for the incarceration of undocumented workers and high-security inmates.

Private prisons are the biggest business in the prison industry complex. About 18 corporations guard 10,000 prisoners in 27 states. The two largest are Correctional Corporation of America (CCA) and Wackenhut, which together control 75%. Private prisons receive a guaranteed amount of money for each prisoner, independent of what it costs to maintain each one. According to Russell Boraas, a private prison administrator in Virginia, "the secret to low operating costs is having a minimal number of guards for the maximum number of prisoners." The CCA has an ultra-modern prison in Lawrenceville, Virginia, where five guards on dayshift and two at night watch over 750 prisoners. In these prisons, inmates may get their sentences reduced for "good behavior," but for any infraction, they get 30 days added – which means more profits for CCA. According to a study of New Mexico prisons, it was found that CCA inmates lost "good behavior time" at a rate eight times higher than those in state prisons.

IMPORTING AND EXPORTING INMATES

Profits are so good that now there is a new business: importing inmates with long sentences, meaning the worst criminals. When a federal judge ruled that overcrowding in Texas prisons was cruel and unusual punishment, the CCA signed contracts with sheriffs in poor counties to build and run new jails and share the profits. According to a December 1998 Atlantic Monthly magazine article, this program was backed by investors from Merrill-Lynch, Shearson-Lehman, American Express and Allstate, and the operation was scattered all over rural Texas. That state’s governor, Ann Richards, followed the example of Mario Cuomo in New York and built so many state prisons that the market became flooded, cutting into private prison profits.

After a law signed by Clinton in 1996 – ending court supervision and decisions – caused overcrowding and violent, unsafe conditions in federal prisons, private prison corporations in Texas began to contact other states whose prisons were overcrowded, offering "rent-a-cell" services in the CCA prisons located in small towns in Texas. The commission for a rent-a-cell salesman is $2.50 to $5.50 per day per bed. The county gets $1.50 for each prisoner.

STATISTICS

Ninety-seven percent of 125,000 federal inmates have been convicted of non-violent crimes. It is believed that more than half of the 623,000 inmates in municipal or county jails are innocent of the crimes they are accused of. Of these, the majority are awaiting trial. Two-thirds of the one million state prisoners have committed non-violent offenses. Sixteen percent of the country’s 2 million prisoners suffer from mental illness.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9AxVoG04ng
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0P-hvPJPTi4

FEMA CONCENTRATION CAMPS: Locations and Executive Orders


Currently there are over 800 prison camps in the United States, all fully operational and ready to receive prisoners. They are all staffed and even surrounded by full-time guards, but they are all empty. These camps are to be operated by FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) should Martial Law need to be implemented in the United States and all it would take is a presidential signature on a proclamation and the attorney general's signature on a warrant to which a list of names is attached. Ask yourself if you really want to be on Ashcroft's list.

The Rex 84 Program was established on the reasoning that if a "mass exodus" of illegal aliens crossed the Mexican/US border, they would be quickly rounded up and detained in detention centers by FEMA. Rex 84 allowed many military bases to be closed down and to be turned into prisons.

Operation Cable Splicer and Garden Plot are the two sub programs which will be implemented once the Rex 84 program is initiated for its proper purpose. Garden Plot is the program to control the population. Cable Splicer is the program for an orderly takeover of the state and local governments by the federal government. FEMA is the executive arm of the coming police state and thus will head up all operations. The Presidential Executive Orders already listed on the Federal Register also are part of the legal framework for this operation.

The camps all have railroad facilities as well as roads leading to and from the detention facilities. Many also have an airport nearby. The majority of the camps can house a population of 20,000 prisoners. Currently, the largest of these facilities is just outside of Fairbanks, Alaska. The Alaskan facility is a massive mental health facility and can hold approximately 2 million people.

Now let's review the justification for any actions taken...

Executive Orders associated with FEMA that would suspend the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. These Executive Orders have been on record for nearly 30 years and could be enacted by the stroke of a Presidential pen:...

EXECUTIVE ORDER 10990

allows the government to take over all modes of transportation and control of highways and seaports.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 10995

allows the government to seize and control the communication media.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 10997

allows the government to take over all electrical power, gas, petroleum, fuels and minerals.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 10998

allows the government to seize all means of transportation, including personal cars, trucks or vehicles of any kind and total control over all highways, seaports, and waterways.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 10999

allows the government to take over all food resources and farms.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 11000

allows the government to mobilize civilians into work brigades under government supervision.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 11001

allows the government to take over all health, education and welfare functions.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 11002

designates the Postmaster General to operate a national registration of all persons.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 11003 allows the government to take over all airports and aircraft, including commercial aircraft.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 11004 allows the Housing and Finance Authority to relocate communities, build new housing with public funds, designate areas to be abandoned, and establish new locations for populations.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 11005

allows the government to take over railroads, inland waterways and public storage facilities.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 11051

specifies the responsibility of the Office of Emergency Planning and gives authorization to put all Executive Orders into effect in times of increased international tensions and economic or financial crisis.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 11310

grants authority to the Department of Justice to enforce the plans set out in Executive Orders, to institute industrial support, to establish judicial and legislative liaison, to control all aliens, to operate penal and correctional institutions, and to advise and assist the President.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 11049

assigns emergency preparedness function to federal departments and agencies, consolidating 21 operative Executive Orders issued over a fifteen year period.

EXECUTIVE ORDER 11921

allows the Federal Emergency Preparedness Agency to develop plans to establish control over the mechanisms of production and distribution, of energy sources, wages, salaries, credit and the flow of money in U.S. financial institution in any undefined national emergency. It also provides that when a state of emergency is declared by the President, Congress cannot review the action for six months. The Federal Emergency Management Agency has broad powers in every aspect of the nation. General Frank Salzedo, chief of FEMA's Civil Security Division stated in a 1983 conference that he saw FEMA's role as a "new frontier in the protection of individual and governmental leaders from assassination, and of civil and military installations from sabotage and/or attack, as well as prevention of dissident groups from gaining access to U.S. opinion, or a global audience in times of crisis." FEMA's powers were consolidated by President Carter to incorporate the...

National Security Act of 1947

allows for the strategic relocation of industries, services, government and other essential economic activities, and to rationalize the requirements for manpower, resources and production facilities.

1950 Defense Production Act

gives the President sweeping powers over all aspects of the economy.

Act of August 29, 1916

authorizes the Secretary of the Army, in time of war, to take possession of any transportation system for transporting troops, material, or any other purpose related to the emergency.

International Emergency Economic Powers Act

enables the President to seize the property of a foreign country or national. These powers were transferred to FEMA in a sweeping consolidation in 1979.

Where are these camps?

ALABAMA
Opelika - Military compound either in or very near town.
Aliceville - WWII German POW camp - capacity 15,000
Ft. McClellan (Anniston) - Opposite side of town from Army Depot;
Maxwell AFB (Montgomery) - Civilian prison camp established under Operation Garden Plot, currently operating with support staff and small inmate population.
Talladega - Federal prison "satellite" camp.

ALASKA
Wilderness - East of Anchorage. No roads, Air & Railroad access only. Estimated capacity of 500,000 Elmendorf AFB - Northeast area of Anchorage - far end of base. Garden Plot facility.
Eielson AFB - Southeast of Fairbanks. Operation Garden Plot facility.
Ft. Wainwright - East of Fairbanks

ARIZONA
Ft. Huachuca - 20 miles from Mexican border, 30 miles from Nogales Rex '84 facility.
Pinal County - on the Gila River - WWII Japanese detention camp. May be renovated.
Yuma County - Colorado River - Site of former Japanese detention camp (near proving grounds). This site was completely removed in 1990 according to some reports.
Phoenix - Federal Prison Satellite Camp. Main federal facility expanded.
Florence - WWII prison camp NOW RENOVATED, OPERATIONAL with staff & 400 prisoners, operational capacity of 3,500.
Wickenburg - Airport is ready for conversion; total capacity unknown. Davis-Monthan AFB (Tucson) - Fully staffed and presently holding prisoners!!
Sedona - site of possible UN base.

ARKANSAS
Ft. Chaffee (near Fort Smith, Arkansas) - Has new runway for aircraft, new camp facility with cap of 40,000 prisoners Pine Bluff Arsenal - This location also is the repository for B-Z nerve agent, which causes sleepiness, dizziness, stupor; admitted use is for civilian control. Jerome - Chicot/Drew Counties - site of WWII Japanese camps Rohwer - Descha County - site of WWII Japanese camps Blythville AFB - Closed airbase now being used as camp. New wooden barracks have been constructed at this location. Classic decorations - guard towers, barbed wire, high fences. Berryville - FEMA facility located east of Eureka Springs off Hwy. 62. Omaha - Northeast of Berryville near Missouri state line, on Hwy 65 south of old wood processing plant. Possible crematory facility.

CALIFORNIA
Vandenburg AFB - Rex 84 facility, located near Lompoc & Santa Maria. Internment facility is located near the oceanside, close to Space Launch Complex #6, also called "Slick Six". The launch site has had "a flawless failure record" and is rarely used. Norton AFB - (closed base) now staffed with UN according to some sources. Tule Lake - area of "wildlife refuge", accessible by unpaved road, just inside Modoc County. Fort Ord - Closed in 1994, this facility is now an urban warfare training center for US and foreign troops, and may have some "P.O.W. - C.I." enclosures. Twentynine Palms Marine Base - Birthplace of the infamous "Would you shoot American citizens?" Quiz. New camps being built on "back 40". Oakdale - Rex 84 camp capable of holding at least 20,000 people. 90 mi. East of San Francisco. Terminal Island - (Long Beach) located next to naval shipyards operated by ChiCom shipping interests. Federal prison facility located here. Possible deportation point. Ft. Irwin - FEMA facility near Barstow. Base is designated inactive but has staffed camp. McClellan AFB - facility capable for 30,000 - 35,000 Sacramento - Army Depot - No specific information at this time. Mather AFB - Road to facility is blocked off by cement barriers and a stop sign. Sign states area is restricted; as of 1997 there were barbed wire fences pointing inward, a row of stadium lights pointed toward an empty field, etc. Black boxes on poles may have been cameras.

COLORADO
Trinidad - WWII German/Italian camp being renovated. Granada - Prowers County - WWII Japanese internment camp Ft. Carson - Along route 115 near Canon City

CONNECTICUT, DELAWARE
No data available.

FLORIDA
Avon Park - Air Force gunnery range, Avon Park has an on-base "correctional facility" which was a former WWII detention camp. Camp Krome - DoJ detention/interrogation center, Rex 84 facility Eglin AFB - This base is over 30 miles long, from Pensacola to Hwy 331 in De Funiak Springs. High capacity facility, presently manned and populated with some prisoners. Pensacola - Federal Prison Camp Everglades - It is believed that a facility may be carved out of the wilds here.

GEORGIA
Ft. Benning - Located east of Columbus near Alabama state line. Rex 84 site - Prisoners brought in via Lawson Army airfield. Ft. Mc Pherson - US Force Command - Multiple reports that this will be the national headquarters and coordinating center for foreign/UN troop movement and detainee collection. Ft. Gordon - West of Augusta - No information at this time. Unadilla - Dooly County - Manned, staffed FEMA prison on route 230, no prisoners. Oglethorpe - Macon County; facility is located five miles from Montezuma, three miles from Oglethorpe. This FEMA prison has no staff and no prisoners. Morgan - Calhoun County, FEMA facility is fully manned & staffed - no prisoners. Camilla - Mitchell County, south of Albany. This FEMA facility is located on Mt. Zion Rd approximately 5.7 miles south of Camilla. Unmanned - no prisoners, no staff. Hawkinsville - Wilcox County; Five miles east of town, fully manned and staffed but no prisoners. Located on fire road 100/Upper River Road Abbeville - South of Hawkinsville on US route 129; south of town off route 280 near Ocmulgee River. FEMA facility is staffed but without prisoners. McRae - Telfair County - 1.5 miles west of McRae on Hwy 134 (8th St). Facility is on Irwinton Avenue off 8th St., manned & staffed - no prisoners. Fort Gillem - South side of Atlanta - FEMA designated detention facility. Fort Stewart - Savannah area - FEMA designated detention facility

HAWAII
Halawa Heights area - Crematory facility located in hills above city. Area is marked as a state department of health laboratory. Barbers Point NAS - There are several military areas that could be equipped for detention / deportation. Honolulu - Detention transfer facility at the Honolulu airport similar in construction to the one in.Oklahoma (pentagon-shaped building where airplanes can taxi up to).

IDAHO
Minidoka/Jerome Counties - WWII Japanese-American internment facility possibly under renovation. Clearwater National Forest - Near Lolo Pass - Just miles from the Montana state line near Moose Creek, this unmanned facility is reported to have a nearby airfield. Wilderness areas - Possible location. No data.

ILLINOIS
Marseilles - Located on the Illinois River off Interstate 80 on Hwy 6. It is a relatively small facility with a cap of 1400 prisoners. Though it is small it is designed like prison facilities with barred windows, but the real smoking gun is the presence of military vehicles. Being located on the Illinois River it is possible that prisoners will be brought in by water as well as by road and air. This facility is approximately 75 miles west of Chicago. National Guard training area nearby. Scott AFB - Barbed wire prisoner enclosure reported to exist just off-base. More info needed, as another facility on-base is beieved to exist. Pekin - This Federal satellite prison camp is also on the Illinois River, just south of Peoria. It supplements the federal penitentiary in Marion, which is equipped to handle additional population outside on the grounds. Chanute AFB - Rantoul, near Champaign/Urbana - This closed base had WWII - era barracks that were condemned and torn down, but the medical facility was upgraded and additional fencing put up in the area. More info needed. Marion - Federal Penitentiary and satellite prison camp inside Crab Orchard Nat'l Wildlife Refuge. Manned, staffed, populated fully. Greenfield - Two federal correctional "satellite prison camps" serving Marion - populated as above. Shawnee National Forest - Pope County - This area has seen heavy traffic of foreign military equipment and troops via Illinois Central Railroad, which runs through the area. Suspected location is unknown, but may be close to Vienna and Shawnee correctional centers, located 6 mi. west of Dixon Springs. Savanna Army Depot - NW area of state on Mississippi River. Lincoln, Sheridan, Menard, Pontiac, Galesburg - State prison facilities equipped for major expansion and close or adjacent to highways & railroad tracks. Kankakee - Abandoned industrial area on west side of town (Rt.17 & Main) designated as FEMA detention site. Equipped with water tower, incinerator, a small train yard behind it and the rear of the facility is surrounded by barbed wire facing inwards.

INDIANA
Indianapolis / Marion County - Amtrak railcar repair facility (closed); controversial site of a major alleged detention / processing center. Although some sources state that this site is a "red herring", photographic and video evidence suggests otherwise. This large facility contains large 3-4 inch gas mains to large furnaces (crematoria??), helicopter landing pads, railheads for prisoners, Red/Blue/Green zones for classifying/processing incoming personnel, one-way turnstiles, barracks, towers, high fences with razor wire, etc. Personnel with government clearance who are friendly to the patriot movement took a guided tour of the facility to confirm this site. This site is located next to a closed refrigeration plant facility. Ft. Benjamin Harrison - Located in the northeast part of Indianapolis, this base has been decomissioned from "active" use but portions are still ideally converted to hold detainees. Helicopter landing areas still exist for prisoners to be brought in by air, land & rail. Crown Point - Across street from county jail, former hospital. One wing presently being used for county work-release program, 80% of facility still unused. Possible FEMA detention center or holding facility. Camp Atterbury - Facility is converted to hold prisoners and boasts two active compounds presently configured for minumum security detainees. Located just west of Interstate 65 near Edinburgh, south of Indianapolis. Terre Haute - Federal Correctional Institution, Satellite prison camp and death facility. Equipped with crematoria reported to have a capacity of 3,000 people a day. FEMA designated facility located here. Fort Wayne - This city located in Northeast Indiana has a FEMA designated detention facility, accessible by air, road and nearby rail. Kingsbury - This "closed" military base is adjacent to a state fish & wildlife preserve. Part of the base is converted to an industrial park, but the southern portion of this property is still used. It is bordered on the south by railroad, and is staffed with some foreign-speaking UN troops. A local police officer who was hunting and camping close to the base in the game preserve was accosted, roughed up, and warned by the English-speaking unit commander to stay away from the area. It was suggested to the officer that the welfare of his family would depend on his "silence". Located just southeast of LaPorte. Jasper-Pulaski Wildlife Area - Youth Corrections farm located here. Facility is "closed", but is still staffed and being "renovated". Total capacity unknown. Grissom AFB - This closed airbase still handles a lot of traffic, and has a "state-owned" prison compound on the southern part of the facility.

UNICOR
. Jefferson Proving Grounds - Southern Indiana - This facility was an active base with test firing occuring daily. Portions of the base have been opened to create an industrial park, but other areas are still highly restricted. A camp is believed to be located "downrange". Facility is equipped with an airfield and has a nearby rail line. Newport - Army Depot - VX nerve gas storage facility. Secret meetings were held here in 1998 regarding the addition of the Kankakee River watershed to the Heritage Rivers Initiative. Hammond - large enclosure identified in FEMA-designated city.

IOWA
No data available.

KANSAS
Leavenworth - US Marshal's Fed Holding Facility, US Penitentiary, Federal Prison Camp, McConnell Air Force Base. Federal death penalty facility. Concordia - WWII German POW camp used to exist at this location but there is no facility there at this time. Ft. Riley - Just north of Interstate 70, airport, near city of Manhattan. El Dorado - Federal prison converted into forced-labor camp, UNICOR industries. Topeka - 80 acres has been converted into a temporary holding camp.

KENTUCKY
Ashland - Federal prison camp in Eastern Kentucky near the Ohio River. Louisville - FEMA detention facility, located near restricted area US naval ordnance plant. Military airfield located at facility, which is on south side of city. Lexington - FEMA detention facility, National Guard base with adjacent airport facility. Manchester - Federal prison camp located inside Dan Boone National Forest. Ft. Knox - Detention center, possibly located near Salt River, in restricted area of base. Local patriots advise that black Special Forces & UN gray helicopters are occasionally seen in area. Land Between the Lakes - This area was declared a UN biosphere and is an ideal geographic location for detention facilities. Area is an isthmus extending out from Tennessee, between Lake Barkley on the east and Kentucky Lake on the west. Just scant miles from Fort Campbell in Tennessee.

LOUISIANA
Ft. Polk - This is a main base for UN troops & personnel, and a training center for the disarmament of America. Livingston - WWII German/Italian internment camp being renovated?; halfway between Baton Rouge and Hammond, several miles north of Interstate 12. Oakdale - Located on US route 165 about 50 miles south of Alexandria; two federal detention centers just southeast of Fort Polk.

MAINE
Houlton - WWII German internment camp in Northern Maine, off US Route 1.

MARYLAND, and DC
Ft. Meade - Halfway between the District of Criminals and Baltimore. Data needed. Ft. Detrick - Biological warfare center for the NWO, located in Frederick.

MASSACHUSETTS
Camp Edwards / Otis AFB - Cape Cod - This "inactive" base is being converted to hold many New Englander patriots. Capacity unknown. Ft. Devens - Active detention facility. More data needed.

MICHIGAN
Camp Grayling - Michigan Nat'l Guard base has several confirmed detention camps, classic setup with high fences, razor wire, etc. Guard towers are very well-built, sturdy. Multiple compounds within larger enclosures. Facility deep within forest area. Sawyer AFB - Upper Peninsula - south of Marquette - No data available. Bay City - Classic enclosure with guard towers, high fence, and close to shipping port on Saginaw Bay, which connects to Lake Huron. Could be a deportation point to overseas via St. Lawrence Seaway. Southwest - possibly Berrien County - FEMA detention center. Lansing - FEMA detention facility.

MINNESOTA
Duluth - Federal prison camp facility. Camp Ripley - new prison facility.

MISSISSIPPI
These sites are confirmed hoaxes. Hancock County - NASA test site De Soto National Forest. "These two supposed camps in Mississippi do not exist. Members of the Mississippi Militia have checked these out on more than one occasion beginning back when they first appeared on the Internet and throughout the Patriot Movement." - Commander D. Rayner, Mississippi Militia

MISSOURI
Richards-Gebaur AFB - located in Grandview, near K.C.MO. A very large internment facility has been built on this base, and all base personnel are restricted from coming near it. Ft. Leonard Wood - Situated in the middle of Mark Twain National Forest in Pulaski County. This site has been known for some UN training, also home to the US Army Urban Warfare Training school "Stem Village". Warsaw - Unconfirmed report of a large concentration camp facility.

MONTANA
Malmstrom AFB - UN aircraft groups stationed here, and possibly a detention facility.

NEBRASKA
Scottsbluff - WWII German POW camp (renovated?). Northwest, Northeast corners of state - FEMA detention facilities - more data needed. South Central part of state - Many old WWII sites - some may be renovated.

NEVADA
Elko - Ten miles south of town. Wells - Camp is located in the O'Niel basin area, 40 miles north of Wells, past Thousand Springs, west off Hwy 93 for 25 miles. Pershing County - Camp is located at I-80 mile marker 112, south side of the highway, about a mile back on the county road and then just off the road about 3/4mi. Winnemucca - Battle Mountain area - at the base of the mountains. Nellis Air Force Range - Northwest from Las Vegas on Route 95. Nellis AFB is just north of Las Vegas on Hwy 604. Stillwater Naval Air Station - east of Reno . No additional data.

NEW HAMPSHIRE / VERMONT
Northern New Hampshire - near Lake Francis. No additional data.

NEW JERSEY
Ft. Dix / McGuire AFB - Possible deportation point for detainees. Lots of pictures taken of detention compounds and posted on Internet, this camp is well-known. Facility is now complete and ready for occupancy.

NEW MEXICO
Ft. Bliss - This base actually straddles Texas state line. Just south of Alomogordo, Ft. Bliss has thousands of acres for people who refuse to go with the "New Order". Holloman AFB (Alomogordo)- Home of the German Luftwaffe in Amerika; major UN base. New facility being built on this base, according to recent visitors. Many former USAF buildings have been torn down by the busy and rapidly growing German military force located here. Fort Stanton - currently being used as a youth detention facility approximately 35 miles north of Ruidoso, New Mexico. Not a great deal of information concerning the Lordsburg location. White Sands Missile Range - Currently being used as a storage facility for United Nations vehicles and equipment. Observers have seen this material brought in on the Whitesands rail spur in Oro Grande New Mexico about thirty miles from the Texas, New Mexico Border.

NEW YORK
Ft. Drum - two compounds: Rex 84 detention camp and FEMA detention facility. Albany - FEMA detention facility. Otisville - Federal correctional facility, near Middletown. Buffalo - FEMA detention facility.

NORTH CAROLINA
Camp Lejeune / New River Marine Airfield - facility has renovated, occupied WWII detention compounds and "mock city" that closely resembles Anytown, USA. Fort Bragg - Special Warfare Training Center. Renovated WWII detention facility. Andrews - Federal experiment in putting a small town under siege. Began with the search/ hunt for survivalist Eric Rudolph. No persons were allowed in or out of town without federal permission and travel through town was highly restricted. Most residents compelled to stay in their homes. Unregistered Baptist pastor from Indiana visiting Andrews affirmed these facts.

NORTH DAKOTA
Minot AFB - Home of UN air group. More data needed on facility.

OHIO
Camp Perry - Site renovated; once used as a POW camp to house German and Italian prisoners of WWII. Some tar paper covered huts built for housing these prisoners are still standing. Recently, the construction of multiple 200-man barracks have replaced most of the huts. Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus - FEMA detention facilities. Data needed. Lima - FEMA detention facility. Another facility located in/near old stone quarry near Interstate 75. Railroad access to property, fences etc.

OKLAHOMA
Tinker AFB (OKC) - All base personnel are prohibited from going near civilian detention area, which is under constant guard. Will Rogers World Airport - FEMA's main processing center for west of the Mississippi. All personnel are kept out of the security zone. Federal prisoner transfer center located here (A pentagon-shaped building where airplanes can taxi up to). Photos have been taken and this site will try to post soon! El Reno - Renovated federal internment facility with CURRENT population of 12,000 on Route 66. McAlester - near Army Munitions Plant property - former WWII German / Italian POW camp designated for future use. Ft. Sill (Lawton) - Former WWII detention camps. More data still needed.

OREGON
Sheridan - Federal prison satellite camp northwest of Salem. Josephine County - WWII Japanese internment camp ready for renovation. Sheridan - FEMA detention center. Umatilla - New prison spotted.

PENNSYLVANIA
Allenwood - Federal prison camp located south of Williamsport on the Susquehanna River. It has a current inmate population of 300, and is identified by William Pabst as having a capacity in excess of 15,000 on 400 acres.
Indiantown Gap Military Reservation - located north of Harrisburg. Used for WWII POW camp and renovated by Jimmy Carter. Was used to hold Cubans during Mariel boat lift.
Camp Hill - State prison close to Army depot. Lots of room, located in Camp Hill, Pa. New Cumberland Army Depot - on the Susquehanna River, located off Interstate 83 and Interstate 76.
Schuylkill Haven - Federal prison camp, north of Reading.

SOUTH CAROLINA
Greenville - Unoccupied youth prison camp; total capacity unknown.
Charleston - Naval Reserve & Air Force base, restricted area on naval base.

SOUTH DAKOTA
Yankton - Federal prison camp
Black Hills Nat'l Forest - north of Edgemont, southwest part of state. WWII internment camp being renovated.

TENNESSEE
Ft. Campbell - Next to Land Between the Lakes; adjacent to airfield and US Alt. 41.
Millington - Federal prison camp next door to Memphis Naval Air Station.
Crossville - Site of WWII German / Italian prison camp is renovated; completed barracks and behind the camp in the woods is a training facility with high tight ropes and a rappelling deck.
Nashville - There are two buildings built on State property that are definitely built to hold prisoners. They are identical buildings - side by side on Old Briley Parkway. High barbed wire fence that curves inward.

TEXAS
Austin - Robert Mueller Municipal airport has detenion areas inside hangars.
Bastrop - Prison and military vehicle motor pool.
Eden - 1500 bed privately run federal center. Currently holds illegal aliens.
Ft. Hood (Killeen) - Newly built concentration camp, with towers, barbed wire etc., just like the one featured in the movie Amerika. Mock city for NWO shock- force training. Some footage of this area was used in "Waco: A New Revelation" Reese AFB (Lubbock) - FEMA designated detention facility.
Sheppard AFB - in Wichita Falls just south of Ft. Sill, OK. FEMA designated detention facility.
North Dallas - near Carrolton - water treatment plant, close to interstate and railroad.
Mexia - East of Waco 33mi.; WWII German facility may be renovated.
Amarillo - FEMA designated detention facility
Ft. Bliss (El Paso) - Extensive renovation of buildings and from what patriots have been able to see, many of these buildings that are being renovated are being surrounded by razor wire.
Beaumont / Port Arthur area - hundreds of acres of federal camps already built on large-scale detention camp design, complete with the double rows of chain link fencing with razor type concertina wire on top of each row. Some (but not all) of these facilities are currently being used for low-risk state prisoners who require a minimum of supervision.
Ft. Worth - Federal prison under construction on the site of Carswell AFB.

UTAH
Millard County - Central Utah - WWII Japanese camp. (Renovated?)
Ft. Douglas - This "inactive" military reservation has a renovated WWII concentration camp.
Migratory Bird Refuge - West of Brigham City - contains a WWII internment camp that was built before the game preserve was established.
Cedar City - east of city - no data available. Wendover - WWII internment camp may be renovated.
Skull Valley - southwestern Camp William property - east of the old bombing range. Camp was accidentally discovered by a man and his son who were rabbit hunting; they were discovered and apprehended. SW of Tooele.

VIRGINIA
Ft. A.P. Hill (Fredericksburg) - Rex 84 / FEMA facility. Estimated capacity 45,000.
Petersburg - Federal satellite prison camp, south of Richmond.

WEST VIRGINIA
Beckley - Alderson - Lewisburg - Former WWII detention camps that are now converted into active federal prison complexes capable of holding several times their current populations. Alderson is presently a women's federal reformatory.
Morgantown - Federal prison camp located in northern WV; just north of Kingwood.
Mill Creek - FEMA detention facility.
Kingwood - Newly built detention camp at Camp Dawson Army Reservation. More data needed on Camp Dawson.

WASHINGTON
Seattle/Tacoma - SeaTac Airport: fully operational federal transfer center
Okanogan County - Borders Canada and is a site for a massive concentration camp capable of holding hundreds of thousands of people for slave labor. This is probably one of the locations that will be used to hold hard core patriots who will be held captive for the rest of their lives.
Sand Point Naval Station - Seattle - FEMA detention center used actively during the 1999 WTO protests to classify prisoners.
Ft. Lewis / McChord AFB - near Tacoma - This is one of several sites that may be used to ship prisoners overseas for slave labor.

WISCONSIN
Ft. McCoy - Rex 84 facility with several complete interment compounds.
Oxford - Central part of state - Federal prison & staellite camp and FEMA detention facility.

WYOMING
Heart Mountain - Park County N. of Cody - WWII Japanese interment camp ready for renovation.
Laramie - FEMA detention facility
Southwest - near Lyman - FEMA detention facility
East Yellowstone - Manned internment facility - Investigating patriots were apprehended by European soldiers speaking in an unknown language. Federal government assumed custody of the persons and arranged their release.

OTHER LOCATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES
There are many other locations not listed above that are worthy of consideration as a possible detention camp site, but due to space limitations and the time needed to verify, could not be included here. Virtually all military reservations, posts, bases, stations, & depots can be considered highly suspect (because it is "federal" land). Also fitting this category are "Regional Airports" and "International Airports" which also fall under federal jurisdiction and have limited-access areas. Mental hospitals, closed hospitals & nursing homes, closed military bases, wildlife refuges, state prisons, toxic waste dumps, hotels and other areas all have varying degrees of potential for being a detention camp area. The likelihood of a site being suspect increases with transportation access to the site, including airports/airstrips, railheads, navigable waterways & ports, interstate and US highways. Some facilities are "disguised" as industrial or commercial properties, camouflaged or even wholly contained inside large buildings (Indianapolis) or factories. Many inner-city buildings left vacant during the de-industrialization of America have been quietly acquired and held, sometimes retrofitted for their new uses.

CANADA
Our Canadian friends tell us that virtually all Canadian military bases, especially those north of the 50th Parallel, are all set up with concentration camps. Not even half of these can be listed, but here are a few sites with the massive land space to handle any population:
Suffield CFB - just north of Medicine Hat, less than 60 miles from the USA.
Primrose Lake Air Range - 70 miles northeast of Edmonton.
Wainwright CFB - halfway between Medicine Hat and Primrose Lake.
Ft. Nelson - Northernmost point on the BC Railway line.
Ft. McPherson - Very cold territory ~ NW Territories. Ft. Providence - Located on Great Slave Lake. Halifax - Nova Scotia. Dept. of National Defense reserve.... And others.

OVERSEAS LOCATIONS
Guayanabo, Puerto Rico - Federal prison camp facility. Capacity unknown.
Guantanamo Bay, Cuba - US Marine Corps Base - Presently home to 30,000 Mariel Cubans and 40,000 Albanians. Total capacity unknown.

[Waus]

ericg gets the privilege of being the first person I've ever disliked enough to bother to put on ignore.

[Schmeltz]

Yeah, my list consists of him and three of gmsisko's aliases.

We should petition the mods to just put him on the global ignore list. Then he can post this meaningless shit to his heart's content, just as many people will see it, and the rest of us can go on talking about real things!

[ericg]

oops... i didn't mean to post that more than once - i was getting the 'page not found' bit so.. in any case, look at it as an opportunity for progressive osmosis and memorize it.

so glad to see you enjoying and appreciating my thread... if you find it at all difficult to understand things please refer to the links below for more help.

http://books.google.com/books?id=wbAohR6DcGUC&dq=abuse+your+illusions&pg=PP1&ots=bPl90sVVzj&sig=GNhLCmbn7Ma8Z_Q6wcbjTWuLFSg&prev=http://www.google.com/search%3Fsourceid%3Dnavclient%26ie%3DUTF-8%26rlz%3D1T4ADBF_enUS248US248%26q%3Dabuse%2Byour% 2Billusions&sa=X&oi=print&ct=book-thumbnail&cad=one-book-with-thumbnail
http://www.birf.info/home/library/assistive/ast-assisttech.html
http://www.smart-publications.com/memory/thinkfast.php

ps. if your ignore button isn't working, check with minton.

[ericg]

How the World Can Stop Bush

By PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS

Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the Reagan administration. He was Associate Editor of the Wall Street Journal editorial page and Contributing Editor of National Review

What would be the consequences of a US or Israeli attack on Iran's nuclear energy sites?

At the 2006 Perdana Global Peace Forum, Australian medical scientist Dr. Helen Caldicott provided an authoritative analysis of the devastating impact on human life that would result from the radiation release from such an attack.

Dr. Caldicott described the catastrophic deaths that would result from a conventional attack on nuclear facilities and the long-term increase in cancer deaths from the radiation release.

Should the attack be made with nuclear weapons--as some of Bush's criminally insane neoconservative advisers advocate--the populations of many countries would suffer for generations from radioactive particles in air, water, and food chains. Deaths would number in the many millions.

Such an attack justified in the name of "American security" and "American hegemony" would constitute the rawest form of evil the world has ever seen, far surpassing in evil the atrocities of the Nazi and Communist regimes.

Dr. Caldicott detailed the horrible long-term consequences for the Iraqi population from the US military's current use of depleted uranium in explosive ammunition used in Iraq. Caldicott explained that "depleted" does not mean depleted of radiation. She explained that each time such ammunition is used, radioactive particles are released in the air and are absorbed into people's lungs. We are yet to see the horrific civilian casualty rate of the American invasion--or the true casualty rate among US troops.

Dr. Caldicott expressed bewilderment why the rest of the world does not stand up to the US and force a halt to its crimes against humanity.

One man heard her--Vladimir Putin, President of Russia.

On February 10 at the 43rd Munich Security Conference, President Putin told the world's assembled political leaders that the US was trying to establish a "uni-polar world," which he defined as "one single center of power, one single center of force and one single master."

This goal, Putin said, was a "formula for disaster."

"The United States," Putin said, truthfully, "has overstepped its borders in all spheres" and "has imposed itself on other states."

The Russian leader declared: "We see no kind of restraint--a hyper-inflated use of force."

To avoid catastrophe, Putin said a reconsideration of the entire existing architecture of global security was necessary.

Putin's words of truth fell on many deaf ears. US Senator John McCain, America's most idiotic and dangerous "leader" after Bush and Cheney, equated Putin's legitimate criticism of the US with "confrontation."

America's new puppets--the states of central and Eastern Europe and the secretary general of NATO, no longer a treaty for the defense of Europe but a military force enlisted in America's quest for empire--lined up with McCain's argument that Russia was in fundamental conflict "with the core values of Euro-Atlantic democracies."

Even the BBC's defense and security correspondent, Rob Watson, jumped on the American propaganda bandwagon, tagging Putin's speech a revival of the cold war.

No delegate at the security conference stood up to state the obvious fact that it is not Russia that is invading countries under pretexts as false as Hitler's and setting up weapons systems on foreign soil in order to achieve military hegemony.

The reception given to Putin's words made it clear to Russia, China, and every country not bribed, threatened or purchased into participation in America's drive for world hegemony that the US has no interest whatsoever in peace. Intelligent people realize that American claims to be a moral and democratic force are mere pretense behind which hides a policy of military aggression.

The US, Putin said, has gone "from one conflict to another without achieving a fully-fledged solution to any of them."

Putin has repeatedly stressed Russia's peaceful intentions and desire to focus on its economy and to avoid a new arms race. In his speech on the 60th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany, Putin said: "I am convinced that there is no alternative to our friendship and our fraternity. With our closest neighbors and all countries of the world, Russia is prepared to build a kind of relationship which is not only based on lessons of the past but is also directed into a shared future."

In his 2006 state of the nation speech, Putin noted that America's military budget is 25 times larger than Russia's. He compared the Bush Regime to a wolf who eats whom he wants without listening. Putin is being demonized by US propagandists, because he insists upon Russia being a politically and economically independent state.

The Bush Regime has taken the US outside the boundaries of international law and is acting unilaterally, falsely declaring American military aggression to be "defensive" and in the interests of peace. Much of the world realizes the hypocrisy and danger in the Bush Regime's justification of the unbridled use of US military power, but no countries except other nuclear powers can challenge American aggression, and then only at the risk of all life on earth.

The solution is nonmilitary challenge.

The Bush Regime's ability to wage war is dependent upon foreign financing. The Regime's wars are financed with red ink, which means the hundreds of billions of dollars must be borrowed. As American consumers are spending more than they earn on consumption, the money cannot be borrowed from Americans.

The US is totally dependent upon foreigners to finance its budget and trade deficits. By financing these deficits, foreign governments are complicit in the Bush Regime's military aggressions and war crimes. The Bush Regime's two largest lenders are China and Japan. It is ironic that Japan, the only nation to experience nuclear attack by the US, is banker to the Bush Regime as it prepares a possible nuclear attack on Iran.

If the rest of the world would simply stop purchasing US Treasuries, and instead dump their surplus dollars into the foreign exchange market, the Bush Regime would be overwhelmed with economic crisis and unable to wage war. The arrogant hubris associated with the "sole superpower" myth would burst like the bubble it is.

The collapse of the dollar would also end the US government's ability to subvert other countries by purchasing their leaders to do America's will.

The demise of the US dollar is only a question of time. It would save the world from war and devastation if the dollar is brought to its demise before the Bush Regime launches its planned attack on Iran.

Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the Reagan administration. He was Associate Editor of the Wall Street Journal editorial page and Contributing Editor of National Review. He is coauthor of The Tyranny of Good Intentions.He can be reached at: PaulCraigRoberts@yahoo.com


" ... the irresponsible powers of Israel have worked out secret plans regarding a rocket and air-force attack against the atomic facilities in Iran." Ptaah, October 15th, published November 29th, 2006

"Israel has drawn up secret plans to destroy Iran's uranium enrichment facilities with tactical nuclear weapons, Britain's Sunday Times newspaper said." January 7, 2007

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November 10th, the biggest fundraiser of the year was held for Democratic Presidential Candidates in Iowa.

However, Congressman Dennis Kucinich and Former Senator Mike Gravel, both Democratic Candidates, were excluded from this event.

The 'reason' given by the Iowa Democratic Party was that Kucinich had "no full-time staff in Iowa, no office and not enough visits".

However in 2003, Ambassador Mosley Brown was invited to this same Fundraiser, and he had made the same number of visits to Iowa as Congressman Kucinich. Mosley was invited in 2003, but Dennis was not in 2007.

Telephone, email and fax complaints about Dennis and Mike being excluded from that event!

Nancy Pelosi
Office of the Speaker
H-232, US Capitol
Washington, DC 20515
(202) 225-0100
EMAIL: http://www.speaker.gov/contact

Iowa Democratic Party
5661 Fleur Dr, Des Moines, IA 50321
PHONE: 515-244-7292
FAX: 515-244-5051
WEBSITE: www.iowademocrats.org
EMAIL: iadem@iowademocrats.org

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Lobbying Stalls Generic Drug Legislation
Go to Original

Washington - Legislation aimed at speeding the availability of cheaper generic drugs has stalled in Congress in the face of major lobbying by the drug industry.

The Senate bill would ban most settlements known as "reverse payments," in which a brand-name company pays a generic manufacturer to delay the introduction of the generic drug. The Federal Trade Commission, which has called on Congress to take action, says such settlements could cost American consumers billions of dollars.

An Associated Press review of lobbying reports, from July 1, 2006, through June 30, 2007, found that $38.8 million was spent by at least a dozen generic and brand-name companies and their trade associations on issues including the Senate legislation. The lobbying reports do not specify how much of that money was directed at the reverse payment bill, and they are not required by law to do so.

More than half of those expenses were piled up by the Pharmaceutical Research & Manufacturers of America, or PhRMA, which represents brand-name drug companies. PhRMA spent $19.5 million in the 12-month period ending June 30 on in-house lobbying expenses, an increase of about $3 million over the previous 12-month period.

And the Generic Pharmaceutical Association reported lobbying expenses of around $420,000 for the first six months of this year. It did not report lobbying on the bill in its year-ending 2006 report. The remaining $19 million was spent by a variety of drug companies, including Bayer Corp., Schering-Plough, Pfizer and Teva Pharmaceuticals USA.

"Lobbyists have a lot of influence in Washington," said the bill's sponsor, Sen. Herb Kohl, who chairs the Senate Judiciary subcommittee on antitrust, competition policy and consumer rights. "If we can just get this to a vote, it will be pretty hard for people to vote against it. A vote against this is a vote against consumers."

Kohl, D-Wis., also chairs the Senate Special Committee on Aging, where he has pushed for generic drugs as a way for seniors to save money on their medications. Generic drugs are 30 to 80 percent cheaper than brand-name drugs, according to the Generic Pharmaceutical Association.

Kohl has offered the reverse payment legislation for the past two sessions of Congress. This year, House supporters introduced a similar bill, which remains in committee. Neither bill has come up for a vote, although the Senate bill did make it through the Judiciary Committee a few months ago.

In May, Kohl tried to get a vote on the Senate floor under a procedure known as unanimous consent, but Republicans objected. Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., said Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., and others involved with the legislation wanted more time to work on it.

Kyl asked the Justice Department's antitrust division for its views on the bill and is waiting for a response, said Kyl spokesman Andrew Wilder. The antitrust division declined to comment.

Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, has expressed concerns about Kohl's bill. Hatch issued a statement saying he voted to move the bill through committee this year "with the reservation that we find a balanced solution, one that bars anticompetitive settlements without jeopardizing the very kind of settlements that are critical to consumers and taxpayers."

"We haven't reached that balance yet, so it's understandable this bill has not moved forward," Hatch said.

In 1984, Congress passed the Hatch-Waxman Act, which established procedures to encourage generic companies to challenge patents before their expiration. In recent years, generic companies have increasingly resolved such challenges through settlements in which the generics receive cash or lucrative licensing and marketing agreements.

The drug companies are required to file their settlements with the FTC. Two federal appeals court rulings in 2005 upholding the legality of reverse payments have made it more difficult for the agency to block them.

In one of those cases, Barr Laboratories Inc. abandoned its successful challenge to AstraZeneca PLC's patent for the breast cancer drug tamoxifen. In exchange, Barr received a $21 million payment and entered an agreement with AstraZeneca under which Barr sold tamoxifen provided by AstraZeneca.

Consumers filed a lawsuit. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a federal judge who had concluded that the agreement did not violate federal antitrust laws. In June, the Supreme Court refused to take up an appeal.

A plaintiff in that case, Helen Donega of North Adams, Mass., said she was saving only about 5 percent off the brand-name price when she purchased the Barr generic tamoxifen in 1998 and 1999. Donega, who had insurance through Medicare but no drug coverage, said she had to pay between $85 and $90 a month for the drug.

She eventually bought tamoxifen in Canada for about one-10th of the price she was paying in the U.S.

Donega, 75, who had a mastectomy and has been cancer-free for several years, said she was amazed when she learned of the deal between Barr and AstraZeneca, which sold tamoxifen under the brand name Nolvadex. AstraZeneca's patent on the drug has since expired.

"I must have been naive. I thought the government was on our side," she said. "No, the government isn't on our side. Big PhRMA is powerful and has a lot of money. That's whose side they're on."

AstraZeneca spent just under $2.4 million in lobbying expenses over the 12-month period ending July 1 on issues including the reverse payment bill.

In an e-mail statement, AstraZeneca spokesman Tony Jewell said the settlement with Barr Laboratories was meant to resolve a patent dispute, not to delay the generic tamoxifen.

Barr spent $660,000 in the same 12-month period. At a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing this year, Barr Chairman and CEO Bruce L. Downey said the company settled the case with AstraZeneca because it thought it would lose its patent challenge on appeal.

"We took payment, we took a license, and we entered the market early with tamoxifen," he said. "And over the course of our license, we saved consumers about $300 million on that product."

Not all patent litigation settlements between generic and brand name companies involve payments, and Kohl's bill bans only those where the generic company receives something of value. The legislation would allow, for example, a deal in which the two sides merely compromise on the date that a generic can enter the market. And Kohl recently agreed to add a provision that would exempt some reverse payment settlements if the FTC determines they would benefit consumers.

The FTC has called on Congress to pass legislation to crack down on the reverse payment settlements, although it hasn't endorsed any specific bill.

"Such settlements restrict competition at the expense of consumers, whose access to lower-priced generic drugs is delayed, sometimes for many years," FTC Chairwoman Deborah Platt Majoras said in testimony before a House task force in September.

Generic and brand name drug companies argue that a ban would be counterproductive. PhRMA senior vice president Ken Johnson said in a statement that pharmaceutical research companies invest billions of dollars developing new medicines, and that patent rights help the companies recoup those investments and fund new research.

Jake Hanson, a lobbyist for Barr Laboratories, said that the settlements are sometimes necessary when a generic company considers all the ramifications behind a patent challenge.

"Sometimes as you're moving through discovery and different levels of a court case, you realize that it may not be a slam dunk," Hanson said.

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Crisis in the U.S.: “Plan B”?
by Richard C. Cook
Go To Original


Strange events are taking place in the U.S.
By August 2007, a lot of very smart people were reading the tea leaves, convinced that the upper echelons of the U.S. government had their own hidden reasons for forecasting an event even more heinous than the attacks of September 11, 2001.

President George W. Bush, Vice President Richard Cheney, and Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff had been hinting that another 9/11 could be coming.

Figures from the U.S. military had also projected a 9/11-type event. On April 23, 2006, for instance, the Washington Post published a statement by an unnamed Pentagon source that, “Another attack could create both a justification and an opportunity that is lacking today to retaliate against some known targets.”

9/11 was a turning point in history, and not just because it provided a pretext for the Bush administration to use off-the-shelf plans to invade Afghanistan and Iraq. The 9/11 Commission criticized the government for failing to do enough to act on danger signs that attacks may have been afoot. But a movement has formed which argues that the reality was worse—that 9/11 was an inside job staged to further the geopolitical ambitions of an elite seeking to use U.S. military power to advance its own imperialistic agenda.

What is indisputable is that from the 2000 presidential election through the 9/11 attacks and their aftermath, what New York Times columnist Paul Krugman termed a “revolutionary power” took control of the U.S. government.

Krugman’s statement, contained in the introduction to his 2005 book The Great Unraveling, has not been taken seriously enough. George W. Bush had lost the popular vote to Al Gore but was named to office by a Supreme Court that rubber-stamped what Greg Palast and others have proven was an extended process of electoral fraud in Florida. The subsequent actions and policies of the Bush/Cheney administration have been in accord with its dubious beginnings.

From the emergence of the Neocons as an ideological power base dominant over U.S. foreign policy, to destruction wreaked on the Bill of Rights by illegal surveillance of citizens, to the senseless creation of the bureaucratically monstrous Department of Homeland Security and passage of the Patriot Acts, to the initiation of “wars of choice” leading to the devastation of two nations and the killing or displacement of perhaps a million Middle Eastern non-combatants, to violation of international treaties and conventions against wars of aggression and torture of prisoners, to presiding over an economy ruined by the continued export of manufacturing jobs and the creation and deflation of the housing bubble, to the wrecking of the federal budget by over a trillion dollars of wartime expenditure, to the abandonment of the city of New Orleans during and after Hurricane Katrina, to tax cuts for the most wealthy while the income of the middle class has drastically eroded, and to threats to start another war, this time against Iran, based on deceptions similar to those which preceded the Iraq invasion, the Bush/Cheney administration has brought the U.S. to the brink of catastrophe.

What is now being asked is whether there was a plan that was to take place in September-October 2007 whereby the rest of the job would have been done. Speculation was that a nuclear device was to have been detonated in a U.S. city, perhaps one of the six attached to cruise missiles that were “inadvertently” carried by the Air Force B-52 bomber that flew from South Dakota to Louisiana just before Labor Day.

Check this link from the Arkansas Democrat Gazette for the official explanation of the incident:
http://www2.arkansasonline.com/news/2007/oct/19/air-force-punishes-70-accidental-nuclear-weapons-f/.

According to the Air Force’s report, the missiles were being mothballed due to “a treaty,” but ground personnel at Minot Air Force Base “grabbed the wrong ones” and loaded missiles with nuclear warheads by mistake.

Some have argued that these nukes were secretly bound for Iran to prepare for a nuclear attack on that country. But would such a Keystone Cops routine have been necessary to prepare for military action as a contingency to implement a possible decision coming from the highest political levels?

Suppose, on the other hand, that one of the nukes was targeted for a false-flag domestic attack, perhaps a city like Portland, Oregon, where military exercises simulating a major terrorist incident had been scheduled and where residents actually were warning each other to leave town.

Was the attack to trigger an economic collapse, leading as a side-effect to a payoff of billions of dollars for the placers of the “bin Laden bets” that were reportedly made in the financial markets anticipating a fifty percent decline in stock prices? Of course such an attack would be blamed on foreign terrorists. The trail of the explosion would be found to lead to Iran, resulting in war against that nation. Would the Constitution then have been suspended and martial law declared? Would citizens have been rounded up and herded into prison camps?

Such a scenario seems unfathomable, horrendous, even incredible. But it still may have been in character for a regime whose actions have led the world to view the U.S. as the greatest existing threat to peace. Rumors about such possible events have been churning on the internet for months.

But the rumors have not been confined to “conspiracy theorists.” Regarding President Bush’s commitment to the sanctity of constitutional processes, Congressman John Olver expressed the prevailing view in government circles when he told twenty of his constituents at a private meeting in Massachusetts on July 5, 2007, that he could not support a movement to impeach Bush. According to an attendee, the reason the Congressman gave was that, “The President would declare a national emergency, institute martial law, and suspend the 2008 elections.”

Therefore we might ask if it is true, as some sources have alleged, that the reason these events have not taken place was that there was a revolt by the U.S. military, which refused to carry out the false-flag attack that may have been intended?

What then has happened differently which indicates that events may have altered or postponed such a sinister denouement to the nightmare of the last seven years?

What has happened appears to be that the U.S. establishment has decided to move to “Plan B.” This may be defined as a decision that the sway of the Bush/Cheney regime must end and that some semblance of normality should be restored, at least in appearance, by making Hillary Clinton the next President.

Of course part and parcel of any Hillary Clinton presidency would be the presence and participation of her husband, former President Bill Clinton. We may rightly speak of “the Clintons” as a unit in this context.

The signs that Hillary Clinton is the President-designee have been appearing in droves. These include her rise in the polls, especially in Iowa, the emergence of an anti-Bush surge in the mega-media, especially on MSNBC, and the appointment of Democrats with ties to the Clintons at the Defense and Treasury Departments. Other signs include the emergence of a campaign by certain well-connected websites to keep tabs on pro-Neocon news commentators and offensives being launched against some particularly obnoxious right-wing media figures such as Bill O’Reilly and Rush Limbaugh.

The way Hillary Clinton is being portrayed in the mega-media is of decisive importance, because media-owning conglomerates such as GE, Viacom, and Disney serve the interests of the establishment, not the public. Nothing makes it to the airwaves without the approval of the financial interests which control these giants. Also decisive was the appearance of Hillary and Bill on the cover of the October 6 edition of The Economist, long the keystone publication of the Anglo-American international financial empire.

The Washington Post, another establishment house organ, has noted that Hillary herself is couching her election in terms of “when, not if.” The theme she is projecting is that of an anointed insider calling for “national unity.” For this she is being duly attacked by her competitors, most notably John Edwards.

The best example of how the mega-media is telegraphing establishment intent was Chris Mathews’ lead story on Hardball on Monday night, November 5, which displayed MSNBC’s “Power Rankings” for presidential candidates. The segment began with an adulatory profile of Hillary’s campaign. Mathews then set a record for premature declaration of victory by predicting her as “the most likely winner of the Democratic nomination and presidential election” a full year before the election is even to take place.

Mathews repeated his judgment several times in what was obviously rehearsed language, even as the members of his three-person panel of commentators were trying in vain to raise objections, including the view that Hillary might not even win the Iowa caucuses or the New Hampshire primary. Mathews repeatedly overrode his own experts with his insistence that Hillary was the MSMBC pick.

Oh yes, we will have the formality of a presidential election. Doubtless some fur will fly, because Hillary will always be the Clinton the right-wing most loves to hate. So we won’t see a coronation.

It is certain, however, that the current regime will exact a price for accepting at least temporary defeat. So far the price seems to be agreement by Hillary Clinton that the conquest of Iraq is a fait accompli, that the building of the Baghdad supersize embassy will continue, that permanent military bases in Iraq will be maintained a lá Korea, and that the option of an attack on Iran will remain “on the table.”

She has not raised her voice against any of this. The vehicle by which Clinton signed on to a possible attack on Iran was her vote in favor of the Senate resolution naming the Iranian Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist sponsor. Perhaps there is also an understanding between the Clintons and the Bush/Cheney camp that the latter will not be prosecuted for crimes committed in office.

No matter who becomes president in 2008, that person will be left with a nation in disarray. This includes a foreign policy that has been sacrificed to militaristic interests, the rise of a militant Russia now allied with China through the Shanghai Cooperative Organization, and a Latin America in open revolt against U.S. domination. Even maintaining a post-Bush foreign policy will be a challenge, given Condoleezza Rice’s legacy of a State Department whose morale is in shreds due to a vicious Neocon takeover of the foreign service that will persist for a generation or more.

Meanwhile, the U.S. economy is a wreck, with out-of-control debt, the housing collapse in full flower, continued erosion of manufacturing jobs, a sinking dollar, a crumbling physical infrastructure, soaring oil and food prices, out-of-control illegal immigration, and hordes of well-heeled foreigners buying U.S. assets with rapidly depreciating dollars.

The economy is in much worse shape today than when Bill Clinton took over from George H. W. Bush in 1992. It will be a miracle if the next president is able to keep the U.S. from sinking into a depression. The only qualification to this assessment lies with the large companies heavily invested in the growing Chinese economy—GM, GE, IBM, etc. But a majority of the stock of these and other corporations is owned by financial institutions, while the trickle-down effect of dividends will provide only a fraction of the purchasing power needed to keep the U.S. economy afloat.

While the views of the American public still seem to register to a slight degree, the Democrats have failed to respond to their restoration by the electorate to power in Congress by ending the Iraq War. But by their votes in 2006 and by consistently giving George W. Bush such low ratings in the polls, Americans have delivered a message. So have the many internet sites covering the real news of the war and the economy.

As well have the two maverick presidential candidates, Ron Paul the Republican and Dennis Kucinich the Democrat, who have been saying things not heard in the supine world of American politics for a long time. Things like getting rid of the inept handling of credit by the Federal Reserve and stopping the war in Iraq by exiting right now, without any more lies or excuses.

But it is by no means certain that there is much immediate hope of salvaging the nation from the current debacle. The interests of millions of Americans have been severely damaged by the financial and political malfeasance that has gone on for so long. Abroad, the deaths or ruin of large numbers of people in the Middle East must be accounted for. That region is now less stable than ever, as the situation in Pakistan shows. A negotiated two-state settlement between Israel and the Palestinians seems a distant dream. Finally, sane multilateral systems for sharing of the world’s resources among nations or dealing with global warming are nowhere in sight. And a nuclear holocaust involving the U.S. vs. Russia and possibly China is a growing danger.

Further, the U.S. economy can’t simply be “fixed.” It is too far gone for that. The elite began their takedown of the economy during the 1970s and show no signs of being able to reverse course. It started with the removal of the gold-peg to the dollar in 1971 and continued with the explosion of U.S. currency on the international scene due to the petrodollar, soaring trade and fiscal deficits, action to permanently mortgage us to military-backed dependence on imported Middle Eastern oil, a permanent tilt in favor of Israel vs. the Islamic world, and, finally, the galloping 1970s inflation.

These events led to the Fed-induced crash of 1979-83 which left us with today’s travesty of a “service” economy. Now in 2007 the Fed is trying to engineer a “soft landing” of an economy trapped in unsustainable debt and collapsing bubbles, at least until the 2008 election. But everyone knows a crash is coming, particularly as China and other nations dump the plummeting dollar as their reserve currency.

So what are the Clintons and their government-in-waiting planning? You would think they had something in mind. But maybe not. During the 1990s, Bill Clinton acted in full accord with the globalists’ agenda by continuing with the Reagan/Bush I privatization of the economy, with downsizing of government, and with promotion of the dot.com bubble that ended with the 2000 market crash. Unfortunately, it will not be as simple to engineer a repeat performance of even the ephemeral prosperity of the 1990s when what is lacking today is a real economic driver.

The grievous condition of the U.S. is reflected in an epidemic of mental and emotional illness and a rising violent crime rate. It is reflected in a USA Today poll, where 72 percent of Americans say the nation is moving in the wrong direction (74 percent in a Washington Post/ABC News poll). And who knows what disasters global warming has in store?

To face all this will require a decisive reorientation of U.S. governance. There is little in the history of the Clintons, their opportunistic style, and their passivity to the financier elite that justifies this much optimism. The financial controllers today exert more power over the U.S. economy and the nation’s politics than at any time in history. They are not giving up this power. In fact, Hillary is their “safest” choice among the Democrats in maintaining control.

Perhaps we may want to indulge in a sigh of relief at how much worse things could have been—or may still be—if Bush/Cheney unleash even more disasters. But stay tuned. The next four years are likely to be decisive—particularly because the plan to elevate Hillary Clinton may be a trap by which she is left holding the bag for an economic collapse that would make it much easier than at present for the Neocon storm troopers to rush back in.

What is absolutely certain is that the people of the world do not want war, regardless of their religion, race, or nationality. The people of the world want economic fairness. The people of the world want to live by honest labor, not bank credit. And the people of the world want an environment that is clean and safe for future generations. The only people who do not appear to want these things have been those who are currently in charge of the U.S. government.

The question now is what are the American people willing to do to assure that what is truly in the best interests of the nation will prevail? Will they continue to be manipulated by the fear which has been the basis of the Bush/Cheney mode of governance? Will they continue to act as obedient puppets as it becomes harder and harder to earn a living and raise a family in an economy throttled by debt and a declining standard of living? Will they simply vote for whom they are told to support by the media and the pollsters? Or will some decide that enough is enough and resolve to take America back in 2008?

But even if they do, can they succeed?

While Hillary Clinton is likely the designated Democratic nominee, Rudy Giuliani leads the polls for the Republicans. Giuliani, with his own group of Neocon advisers and his militant outbursts promising more war, is the ideological godson of Bush/Cheney.

Whoever is pulling the strings behind the scenes, it is likely obvious to them that to allow a character like Giuliani to step in while so many raw nerves are exposed among the American populace could lead to a premature explosion. Especially since Giuliani spent most of his adult life as a prosecutor putting people in jail. It’s hardly a time in the nation’s life when what is needed as head of state is an expert at slamming people into detention.

So what if Giuliani actually threatens to defeat Hillary while the establishment has decided to support her, perhaps just to buy time?

The establishment is taking precautions. It seems to be doing so by starting to promote a plan that could see Ron Paul running as a third-party candidate. You can see this unfolding, for instance, in his favorable treatment on CNN’s “Situation Room.” And could Dr. Paul really have begun suddenly to raise enormous amounts of campaign cash without someone in the establishment giving a green light?

Ron Paul as a candidate would obviously generate enormous excitement. But he could end up playing the same role as Ross Perot in the 1992 election, where Perot allowed disgruntled voters to let off steam while drawing enough votes to allow Bill Clinton to defeat George H.W. Bush.

One way or the other, the fix is on.

Finally, we should note that the “revolutionary power” Paul Krugman refers to is not just the Bush/Cheney/Neocon regime. They are only the most visible recent manifestation.

The true “revolutionary power” is much less visible but may reasonably be identified with the higher echelons of the “financier elite” and “establishment” referred to throughout this article. The underlying agenda of this group seems to be to destroy the U.S. as the world’s greatest industrial democracy, turn it into a province of a globalist system under their control, and use its land and population as muscle for world monetary and military dominance.

Can anything be done? Of course. The underlying problem is that the power and wealth acquired by the U.S. after World War II has eroded—has perhaps been squandered—as the rest of the world has grown up. Certainly, if the right people were in charge the U.S. could accept the inevitable, rebuild its failed domestic economy on democratic principles, and assume its rightful place as one of several major world powers, with the responsibility this would entail. Instead, we have been trying to hold onto what has slipped away by a continued resort to financial aggression combined with force of arms, rather than altruistic action based on enlightened ideals.

It’s a failed mission. What has happened to America in the last decade is turning into the greatest tragedy of modern history.

And what can ordinary people do while all this is unfolding? The best advice seems to be not to try to hoard paper assets, which the elite are able easily to manipulate or devalue. It’s to get out of debt, hone our manual skills, invest in a small business, grow our own food, stay positive, help others, work hard, eschew the consumption lifestyle, pray and meditate, be sober, and learn to think for ourselves. We might try to work within the political system if we can and want to, but should not count on easy successes, because, as the man said, “It’s a hard rain’s gonna fall.”

Richard C. Cook is a retired federal analyst, whose career included service with the U.S. Civil Service Commission, the Food and Drug Administration, the Carter White House, and NASA, followed by twenty-one years with the U.S. Treasury Department. His articles on economics, politics, and space policy have appeared on numerous websites. He is the author of Challenger Revealed: An Insider’s Account of How the Reagan Administration Caused the Greatest Tragedy of the Space Age, called by one reviewer, “the most important spaceflight book of the last twenty years.” His website is at www.richardccook.com.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtUOFzc5bcY

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9/11 T-r-u-t-h: BBC on the run

By Mick Meaney
RINF Alternative News

Since July 2007 British scientist, member of Scholars for 9/11 Truth & Justice and RINF science correspondent, John A. Blacker, has been in an ongoing battle with the BBC over their lie infested hit piece programme ‘9/11: The Conspiracy Files’, which aired in February 2007 and was designed to present an unfair view of the 9/11 truth movement and prominent researchers. Mr Blacker is currently in ‘pre-action protocol’ with the BBC, meaning they have to try and settle the argument out of court.

In this latest update, Mr Blacker has been informed of a scheduled meeting, due to take place in October which has now been pushed back further to late November. This is the third time the BBC has bought more time by delaying the meeting. A clear sign they are struggling to piece together a legal case to defend their actions.

With the BBC desperately on the run, I am making available the latest letter Mr Blacker has sent them, in which he pin points even more of the faults contained in the programme and demands an apology for their blatant lies as their hit piece is a complete disrespect to the truth and an insult to all who died on 9/11.

Please take the time to read the letter published below. As stated many months ago, RINF Alternative News will not allow this issue to be dropped and we’ve only just begun the battle to see justice prevail and the BBC admit it is guilty of mass public deception in a court of law.

Pre action for damages without prejudice.

Thursday, 08 November 2007

Dear Chairman,

Thank you for your letter dated 31 October 2007 and the 6 section Cover notes for appeal of which accompanied said.

Firstly I request and Expect each and every member of the decision panel to disclose their affiliations such as to “Common Purpose” “Masons” etc, etc and to forward said disclosure to the Chair. I am a member of AE911 truth, STJ911 truth and also ST911 truth, I am not currently a member of any political party & I am 1 of three professional partners of Physical Systems, Lancaster England & a qualified Physicist & Mechanical Engineer.

I shall be going through the folder you sent in order stating from section 1 and making my comments & observations as I proceed if I may, as this is the first opportunity I have been given to these information resources in their current format.

SECTION 1

(1) The Item

The Conspiracy files team spoke to and recorded the testimony of many eyewitnesses, fire fighters, police officers, and public high witnesses, plus also officialdom high witnesses and had access to written testimony from many high witnesses via official sites on the WWW.

YET NOT ONE SINGLE HIGH WITNESS WAS PRESENTED IN THE DOCUMENTARY TO PUT THE TRUTH PERSPECTIVE.

If the documentary was not biases — WHY not one?

Take for example the evidence of Fire CAPTAIN KARIN DESHORE who states on page 15 of the official report given to official government 911 investigators quote:

“SOMEWHERE AROUND THE MIDDLE OF THE WORLD
TRADE CENTER THERE WAS THIS ORANGE AND RED FLASH
COMING OUT INITIALLY IT WAS JUST ONE FLASH THEN
THIS FLASH JUST KEPT POPPING ALL THE WAY AROUND THE
BUILDING AND THAT BUILDING HAD STARTED TO EXPLODE THE
POPPING SOUND AND WITH EACH POPPING SOUND IT WAS
INITIALLY AN ORANGE AND THEN RED FLASH CAME OUT OF
THE BUILDING AND THEN IT WOULD JUST GO ALL AROUND THE
BUILDING ON BOTH SIDES AS FAR AS COULD SEE THESE
POPPING SOUNDS AND THE EXPLOSIONS WERE GETTING BIGGER
GOING BOTH UP AND DOWN AND THEN ALL AROUND THE
BUILDING”

What sort of research did the BBC team do? How can a documentary ignore such clear damming evidence?

WHAT WAS THE ACTUAL PROCESS OF SELECTING INFORMATION TO PRESENT TO THE PUBLIC?

What checks and balances ensured impartiality & the delivery of FACTUAL & accurate information worthy of a BBC Documentary & BBC viewers ?????

Alex Jones stated that he was filmed for many many hours and forwarded documentary proof upon proof to the BBC documentary team, yet all of that proof was ignored in favour of what was shown – why? What selection criteria was used, if not to deliberately select out everything which was conclusive in favour of what was actually shown – which was nothing more than Hearsay, Opinion & NEGATIVE Stereotyping of truth members.

High witnesses, actual Fire fighters and actual police were ignored by the BBC crew in favour of 3rd hand 3rd rate information. Why? Where is the journalistic integrity in this so called documentary?

Prof Jim Fetzer states the BBC team recorded many hours with him yet showed next to nothing of what he explained were the key science issues of the truth movement & the key evidence – why – what has the BBC got to hide – perhaps the FACTS???

Why was all of this key evidence censored?

(2.1)

The truth movement

A point which is missing, is the fact NO actual Physics was mentioned either to back the official government (Physically Impossible) lies, or more importantly, to explain why so many informed “intelligent” professional people do not believe the government lies because the official story simply defies the laws of physics.

1 There was not enough energy in the “collapse sequence” to turn the 300,000 tonnes of concrete and all of the floor panels to DUST – by a factor of at least 10.

2 3 buildings came to ground at near freefall; hence the undamaged, heaviest and strongest lower floors offered near zero resistance which was consistent with falling through clear AIR only.

3 Falling bodies never take the path of greatest resistance, EVER, always the path of least resistance only! (without exception)

4 A 757 simply can not fit through a 20 foot hole at the Pentagon – the program did not show the hole prior to collapse at the Pentagon, but misled the public into thinking the Jet had caused the damage after collapse. (TOTAL DECEIT)

I will stick to just 4 points here, however there are more, please see the actual correspondence from myself re key omissions of key & important points.

The Collapse of the twin towers.

There was not a single mention that NIST, who were hired by the US government to explain why the towers came to ground – did not cover the actual collapse sequence AT ALL.

The NIST report’s title was:

“Final report on the collapse of the world trade centre towers.”

Yet the official report did not actually even mention the “collapse” of the world trade centre towers or anything to do with building 007 (demolition 003).

In summary MANY pieces of KEY DAMMING information were deliberately and methodically left out or deliberately & methodically removed from the documentary during editing because they were far too conclusive, and far too damaging to the official government lies peddled by this BBC documentary. Instead of reporting the bread & butter truth issues the program was bulked out with nonsense from a science fiction writer and some really dodgy reporting from “Popular Mechanics” et al who gave not one slither of proof to the statements they made.

NOT a single first hand account was shown or mentioned – why? What process lead to no first hand accounts being selected or deemed worthy to be included or reported on in what was supposed to be a factual documentary?

SECTION 002 correction:

A second version of the letter dated 07/072007 was sent to the BBC via email to replace the one with hand written maths, this second version had typo corrections and also clearer printed maths which was better suited to publication online for the whole world to see.

http://rinf.com/alt-news/911-truth/st911-scientist-to-sue-bbc-for-public-deception/776/

SECTION 3

The original letter was intended to pursue action for damages and apology.
The response by the BBC was very positive as can be seen from the reply letters and it was at this point felt that whilst the documentary was a piece of yellow journalism designed to discredit the truth movement, it was perhaps not necessarily targeting and singling out any would be qualified scientist who was prepared to take a closer look at the evidence in detail, although it certainly did not encourage closer scrutiny as any fair and balanced documentary (considering all the evidence there is) should promote.

NOTE: What is the point of a BBC documentary if it does not promote learning and further research into the subject matter, as opposed to just reinforcing the “Physically Impossible” government lies?

As such after this point the Apology (for total public deception) and hopefully another program incorporating the actual key evidence and the actual first hand High witness testimony, would suffice.

May I complement the team on what was visually, an excellent piece, the problem lies with the integrity of other aspects of the program as stated in correspondence, including this.

SECTIONS 4.

Fine

SECTION 5.

On page 2.

“If a large passenger jet crashed into the Pentagon ….. why was the hole in the exterior wall apparently so small?”

Whilst this script was being spoken, Images of the damage at the pentagon was being flashed, the problem is, it shows the damage AFTER collapse, as being the actual damaged caused by the Jet impact. Only a knowledgeable person would know the image shown was “After Collapse” some 20 minutes later, and was not the damage caused by the jet impact as the sequence implies.

If only the 20 ft hole and the pre collapse images had been shown then this would have been honest journalism. As a result of confusing the viewer by flashing what was dishonest journalism and having those post collapse images associated with the initial jet impact, which was reinforced by the way in which the viewer was fed words and images together – this is propaganda Yellow Journalism portraying FALSE FACTS DECEPTION by stealth.

On page 2 again,

“Could a controlled demolition have caused this building to collapse at the World Trade Centre?”

How misleading could one short question statement & video combination be? The viewer sees a 47 story steel framed building descending straight down at near freefall of which is not one of the twin towers, it is not called by its name, Building WTC007, and the viewer is not informed the building came to ground on the actual day of 911 into its own footprint at near freefall speed.

Seeing as most of the population only know that 2 tall buildings were destroyed on the day of 911, would it not be honest journalism to actually name the building and mention the particular circumstances of which the building came to ground and of which is key to the truth movement perspective at the very least?

Again this is an example of deception by KEY FACT OMMISION.

On Page 12

19:22 into the documentary - the images are not of 5 Alleged Hijackers arriving and checking in at Dulles airport as the commentary suggests, but are in fact 2 young men checking in hundreds of miles from DULLES at 5.45:08 on 9-11-01 in a an alleged link flight.

Why was the misleading CCTV image used to totally deceive the unsuspecting Public viewer in combination with misleading narration? Why was the genuine actual image not shown, if they exist?

On Page 13.

Minutes later the façade of the building collapsed.
The military say there was limited damage to the exterior wall, ……cont
NO mention was made of the no fly zone around the pentagon and how large it is. No mention was made of the two rings of ground to air missile defence. No mention was made of the fact if any unauthorised aircraft reaches the outer zone jets are automatically scrambled to intercept and take under 10 seconds (YES UNDER 10 seconds) from lift-off to reach the Pentagon. No mention that if the unauthorised aircraft reaches the inner zone, regardless of transponder on or off, the missile batteries shoot until the target is destroyed.

These key omissions are clear evidence of deliberate bias in reporting by omitting key information essential for the viewer to make a knowledgeable informed assessment of the Pentagon FACTS.

On Page 14.

21:19 into the documentary an engineer states: “What I usually say is that is Bullshit, but what I’ll say is that it’s just flawed people that have something to dream about to make a name for themselves. It’s absolutely not true.

NOTE: AT no point in this Engineers statement does he once mention a 757 or large JET as hitting the Pentagon. A plane & plane wreckage at the pentagon is not the same as 757 plane wreckage at the Pentagon, indeed, there was an engine and plane wreckage found at the Pentagon.

This part of the documentary has to be one of the most deceitful parts. Pardon the pun.
Firstly the actual question relating to 757 wreckage was never put to the engineer on camera, for all the viewer knows the BBC crew could have asked the Engineer absolutely anything.

And What exactly is “ABSOLUTELY NOT TRUE”?

The journalism here is of the lowest possible quality and is clearly “YELLOW” and a deliberate attempt to make members of the truth movement who question the evidence of a 757 at the Pentagon - look ridiculous - and not actually get to the bottom of the saga via irrefutable evidence etc.

A motorcycle fuel tank & bike parts (small engine & wheels) at a crash scene is not evidence of a Wagon has crashed.

EVEN the Engineer did not say he witnessed ANY parts off a 757 or large Jet - to suggest a qualified Engineer would not know the difference between parts off a BIG jet and parts off a small one would be the height of stupidity.

It would be like saying an Engineer would not know the difference between a motorcycle & a wagon engine or Motorcycle & wagon wheel.

So why did the BBC journalists not ask for specifics, such as how large were the parts etc, could the parts have come off a 757 or large jet, were they large enough to fit a 757?
On Page 17.

The pilot Steve O’ Brien not once states he observed a 757, does anyone suppose he would not know a 757? The man is a trained observer who’s job it is to know and identify every type of aircraft without exception, does anyone think he would not state 757 if he had actually observed a 757 at his 12 o clock?

If he was on a routine flight do you suppose a USAF pilot or any other pilot would not know that the Pentagon was in a defended air exclusion zone and off limits to unauthorised non military planes. Why did he not mention this in his video statement?
Does anyone think a 500mph 757 is not the easiest target for a missile defence system to shoot down?

Why were none of these types of questions put to the pilot as these and many like them had been informed to the BBC crew by Prof Fetzer and Alex Jones?

Is there anybody alive who believes commercial jets are permitted to pull 4 G turns by the onboard fly by wire system?

In conclusion the Conspiracy Files Documentary was a work of Total Public deception from start to end, perfectly crafted to stealthily deceive and forward nothing which was conclusive either one way or the other, in other words, perfect propaganda YELLOW journalism by stealth, omission & deception.

Kind regards

J A Blacker MSc IMI (Physical Systems)(Lancaster England)

PS: Why was Prof Judy Wood not asked to explain the 911 physics?

False Flag Section has more related reports

[ericg]

November 12, 2007

Clinton, Obama, Dodd, and Biden's Trend of "Not Voting"

By Kevin Gosztola


It was unnerving to me when I read the news alert on BuzzFlash.com that all four of the Democratic senators who chose to not vote on the recent unacceptable Mukasey confirmation to the post of Attorney General were all running for President of the United States of America. Even more unnerving was the fact that this is a trend that began immediately after each announced he or she would be running in the month of January this year.

All four made the news in January around the same two or three weeks as Democrats who would be running for president in the 2008 election. Hillary Rodham Clinton announced on January 21st. Barack Obama began to organize his campaign formally on January 17th. Chris Dodd made his announcement that he would be running on January 11th. Joe Biden announced formally on January 31st.

It was at this time that these four Democratic senators began to abstain from voting .. measures that would have required them to take clear stances on certain issues. Look at these bills which I will highlight and see what was being voted on here. It is not hard for anyone to see that these men (and woman) were creating profiles in cowardice rather than courage at a time when Americans needed leaders to step up and still do.

The first vote where these senators begin to show up as “not voting” together is on a Kerry Amendment to the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act on January 12th, 2007 and also on a Vitter Amendment to that same act which took place on the same day. All except Barack Obama chose to not vote. (Obama began to formally organize his campaign in January but did not announce he would be running officially until February.)

Four months later, after much ado had been made on getting out of the Iraq war like voters had hoped the 110th Congress would quickly do in their first months in office, the four chose to “not vote” on motion to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to consider the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007. Clinton, Obama, Dodd, and Biden did not vote. They later on June 14, 2007, chose to “not vote” on a Warner Amendment to the Renewable Fuels, Consumer Protection, and Energy Efficiency Act of 2007 which would have allowed for the State of Virginia to petition for authorization to conduct natural gas exploration and drilling activities in the coastal zone of the State. Both “no votes” allowed them to not take a clear stance on immigration and to not take a clear stance on what to do for alternative energy sources in relation to our energy dependence.

The four senators on July 23, 2007, helped defeat Sherrod Brown’s Federal supplemental loan program amendment to the Higher Education Amendments of 2007 by “not voting.”

On Jul 25, 2007, before the situation erupted into massive chaos in Burma resulting in Americans all over noticing the repression in the region wanting to help out like Americans want to help with Darfur, the four chose to not vote on the renewal of import restrictions contained in the Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act of 2003.

While they may be upset that Bush vetoed children’s health care, they certainly were not there every step of the way during the battle because on July 30, 2007, the four Democratic senators chose to not vote on the motion to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to the Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2007. This was one of the first votes on the measure before finally being vetoed by Bush later on this year. Yet even worse, later on in the heat of the struggle, they chose not to vote on November 1, 2007 too at a time when their voices and support were needed.

On September 5, 2007, the four senators who hope to be president could not be bothered to vote on an amendment to the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies Appropriations Act for 2008. They also the next day on September 6, 2007, could not be bothered to vote on an amendment with a provision that would have struck the provision which increases the limit on the U.S.’s share for UN peacekeeping operations during 2008 from 25 to 27.1 percent. This was an amendment to the Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act of 2008. All four registered “no votes” for both amendment votes. The day after they chose to “not vote” on the Higher Education Access Act which would “increase grant amounts to students, improve access to student loans, cut interest rates on student loans, provide for the repayment of parts of the loans through employment or service in areas of national need, and reward colleges for lowering costs to students” thereby helping students pay for college. All of these senators chose to “not vote” for whatever reason.

These four presidential candidates did not want to take a clear cut stance on the war in Iraq, the future of our troops in Iraq, how we should be fiscally handling this war, and what we should do to get out of this quagmire we are in.

Now most recently it is ever apparent that they will register “no votes” in a group so they do not have differences for the media to exploit, for voters to use to choose who to vote for, and for the DLC to worry about. All four chose not to vote on the confirmation of Michael Mukasey to the post of Attorney General because had they voted for or against it they would have a clear cut stance on torture that may or may not hurt their ability to campaign successfully for the presidency. They also chose to "not vote" the one time that Congress successfully overrided a Bush veto.

What’s worse is that you can make the inference or conclusion that these “no votes” are due to their campaigns because John McCain can also be seen registering “no votes” right alongside them.

After uncovering this trend which has been occurring for months now yet has largely gone unnoticed, I predict they will all register “no votes” for the telecommunications bill with amnesty provisions that will soon be voted on. While Dodd may hold true to his word and break from the pack, the other three will make up some excuse to “not vote.”

Ask yourself in lieu of this trend, "Will either of these candidates allow for open government and honest leadership and offer a break from the Bush secrecy and deception we have been forced to accept here in America?"

Not voting does not mean you are against something. If I do not vote in an election, it does not mean I am against something. It means I forfeit my right to have my voice or opinion considered in a democratic society. It means I don’t care and choose not to participate in the system. And by not participating in the system or by manipulating it, this is one sure sign of the problems we will have in the future if either of these senators are elected president in 2008.

Authors Website: myorwelliannightmare.newsvine.com

Authors Bio: Kevin Gosztola lives in Chicago where he is studying to become a documentary filmmaker. When not writing on OpEdNews, he participates in the local campaign in Chicago for Dennis Kucinich for President, the Amnesty International chapter at Columbia, and assists with several political youth groups who face suppression and violation of civil liberties. For example, recently, the incident at Morton West and with three protesters on Oct 27th has led to the organization of weeks of action to raise awareness and money for the victims. Peace.

[ericg]

Veterans Constitute 1/4 of America's Homeless

By Mary Shaw

According to a recent study the the National Alliance to End Homelessness, "between 23 and 40 percent of homeless adults are veterans."

As a statement on the group's website indicates, "The U.S. Department of Veterans estimates that as many as 200,000 homeless people are veterans, and that over the course of the year, as many as 500,000 veterans experience homelessness. They are veterans of different conflicts, including World War II, Korean War, Vietnam War, Grenada, Panama, Lebanon; research indicates that those serving in late Vietnam and post-Vietnam era are at greatest risk of homelessness. Recent media accounts highlight a small but growing trend of veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan showing up in shelters."

These people have put their lives on the line for this country. They fought for this country. Many were seriously injured, physically and/or emotionally. And how do we thank them for their service to this country? By making the system so difficult to navigate, and by doing so little to help them succeed when they come back home.

The folks in Washington are always wrapping themselves in the flag and pretending to be Christians. Meantime, half a million vets are, or have been, homeless.

It's a disgrace.

[ericg]

Poor planning compounds problems as drought plagues Southeast US
By Ed Hightower
Go To Original
A prolonged drought in the southeastern United States is crippling the entire region and threatens millions with the prospect of running out of one of modern life’s most basic necessities: running water.

The drought started in early 2006 in northern Georgia and Alabama but has since spread to southeast Tennessee, the western portion of the Carolinas, parts of Virginia, southern Maryland and as far north as Illinois and Ohio and as far south as the Florida panhandle. Lack of rain and unusually high temperatures throughout the summer, compounded by a general lack of planning, have strained state and local infrastructures to the breaking point.

The dimensions of the drought, the most severe the Southeast has seen in 113 years, are staggering. The federal Department of Agriculture’s Drought Monitor has said that 32 percent of the Southeast region is in a state of D4 drought, the most severe category. The Department defines the D4 designation as “exceptional,” meaning that it should not be expected more than once or twice every century.

For North Carolina and Tennessee it is the driest year on record; for Alabama, the second driest and the third driest for Kentucky. A study of Tennessee’s rainfall history based on tree-rings shows 2007 is the third driest year for the state in at least 350 years, behind only 1839 and 1708.

When translated into economic terms, the drought is nothing short of a disaster. It has had a predictably destructive effect on the region’s agriculture, costing billions in lost crops. In Georgia alone farmers have lost $787 million in cotton, hay, peanuts and maize. The state government in Alabama has declared 88 percent of the state’s corn crop, along with 85 percent of its soybeans and 74 percent of its cotton, poor or very poor.

In the Carolinas and Virginia tobacco that has been harvested cannot properly “cure,” a process of drying in a barn before sale, and is therefore worthless. The destruction of hay and other feed crops has increased the price of feeding cattle so much that ranchers are unable to make a profit, forcing them to sell their livestock at a loss.

Other sectors of the economy have been hard hit as well. Even local landmarks have succumbed to water shortage. Stone Mountain Georgia, a famous north Georgia theme park, was forced to cancel its annual “winter wonderland” event. A photo in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution showing a man throwing a snowball at Stone Mountain caused such uproar from area residents, parched by months of water use restrictions, that the Coca-Cola Company decided to refund ticket costs to purchasers.

The Jack Daniels distillery in Tennessee has warned that it may have to cease production because its well is so low. The University of Georgia and Georgia Tech, both in north Georgia, are struggling to keep the sprinklers on their football fields spraying. The Tennessee Valley Authority, which generates electricity used in seven states, had to halve its production of hydroelectric power due to low water levels.

The problem of drinking water is also widespread in the region. As of November 1, the old mining town of Omre, Tennessee had run completely out of water, a prospect facing many other municipalities, including the metropolis of Atlanta.

Officials in Omre are desperate for solutions. The town’s fire truck has been making trips across the Alabama border to fill up with water that it then takes back to Omre’s reservoir. Running water is available for only three hours in the day.

In Atlanta, the chamber of commerce has joined Governor Sonny Perdue in suing the Army Corps of Engineers regarding the release of water from Lake Lenier, which supplies 3 million people, or a third of the state’s population, with drinking water. Lake Lenier’s water level is at its lowest on record. At the current use level it has less than three months before it will be completely dry.

Lake Lenier has been central to the political blame game accompanying the drought. Originally built to control flood waters of its parent rivers, Lake Lanier now serves multiple functions, all of which are threatened by its unprecedented water level.

By federal mandate, the Army Corps of Engineers is required to release over a billion gallons of water each day from the lake to protect two endangered species of mussels in Florida’s Apalachicola bay and to serve a Florida coal burning power plant. In response to the recently filed lawsuit, the Corps replied that the current crisis is one of the states’ making.

For several decades politicians in Georgia, Alabama and Florida have battled for their share of Lake Lanier’s water. Time and again the state legislatures voted down plans to modernize the region’s water system, despite warnings that it could not sustain a severe drought.

The failure to develop a plan to deal with a drought has been directly tied to profit interests in the region. In the 1990s the Georgia legislature axed a plan to create reservoirs because builders thought it would limit lands available for development. A proposal for a state-funded regional reservoir failed in 2004.

In January the Georgia legislature will consider two proposals on the issue. One is a $30 million study of the state’s water resources. The other is similar to previous proposals for a system of state reservoirs. Given the state’s budgetary situation, passage of these plans remains uncertain.

The drought highlights the inability of the profit system to carry out rational social planning. Years of poorly regulated growth in the metro Atlanta area have thoroughly overwhelmed the existing water infrastructure. Even in the midst of the drought, politicians have proven incapable of an effective response. Governors in the region have made a series of pleas for residents to reduce their water usage, as if that might have some tangible effect.

Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue declared October “shorter shower” month, while his ban on lawn watering exempts golf courses. Only slightly less ineffectual was his decree that municipalities cut back their draw on Lake Lanier by 10 percent.

The response of Perdue has reached absurd proportions. According to one account, the governor is holding religious services in order to pray for rain. “The only solution is rain,” the governor’s spokesman said, “and the only place we get that is from a higher power.” Of course, blaming God for the state’s drought problems is also a convenient way of taking the pressure off Perdue himself.

While it is difficult to attribute any particular weather phenomenon directly to global warming, the Southeast drought fits well into the picture presented in the most recent assessment of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. In the Summary for Policy Makers released in February the panel notes, “Warming of the climate system is unequivocal, as is now evident from observations of increases in global average air and ocean temperatures, widespread melting of snow and ice, and rising global average sea level.”

The impact of global warming on the world’s climate is profound. The assessment noted widespread changes in precipitation amounts and wind patterns and found increased frequency of extreme weather phenomena, including droughts and heat waves. Studies have observed more intense, longer droughts in wider areas, especially the tropics and subtropics, since the 1970s. Even changes in sea surface temperature, decreased precipitation and snow pack are linked to more frequent and intense droughts.

One general consequence of global climate change is the erratic nature of weather patterns. The added energy in the earth’s atmosphere has effects that are difficult to predict and that greatly change the climate of many regions. Thus many farmers in the region were unprepared for a protracted shortage of rain, something formerly thought of as an issue only for farmers farther west.

More severe weather phenomena have taken their toll across the country and internationally. While the ecological consequences of global warming will be immense, the major world powers, and above all the American government—beholden to the interests of corporations and the oil industry—have opposed any serious attempts to deal with the problem.

The drought in the Southeast is not expected to let up any time soon. Typically the southeastern US states experience heavy seasonal rainfall from hurricanes, which were in short supply this year. A La Nina weather system is in effect, which means that the winter should be particularly dry. In the meantime more cities will find their water sources drying up soon, including Atlanta and Birmingham.

The drought is taking its toll amidst the backdrop of the California wildfire, the collapse of the I-35 bridge in Minnesota, the devastation wrought by tornados in the Great Plains region, and Hurricane Katrina. Like these disasters the drought underscores the inability of the capitalist system to meet the most fundamental human needs. With social resources organized for the further enrichment of a tiny layer of the super-wealthy, firefighting, roadway maintenance, water usage planning and myriad other public services are curtailed with catastrophic results.

[ericg]

Why on Earth Are Hillary and Obama Supporting Pro-Corporate Trade Deals?
By Joshua Holland, AlterNet
Posted on November 13, 2007, Printed on November 13, 2007
http://www.alternet.org/story/67680/
With the announcement that Hillary Clinton will join Barack Obama in supporting a new trade deal with Peru that passed in the House last week -- the first in a series of "free-trade" deals that are based on the deeply unpopular NAFTA model and being pushed through Congress by the Bush administration -- the divide between the two Democratic front-runners and the American electorate couldn't be clearer.

There's certainly no constituency for it within the universe of Democratic primary voters -- all of the Peruvian and most American unions oppose it, as do key environmental and anti-poverty organizations -- and it certainly won't win any "swing" voters to the party or make the Democratic brand more popular in any battleground states.

I asked Todd Tucker, research director of Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch, who really stands to benefit from the deal. He didn't hesitate before rattling off a dozen multinationals including Citigroup, Occidental Petroleum and Wal-Mart, all of whom, according to Tucker, have "put their full might into getting the Peru deal passed, including showering millions in congressional campaign donations since January alone." Tucker told me their wish list includes "privatized social security systems for Citi, rainforest-destroying oil extraction for Occidental, and a push to Wal-Mart's efforts to buy out Peru's retail sector, just as they did in Central America just days after Bush signed [the Central American Free Trade Agreement]." In addition, General Mills, (and the Grocery Manufacturers Association PAC, which supports it) wants the deal to go through because it grows most of its canned veggies in Peru (decimating onion, asparagus and pea farmers in the United States) and is now moving its processing facilities down there. Citibank, along with other financial services firms, wants the deal because it would allow the firm to sue the Peruvian government for damages if progressive activists succeed in reversing a disastrous social security privatization scheme that's screwed over millions of Peruvian retirees.

The rest of the field has come out in opposition to the Peru agreement, and one candidate, Dennis Kucinich, has gone so far as to call for abolishing the WTO. But like Obama and Clinton, Joe Biden, Christopher Dodd and Bill Richardson are all enthusiastic, self-described "free traders." It's John Edwards, considered a distant third in the race by the punditocracy, who is making the Peru deal into an issue that he hopes will speak to the candidates' overall judgment as well as their concern for issues of economic justice. "Like the failed free trade agreements before it," he said in a statement, "the Peru Agreement puts the interests of the big multinational corporations first, ahead of the interests of American workers and communities."

Supporting the NAFTA model does speak to the candidates' judgment. Obama said that he'd vote for the Peru deal because "it contained the labor and environmental standards sought by groups like the AFL-CIO," but the AFL-CIO released a statement saying that, because of "several issues of concern to working families," the AFL-CIO "is not in a position to support the Peru FTA." "Labor and environmental protections" are a scam -- Tom Donohue, head of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said that his members were "encouraged" by assurances that the deal's labor provisions "cannot be read to require compliance."

Obama went on to insult the intelligence of a crowd of New Hampshire residents by explaining: "We cannot draw a moat around the U.S. economy because China is still trading, India is still trading." But objecting to these new NAFTA-style deals has nothing to do with moats. We already have a treaty with Peru, and 150 other countries, that established a rules-based trading system, complete with a dispute-resolution process. It's called the WTO, and fair trade activists -- many of whom also happen to make up a large chunk of the Democratic party's base -- already object to that institution's consistently giving too much to investors without paying more than lip service to protecting other stakeholders. No real Democrat should talk about "moats" when we have binding trade deals in place covering 98 percent of the planet.

The plain truth is that there's no half-way decent argument for supporting the Peru deal, and that may be the most offensive part of the whole thing: It shows that on a fundamental level, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and their respective campaign staff think that the American electorate -- you and I and all the people we know -- are stupid.

It's certainly difficult to interpret Clinton's justification for supporting the deal any other way. After waffling on the issue for a couple of days, her campaign released a statement saying she'll vote for the Peru FTA because it "levels the playing field for American workers." Apparently we're supposed to believe that Peru, mighty economic behemoth that it is -- it has an economy approaching the size of Connecticut's -- has been using its vastly superior technology, infrastructure, access to capital and its firms' huge economies of scale to run roughshod over its American competitors, and only the Peru "free trade" agreement will give America's working stiffs a fair shot to compete on a level playing field.

The deal's significance is not in its impact on American workers -- those who say it will kill jobs here don't appreciate how insignificant our trade with Peru is in the big picture -- but the opportunity it gives us to take a hard look at where the candidates stand on the model itself. Clinton said she'd oppose the next deals coming down the pike: treaties with Panama, Colombia and South Korea. Given that they are all substantially similar -- the Panama deal, in particular, is basically identical to the Peru agreement -- I asked democratic strategist and columnist David Sirota if he had any insight into what game she was up to. "What's going on here," he said, "is that she is endorsing the NAFTA trade model, but saying that she has problems with certain countries' specific behaviors. And that's what's really telling. She is saying she has no problem with trade deals rigged to crush American and foreign workers on behalf of Wall Street, and that the only real reason to ever oppose that model is if there are other problems/complications with the specific country in question."

But it's the model itself that's flawed. Just a few weeks before the House OK'd the deal, a study by the Economic Policy Institute's Josh Bivens found that our neoliberal trade policies have depressed the wages of 70 percent of the U.S. population. What's more, Bivens argued that much of what's wrong with the policy has long been known by D.C. lawmakers. As a summary of the paper by Public Citizen noted:


Anytime a pundit or politician invokes the notion that our trade policy is a "win-win" proposal, they are at worst lying or misleading the public, and at best equating the considerable gains going to the top end of the income distribution with a scenario where the gains are widely shared (something that has not happened and could not happen without massive tax increases on the wealthy and government redistribution of a magnitude that is not being at all discussed by leading presidential candidates of either party).
This needs to be put into a larger context: The benefits of a wide-open global economy are routinely and wildly overstated. In fact, what the pundits call "pro-growth" policies are not expected to yield much in the way of growth at all, and some data indicate they even slow down economic growth for most countries (PDF). According to a study by the World Bank -- no hotbed of democratic socialism -- eliminating every last "trade barrier" in the world, ever tariff and every import control would increase the world's economic output by less than a penny on the dollar by 2015. But those gains wouldn't be spread equally around the global economy, and for countries like Peru, they'd likely be more than offset by the costs.

Of course, politicians are in the business of being elected first and foremost, so I'd find Clinton and Obama's stance less offensive if there was the potential for a big political payoff at the end of the day. There isn't: Polls show that Americans are ambivalent about D.C.'s trade consensus at best, with about as many saying it's hurt working families as saying it's helped. As Ken Scheve and Matt Slaughter -- two boosters of so-called "free trade" -- noted in a recent article in Foreign affairs:


… An ongoing NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll found that from December 1999 to March 2007, the share of respondents stating that trade agreements have hurt the United States increased by 16 percentage points (to 46 percent) while the "helped" share fell by 11 points (to just 28 percent). A 2000 Gallup poll found that 56 percent of respondents saw trade as an opportunity and 36 percent saw it as a threat; by 2005, the percentages had shifted to 44 percent and 49 percent, respectively. The March 2007 NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll found negative assessments of [the current model of globalization] even among the highly skilled: Only 35 percent of respondents with a college or higher degree said they directly benefited from the global economy.
The interesting thing about opposition to corporate-led globalization is the degree to which it's independent of ideology or party loyalty. Republicans, Democrats and independents are all equally ambivalent. That "fair" rather than "free" trade is a winning position politically was made clear in last fall's midterm landslide, an election in which just about every candidate that knocked off an incumbent or grabbed an open seat ran against the bipartisan "free trade" consensus (PDF).

Given the political landscape and the very significant policy issues raised by labor and environmental groups, there's no reason in the world to support these deals. Accept, that is, for the campaign contributions that corporate America can generate. So while there exists a solid body of empirical research that's shown that most people's perception of the relationship between campaign cash and politicians' votes is overstated -- that there's no clear quid-pro-quo -- it's hard to see any other explanation for supporting a deal like the Peru FTA. The treaty itself is unlikely to hurt Americans all that much, so the calculus must be that they can make some donors happy without paying a price. It's hard to pretend that the two Democratic candidates' support for a deal opposed by U.S. labor but being lobbied hard by Citibank and JP Morgan has nothing to do with the fact that they're 1-2 in contributions from commercial banks and are both in the top three in contributions from securities and investment firms. As Bush has ridden the GOP brand into the gutter, the corporate money has been shifting to the Dems. It started with the lead-up to last year's midterms, when the New York Times described a "shift in political giving" from corporations that had "not been this pronounced in the final stages of a campaign since 1994, when Republicans swept control of the House for the first time in four decades." The trend has continued this year.

Contrary to most of the reporting on the trade front, none of this is about whether the Democrats have an adequately "big tent." It goes beyond ideological diversity; these issues get to the core of what it's supposed to mean to be a Democrat: Are you or are you not working for the good of the majority? In a very important sense, the specifics of all of these trade deals are irrelevant. The real question that all political candidates should answer is this: Are you in favor of using all of the immense diplomatic and economic power of the United States to coerce foreign countries into accepting binding treaties, effectively written by corporate lobbyists, that limit their ability to manage their economies as they see fit and further concentrate wealth here at home?

When it comes to the Peru deal, John Edwards, Dennis Kucinich, Christopher Dodd and even Joe Biden are saying "no" in response to that question. If that line of attack pushes any of their numbers in key primary states -- with Edwards positioned to make the most of it -- we may finally see a shift in the conventional wisdom on trade. The idea that there's a real political price to be paid for rallying around the status quo might just help move along the process of changing it.

In the meantime, progressives should look hard at the candidates who don't think that their party's base is made up of a bunch of suckers.

[ericg]

Space Defense Program Gets Extra Funding
By Walter Pincus
Go To Original



While wrestling with wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Pentagon is preparing weapons to fight the next battle from space, according to information in the 621-page, House-Senate conference report on the fiscal 2008 defense appropriations bill.

The $459 billion bill, which awaits President Bush's signature, provides $100 million for a new "prompt global strike" program that could deliver a conventional, precision-guided warhead anywhere in the world within two hours. It takes funds away from development of a conventional warhead for the Navy's submarine-launched Trident Intercontinental Ballistic Missile and from an Air Force plan for the Common Aero Vehicle.

The new program, dubbed Falcon, for "Force Application and Launch from CONUS," centers on a small-launch-vehicle concept of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. The agency describes Falcon as a "a reusable Hypersonic Cruise Vehicle (HCV) capable of delivering 12,000 pounds of payload at a distance of 9,000 nautical miles from [the continental United States] in less than two hours."

Hypersonic speed is far greater than the speed of sound. The reusable vehicle being contemplated would "provide the country with significant capability to conduct responsive missions with quick turn-around sortie rates while providing aircraft-like operability and mission-recall capability," according to DARPA.

The vehicle would be launched into space on a rocket, fly on its own to a target, deliver its payload and return to Earth. In the short term, a small launch rocket is being developed as part of Falcon. It eventually would be able to boost the hypersonic vehicle into space. But in the interim, it will be used to launch small satellites within 48 hours' notice at a cost of less than $5 million a shot.

Conferees added $100 million above the Bush administration's request for nearly $200 million to accelerate "space situational awareness." That is code for protecting U.S. satellites in space and being able to attack the enemy's satellites.

"Enhancing these capabilities is critical, particularly following the Chinese anti-satellite-weapons demonstration last January," the conferees wrote in their report. They were referring to a Jan. 11 incident in which a Chinese guided missile destroyed an aging weather satellite in orbit.

"Counterspace systems" that would warn of impending threats to U.S. satellites, destroy or defend against attackers, and interrupt enemy satellites are in the Bush budget for $53 million. Conferees gave them another $10 million.

One research project of $7 million in that category is directed at "offensive counterspace," described in the Pentagon's presentation to Congress as designing "the means to disrupt, deny, degrade or destroy an adversary's space systems, or the information they provide."

Another $18 million would go for research into a second-generation counter-satellite-communications system; it would explore and develop capabilities "to provide disruption of satellite communications signals in response to U.S. Strategic Command requirements," according to the Pentagon congressional presentation. The first-generation system is already operational, and an upgrade of those capabilities is in production.

The conferees want to increase funds for the Rapid Identification Detection and Reporting System, which already had $28 million in the Bush budget. This system is designed to provide "attack detection, threat identification and characterization, and support rapid mission impact assessments on U.S. space systems."

Its first-generation system is scheduled for initial operation at the end of next year, while the new funds will allow continuation of research on a second generation, which began this year.

Part of the funding will also go toward work on integrating this system, which detects enemy threats to U.S. satellites, with the offensive counterspace and counter-satellite-communications programs. Eventually, they would be linked with U.S. command-and-control systems "in support of space control and the counterspace mission areas," according to the Pentagon's presentation to Congress.

Integration of these developing counterspace missions with a current command-and-control system is expected by the middle of 2008, according to documents provided to Congress.

[ericg]

Is the Military Our Last, Best Hope for Averting War with Iran?
By Chris Hedges, Truthdig
Posted on November 13, 2007, Printed on November 13, 2007
http://www.alternet.org/story/67654/
The last, best hope for averting a war with Iran lies with the United States military. The Democratic Congress, cowed by the Israel lobby and terrified of appearing weak on defense before the presidential elections, will do nothing to halt an attack. The media, especially the electronic press, is working overtime to whip up fear of a nuclear Iran and tar Tehran with abetting attacks against American troops in Iraq. The American public is complacent, unsure of what to believe, knocked off balance by fear and passive. We will be saved or doomed by our generals.

The last wall of defense that prevents the Bush administration from targeting Iran, an attack that could ignite a regional conflagration and usher in apocalyptic scenarios in the Middle East, runs through the offices of Secretary of Defense Robert Gates; Adm. William Fallon , the head of the Central Command (CENTCOM); and Gen. George Casey, the Army's new chief of staff. These three figures in the defense establishment have told George W. Bush and the Congress how depleted the U.S. military has become, that it cannot manage another conflict, and that a war with Iran would make the war with Iraq look like an act of prudence and common sense.

The reliance on the military command, however, to be the voice of reason in the debate about a new war is not a healthy sign for our deteriorating democracy. Compliant generals can always be found to carry out the Dr. Strangelove designs of a mad White House. Those who resist implementing decisions can easily be removed. The protective cover provided by these figures in the defense establishment could vanish.

The United States is able to launch a massive and devastating air attack on Iran's military installations. It can obliterate the Iranian air force. It can cripple if not dismantle effective communications and military command and control. It can destroy some of Iran's underground nuclear facilities. But our intelligence inside Iran, as was true in Iraq, is uneven. We do not know where all of Iran's nuclear facilities are. And it is probable that an Iranian response against American targets, such as the Green Zone in Iraq, as well as Iranian-sponsored terrorist attacks on American soil, would follow. Shiites in the region would interpret an attack as a war on the Shiite community and would unleash unrest, terrorism and violence against us and our allies from Lebanon to Pakistan.

The battle is between the Cheney camp, which would like to carry out strikes on Iran before Bush leaves office, and Gates and his senior generals. Cheney, who has always been able to push aside the feckless Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, is having a tougher time with the military. Fallon, for example, was successful in his attempt to block efforts by Cheney to move a third aircraft carrier into the Persian Gulf earlier this year and bluntly said that "there would be no war against Iran" as long as he was chief of CENTCOM.

Gen. Casey informed Congress this fall that the Army was "out of balance" and added: "The demand for our forces exceeds the sustainable supply. We are consumed with meeting the demands of the current fight, and are unable to provide ready forces as rapidly as necessary for other potential contingencies."

This White House has a habit of dismissing recalcitrant generals. Gen. Eric Shinseki, when he was chief of staff of the Army, ended his career when he told the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee on the eve of the war in Iraq that "something in the order of several hundred thousand soldiers" would probably be required for postwar Iraq. Gen. Peter Pace also ran afoul of the White House and was not nominated for a second term as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff when he publicly defied Donald Rumsfeld. At a press conference in November 2005 he stood next to Rumsfeld as the secretary of defense asserted that "the United States does not have a responsibility" to prevent torture by Iraqi officials. Pace pointedly disagreed with Rumsfeld, saying, "It is the absolute responsibility of every U.S. service member, if they see inhumane treatment being conducted, to intervene, to stop it." Pace also openly dismissed White House claims that Iran was supplying weapons and explosively formed penetrators to Iraqi insurgents. He too was shown the door.

The White House, isolated and reviled at home and abroad, believes it is on a higher mission to save the world from itself. The instability in the Middle East could undermine Gates and his generals. A limited Israeli strike on suspected Iranian nuclear production facilities, currently under discussion in Jerusalem, could trigger retaliatory strikes by Iran on Israel and U.S. targets in Iraq and the Persian Gulf. The clamor for revenge, fueled by a rapacious right-wing media, coupled with our feelings of collective humiliation, could sweep aside all reasoned objections to war with Iran. It happened after the attacks of 2001. It can happen again.

There is a petition circulating that was put together by Marcy Winograd from the Progressive Democrats. The petition is addressed to the Joint Chiefs of Staff and all U.S. military personnel. It urges them to defy orders to attack Iran. It points out that a pre-emptive war with Iran is a war crime under international law. It reminds military personnel of the statute in the Army Field Manual 27-10, Section 609, and Uniform Code of Military Justice, Article 92, that states: "A general order or regulation is lawful unless it is contrary to the Constitution, the law of the United States. ..."

The petition notes that any provision of an international treaty ratified by the United States becomes the law of the United States. The United States is a party and signatory to the United Nations Charter, of which Article II, Section 4, states, "All members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state. ..."

Iran has not attacked the United States. The U.S., as a party and signatory to the U.N. charter, would be in clear violation of international law and the laws enshrined in the Constitution if it went to war with Iran. If the citizens and their representatives in Congress refuse to resist and uphold the rule of law, perhaps the military can be prodded to halt our slide into despotism. It is not the best option, but it may be the only one left.

We live now at the mercy of events. A provocation by Iran, aided by a bellicose White House, could plunge us into another war. It could unleash the primitive chant for violence and revenge that rises up from a population that feels vulnerable, uncertain and afraid. There are forces in our society ready and willing to fan the blood lust for a wider circle of war and mayhem. The Iranians, like us, are cursed by their leadership. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is as primitive, inept and paranoid as George Bush. They are the perfect dance partners for a waltz into Armageddon.

Chris Hedges, a Pulitzer prize-winning reporter, was the Middle East bureau chief for The New York Times. He spent seven years in the Middle East and reported frequently from Iran. His latest book is American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America.

[ericg]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okB-489l6MI

Space Preservation Act of 2001

SEC. 7. DEFINITIONS.

In this Act:

(1) The term ..space' means all space extending upward from an altitude greater than 60 kilometers above the surface of the earth and any celestial body in such space.

(2)(A) The terms ..weapon' and ..weapons system' mean a device capable of any of the following:

(i) Damaging or destroying an object (whether in outer space, in the atmosphere, or on earth) by--

(I) firing one or more projectiles to collide with that object;

(II) detonating one or more explosive devices in close proximity to that object;

(III) directing a source of energy (including molecular or atomic energy, subatomic particle beams, electromagnetic radiation, plasma, or
extremely low frequency (ELF) or ultra low frequency (ULF) energy radiation) against that object; or

(IV) any other unacknowledged or as yet undeveloped means.

(ii) Inflicting death or injury on, or damaging or destroying, a person (or the biological life, bodily health, mental health, or physical and economic well-being of a person)--

(I) through the use of any of the means described in clause (i) or subparagraph (B);

(II) through the use of land-based, sea-based, or space-based systems using radiation, electromagnetic, psychotronic, sonic, laser, or other energies directed at individual persons or targeted populations for the purpose of information war, mood management, or mind control of such persons or populations; or

(III) by expelling chemical or biological agents in the vicinity of a person.

(B) Such terms include exotic weapons systems such as--

(i) electronic, psychotronic, or information weapons;

(ii) chemtrails;

(iii) high altitude ultra low frequency weapons systems;

(iv) plasma, electromagnetic, sonic, or ultrasonic weapons;

(v) laser weapons systems;

(vi) strategic, theater, tactical, or extraterrestrial weapons; and

(vii) chemical, biological, environmental, climate, or tectonic weapons.

(C) The term ..exotic weapons systems' includes weapons designed to damage space or natural ecosystems (such as the ionosphere and upper atmosphere) or climate, weather, and tectonic systems with the purpose of inducing damage or destruction upon a target population or region on earth or in space.



THIS ACT CHANGED TO:

Space Preservation Act of 2005

SEC. 7. DEFINITIONS.

In this Act:

(1) The term ..space' means all space extending upward from an altitude greater than 110 kilometers above the surface of the earth and any celestial body in such space.

(2) The terms ..space-based weapon' and ..space-based system' mean a device capable of damaging or destroying an object or person (whether in outer space, in the atmosphere, or on Earth) by--

(A) firing one or more projectiles to collide with that object or person;

(B) detonating one or more explosive devices in close proximity to that object or person; or

(C) any other undeveloped means.

[ericg]

HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE:

DEMOCRAT

Hon. John Conyers, Jr. (202) 225-5126

Hon. Berman (202) 225-4695

Hon. Boucher (202) 225-3861

Hon. Nadler 202-225-5635

Hon. Scott (202) 225-8351

Hon. Watt (202) 225-1510

Hon. Lofgren (202) 225-3072

Hon. Jackson Lee (202) 225-3816

Hon. Waters (202) 225-2201

Hon. Delahunt (202) 225-3111

Hon. Wexler (202) 225-3001

Hon. Sánchez (202) 225-6676

Hon. Cohen (202) 225-3265

Hon. Johnson (202) 225-1605

Hon. Sutton (202) 225-3401

Hon. Gutierrez (202) 225-8203

Hon. Sherman (202) 225-5911

Hon. Baldwin (202) 225-2906

Hon. Weiner (202) 225-6616

Hon. Schiff (202) 225-4176

Hon. Davis (202) 225-2665

Hon. Wasserman Schultz 202-225-7931

Hon. Ellison (612) 522-1212


REPUBLICAN

Hon. Lamar S. Smith (202) 225-4236

Hon. Sensenbrenner Jr (202) 225-5101

Hon. Coble (202) 225-3065

Hon. Gallegly (202) 225-5811

Hon. Goodlatte (202) 225-5431

Hon. Chabot (202) 225-2216

Hon. Lungren (N/A)

Hon. Cannon (202) 225-7751

Hon. Keller (202) 225-2176

Hon. Issa (N/A)

Hon. Pence (202) 225-3021

Hon. Forbes (202) 225-6365

Hon. King (202) 225-4426

Hon. Feeney (202) 225-2706

Hon. Franks (N/A)

Hon. Gohmert (202) 225-303

Hon. Jordan (202) 225-2676

http://www.judiciary.house.gov/CommitteeMembership.aspx


What do we do next to move impeachment forward:
1. Call the House Judiciary Committee at 202-225-3951 and demand hearings on H.Res. 333.

2. Email all of the Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee:
http://www.democrat s.com/topelosian djudiciary

3. If you live in the district of a House Judiciary Committee member, call their office and tell them you're a constituent and you want immediate hearings on H.Res. 333. Then join your Congressional District Impeachment Committee http://democrats. com/cdic- find and organize a HonkToImpeach rally http://www.democrat s.com/honktoimpe ach in front of your Representative' s district office. Then keep up the pressure on your Representative every way you can, including letters to the editor, calls to local talk shows, and pointed questions at every community forum attended by your Representative.

4. If your Congress Member is not on the Judiciary Committee, ask them to cosponsor H Res 333: http://www.democrat s.com/impeach- cheney-congressional-record

5. Start a media campaign including op-ed articles on impeaching Cheney, letters-to-the- editor about the Kucinich resolution, and informational picketing in front of the offices of local media, particularly in Detroit for Conyers and NY City for Nadler. Media activism kit: http://afterdowning street.org/ node/748 And ask the talk shows to give the Republicans the impeachment debate they claim they wanted: http://afterdowning street.org/ node/1084

6. Ask pollsters to poll the public on impeachment, especially of Cheney: http://www.democrat s.com/impeachmen t-poll-petition

7. Watch for updates and notice of a national conference call with Rep. Dennis Kucinich at http://impeachcheney.org

From Natureboy,


SAMPLE LETTERS AND LINKS:


\MY LETTER TO REP. JOHN CONYERS:

Dear Representative Conyers:

I am writing to you with immense urgency regarding the Historic motion HRES 333 by Representative Kucinich to Impeach.

It is my understanding that the matter is now once again placed in your hands.

It has been unbearable to watch as the most unfathomable crimes based on lies are committed unchecked by this administration while the only reason given for stalling this bill is that congress feels it has other things to be doing.

If you fail again this time to allow the bill to be debated and voted, then you are committing an enormous abdication of your duty to represent the will of the people and your responsibility to pursue moral and ethical national justice on our behalf.

There is a point I feel you may be missing:
WE DON'T CARE IF THE ENTIRE CHARADE OF THIS CONGRESS IS SHUT DOWN FOR THE FORESEEABLE.

WE DEMAND THAT CONGRESS ADDRESS THIS BILL AND PURSUE IMPEACHMENT AGAINST THIS ADMINISTRATION FOR THE HORRIFIC HIGH CRIMES COMMITTED BY THIS ADMINISTRATION IN OUR NAMES.

The crimes of this administration are simply too horrific and immense to even consider business as usual!

How can it be that it is left to a singular congressperson from Ohio to stand up for over half the country (at last count) who demand impeachment?

We need, indeed demand, for you to rally to the impassioned cause of the majority of the citizens you represent.

We are distressed, in fact outraged that our profound convictions requiring the need for JUSTICE may yet again be deflected by our most trusted member of the Democratic Congress.

The requisite success of this bill is paramount, but it is also only part of the point. The lawmakers of this land with whom we've entrusted our policy decisions, our war-making machinery, and the control of our revenue, must be forced to go on record as to whether they were complicit in the documented war-crimes of this administration, or if they finally, decisively dissent.

If war-crimes and other high-crimes were indeed committed by the administration, then a lawmaker has no choice but to vote and lobby to Impeach and indict and try the culprits in as forceful, decisive and effective a means necessary and available.

Refusing to bring the matter to the floor because you speculate that there is "not enough support" throws an unforgivable wrench into the works of the Democratic system as it was designed by the founders to operate in a constitutional and treasonous emergency as we now uniquely face.

If you again allow this matter to languish, you are denying the Citizens their right to know where our paid and entrusted representatives in Congress stand on such grave matters at hand.

We know of your noble accolades for the heroic persistence of prior civil leaders in the face of seemingly overwhelming odds.

As Rev. King quotes, "The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice".

It is time for Representative John Conyers to align with the moral arc here, and help it bend sooner to the inevitable justice the national crimes require, instead of monkey-wrenching the process with bogus excuses that don't add up.

History will view with severe distain and disgust any lawmaker who now fails to dissent this administration in the most forceful, decisive legal means available, as it has those of Hitler's Reich and others who failed to dissent the illegal militarists of their time. But more importantly, the book may close, the crimes then perpetuate and go unpunished, and unacceptable precedents are then set that will plague both the victims of illegal militaristic aggression, as well as the citizenry in whose names they are committed.

It is your profound responsibility to see that this matter is heard, and settled, and put on record as to our national consensus and stance on the matter.

Nothing could be more important.


PLEASE EMAIL REPRESENTATIVE CONYERS TODAY VIA THIS LINK TO THE ADDRESS BELOW. IT IS THE LAST CHANCE, HE NOW HOLDS THE KEY TO PROGRESS:

http://judiciary.house.gov/Contact.aspx


MY LETTER TO PELOSI:

To Speaker Pelosi:

It has been absolutely maddening to hear your bogus excuses for not allowing Impeachment back on the table. It's as if you're fighting for the dark side of congressional war-crimes.

What you fail to understand is that the crimes of the administration are done in OUR names, with OUR money, implicating We the PEOPLE.

We People have the RIGHT to see where our elected lawmakers stand on the matter of the administrations crimes.

WE DON'T CARE IF THE ENTIRE CHARADE OF YOUR COMPLICIT, CRIMINAL CONGRESS IS SHUT DOWN BY THE IMPEACHMENT PROCESS FOR THE FORESEEABLE.

What we demand is JUSTICE, ACCOUNTABILITY, and that the RULE OF LAW is pursued per the founder's remedy for such crimes: IMPEACHMENT.

Without this due process, all your machinations and presidential politics are pointless.

You are corrupting your office and the will of the people with your blockading of the requisite judicial process in the face of blatant war-crimes committed by the administration.

What you are doing is wrong, worse than irresponsible, in fact it could be said that the only one more culpable for blatant crimes of the president, are the very congressional enablers who aid, abet, and stand by and allow this to happen, while admitting they know better.

It is MORE CRIMINAL to know they are criminals, while allowing them to continue with no accountability. It is even more criminal than your counterparts who think there's nothing wrong with lying to launch illegal wars, torture, rattling sabers again, etc.

You are becoming a huge disappointment to us, Nancy, you were supposed to fight for us. You claim impeachment will slow down congress, but your congress achieves nothing anyway, so why not let it achieve something noble and historic?

The only possible excuse you could have for not acting responsibly on our behalf in this matter, is that you are afraid of foul play, you are afraid of becoming "Wellstoned".

But we didn't elect your congress to be afraid of Darth Cheney, we elected you to TAKE THEM TO TASK, and you are beyond failing at that, you are instead enabling, and are rendering yourself, and therefore we, guilty by complicity in the crimes of the hawks. If you can't handle the responsibilities of your charge, then you have no right to speak for the House and should therefore resign at once.

If you wish a future in politics other than spending your next decades fighting off charges of collusion with war-criminals, then you have no choice but to act now in the common good, in accordance of the will of We the People, and do everything you can to support and enact this Impeachment process NOW.

IMPEACH NOW, get the job done, show us that at the very least the Democrats believe in the rule of law and justice-- for without that you are almost worse than them.

WRITE TO PELOSI NOW AT THIS

LINK: http://www.speaker.gov/contact


ps. the only thing i'll again add, is that impeachment alone doesn't justify everything considering ... the charges aren't even a percentage of what he's guilty of.

what do you really think impeachment will do? powell, rumsfeld, gonzales, rove... it only effectually puts them out of sight out of mind and effectively get's them off the 'hook'. nothing really changes unless everything is done, and is done properly.

conyers and the judiciary committee has, for all intents and purposes, been this administration's laundery mat where shit never really gets clean and never will.

though it's been a vicious circle of dilution and factioned off confusion, americans have to find their role and do their part in order for anything to get done. hell i bet only 50% even knows or really cares about the resolution.

and ron paul made the comment that he voted to table it because he wants due process... with the judiciary committee?? ... which doesn't even make sense.

having given him the benefit, i thought it was - as the afore-mentioned states - that he saw it as a poorly orchestrated and half baked political move that will ultimately only lose for winning - where cheney 'gets off' with no real 'conviction' and punishment.

and again - not even a mention as to pelosi being vp...? the board is set to where we'd lose much more than we gained by simply impeaching him. on the other hand, if people do attempt to consummate some remote measure of a role they've been completely remissive in, perhaps bush, his administration, and many others in the legislature etc etc etc would be indicted and put behind bars or in a labor camp to rebuild what they destroyed. i hate to say it, but that has seemed like a slim jim many obviously haven't had the 'balls' to snap into in any comprehensive/ consummative, concerted or functional fashion/ application.

[ericg]

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8085945499556832271&q=cia&total=23842&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=2
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1320186366483197048

[ericg]

http://www.thewebfairy.com/911/noplane/index.htm

[ericg]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYOVQezWaCY

scrap the last cia link. this is the one i meant to post. how much does it matter? is it up to you?

[ericg]

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/home/10775326.html

GIANT COMET: "Formerly, the sun was the largest object in the Solar System," says University of Hawaii astronomer David Jewett. "Now, Comet 17P/Holmes holds that distinction." On Nov. 9th, a team of Hawaii astronomers led by Rachel Stevenson measured the diameter of the comet's expanding debris cloud: 1.4 million kilometers, slightly larger than the sun itself.

Comet Holmes exploded on Oct. 23th and it has been expanding ever since. How big will it get? See for yourself. The comet is visible to the naked eye as a fuzzball in the constellation Perseus. With only a backyard telescope you can see the comet's debris cloud in crisp detail and watch it expand from night to night. Nov. 19th is a good night to look: The comet will glide by the star Mirfak (alpha Persei) and appear to swallow it--a sight not to be missed: sky map, ephemeris.

[ericg]

Rocky terrestrial planets, perhaps like Earth, Mars or Venus, appear to be forming or to have recently formed around a star in the Pleiades ("seven sisters") star cluster, the result of "monster collisions" of planets or planetary embryos.

Astronomers using the Gemini Observatory in Hawaii and the Spitzer Space Telescope report their findings in an upcoming issue of the Astrophysical Journal, the premier journal in astronomy.

"This is the first clear evidence for planet formation in the Pleiades, and the results we are presenting may well be the first observational evidence that terrestrial planets like those in our solar system are quite common," said Joseph Rhee, a UCLA postdoctoral scholar in astronomy and lead author of the research.

The Pleiades star cluster, in the constellation Taurus, is well-known in many cultures. It is named for the seven daughters of Atlas and Pleione, who were placed by Zeus among the stars in Greek mythology and is cited in the Bible — "Can you bind the beautiful Pleiades? Can you loose the cords of Orion?" (Job 38:31). The automaker Subaru's name is the Japanese word for the Pleiades, Rhee said.

The Pleiades is probably the best known star cluster and the most striking to the naked eye. "You've seen it many times, and it's now easily visible in the evening sky," said research co-author Benjamin Zuckerman, UCLA professor of physics and astronomy.

Although referred to as the "seven sisters," "the cluster actually contains some 1,400 stars," said co-author Inseok Song, a staff scientist at NASA's Spitzer Science Center at the California Institute of Technology and a former astronomer with the Gemini Observatory.

Located about 400 light-years away, the Pleiades is one of the closest star clusters to Earth. One of the cluster's stars, known as HD 23514, which has a mass and luminosity a bit greater than those of the sun, is surrounded by an extraordinary number of hot dust particles — "hundreds of thousands of times as much dust as around our sun," Zuckerman said. "The dust must be the debris from a monster collision, a cosmic catastrophe."

The astronomers analyzed emissions from countless microscopic dust particles and concluded that the most likely explanation is that the particles are debris from the violent collision of planets or planetary embryos.

Song calls the dust particles the "building blocks of planets," which can accumulate into comets and small asteroid-size bodies and then clump together to form planetary embryos, eventually becoming full-fledged planets.

"In the process of creating rocky, terrestrial planets, some objects collide and grow into planets, while others shatter into dust," Song said. "We are seeing that dust."

HD 23514 is the second star around which Song and Zuckerman recently have found evidence of terrestrial planet formation. They and their colleagues reported in the journal Nature in July 2005 that a sun-like star known as BD +20 307, located 300 light-years from Earth in the constellation Aries, is surrounded by one million times more dust than is orbiting our sun.

In an effort to uncover comparably dusty stars after their 2005 research, Rhee, Song and Zuckerman began looking through thousands of publicly accessible, deep-infrared images obtained by the Spitzer Space Telescope and soon discovered HD 23514. The astronomers then used the Gemini North telescope, located on Hawaii's dormant volcano Mauna Kea, to measure the heat radiation coming from the dust; the heat emerges at infrared wavelengths, just as the heat from our bodies does, Song said.

"The Gemini and Spitzer data were crucial in identifying and establishing the amount and location of dust around the star," Song said.

While our sun is 4.5 billion years old, the Pleiades Aries stars are "adolescents," about 100 million and 400 million years old, respectively, Rhee said. Based on the age of the two stars and the dynamics of the orbiting dust particles, the astronomers deduce that most adolescent sun-like stars are likely to be building terrestrial-like planets through recurring violent collisions of massive objects. The cosmic debris from only a small percentage of such collisions can be seen at any one time — currently, only HD 23514 and BD +20 307 have visible debris.

"Our observations indicate that terrestrial planets similar to those in our solar system are probably quite common," Zuckerman said.

The astronomers calculate that terrestrial planets or planetary embryos in the Pleiades collided within the last few hundred thousand years — or perhaps much more recently — but they cannot rule out the possibility that multiple, somewhat smaller collisions occurred.

Many astronomers believe our moon was formed through the collision of two planetary embryos — the young Earth and a body about the size of Mars. That crash created tremendous debris, some of which condensed to form the moon and some of which went into orbit around the young sun, Zuckerman said.

By contrast, the collision of an asteroid with Earth 65 million years ago, the most favored explanation for the final demise of the dinosaurs, was a mere pipsqueak, he said.

"Collisions between comets or asteroids wouldn't produce anywhere near the amount of dust we are seeing," Song said.

HD 23514 and BD +20 307 are by far the dustiest not-so-young stars in the sky. "Nothing else is even close," Song said.

Very young stars — those 10 million years old or younger — may have a similar amount of dust around them as a result of the star-formation process. However, by the time a star is 100 million years old, this "primordial" dust has dissipated because the dust particles get blown away or dragged onto the star, or the particles clump together to form much larger objects.

"Unusually massive amounts of dust, as seen at the Pleiades and Aries stars, cannot be primordial but rather must be the second-generation debris generated by collisions of large objects," Song said.

The Pleiades have been considered important by many cultures throughout history.

"To the Vikings, the Pleiades was Freyja's hens," Rhee said. In Bronze Age Europe, the Celts and others associated the Pleiades with mourning and funerals because the cluster rose in the eastern night sky between the autumnal equinox and the winter solstice, which was a festival devoted to the remembrance of the dead. The ancient Aztecs of Mexico and Central America based their calendar on the Pleiades.

The astronomers' research results are based on mid- and far- infrared observations made with the Gemini 8-meter Frederick C. Gillett Telescope at Gemini North and the space-based infrared observatories Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS), Infrared Space Observatory (ISO) and NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope.

Adapted from materials provided by University of California, Los Angeles.

source: Science Daily

[ericg]

The Man Common
Date: Nov 15, 2007 9:11 AM



Real-Life Star Wars: The Militarization of Space
By Stan Cox, AlterNet
Posted on November 15, 2007, Printed on November 15, 2007
http://www.alternet.org/story/67699/
Last January 11, a missile launched from China's Xichang Space Center destroyed a satellite 537 miles above the Earth's surface. Although the target was a weather satellite belonging to China itself (shot down ostensibly because it was obsolete), the act clearly rattled the U.S. space establishment.

Said one observer, The new space policy says we can defend the heavens with technology. But we can't, and the Chinese just proved it."

Precisely six years earlier, on Jan. 11, 2001, the Commission to Assess United States National Security Space Management and Organization issued a report to Congress. The group, which had been headed by President-elect George W. Bush's Defense Secretary-to-be Donald Rumsfeld, asserted that it's only a matter of time until there's all-out war in the heavens:


We know from history that every medium -- air, land and sea -- has seen conflict. Reality indicates that space will be no different. Given this virtual certainty, the U.S. must develop the means both to deter and to defend against hostile acts in and from space -- and ensure continuing superiority.
The current thinking of military and industry officials was revealed last month at the annual Strategic Space and Defense Conference in Omaha, Nebraska. At that meeting, held in the backyard of the US Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM).

And that strategy includes not just war mongering against countries like China and Pakistan by "space warriors," but it poses a threat to the safety and liberties of all Americans.

The Militarization of Space

Military space officials will have to develop new doctrine and concepts for offensive and defensive space operations, power projection in, from, and through space, and other military uses of space. -- Rumsfield's Commission Report

The opening talk at the Strategic Space conference was given by USSTRATCOM acting commander Lt. Gen. Robert Kehler, who repeated that old cliche about the Chinese curse, "May you live in interesting times." Implicitly responding to China's January self-attack, he added, "Well you know what? We get paid to deal with interesting times."

But how USSTRATCOM plans to deal with them isn't clear. In 2002, the Air Force undersecretary for military space acquisitions told The New York Times that "We haven't reached the point of strafing and bombing from space," but that "we are exploring those possibilities."

This fall marks the 40th anniversary of the Outer Space Treaty, an agreement among 98 nations (including the U.S.) that, banned nuclear arms from space but left out mention of other weapons. Nevertheless, no nation has ever launched an attack into or from space, and the costly US missile-defense program that began life two decades ago as President Reagan's "Star Wars" dream continues to founder.

Spending on missile defense has doubled since 2000, and the program is expanding into Poland and the Czech Republic. But Bruce Gagnon of Brunswick, Maine, coordinator of the Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space, believes the US Missile Defense Agency, with its current official budget of more than $9 billion, is just "a Trojan Horse."

He says, "Missile defense brings in the money but the real story is offensive, preemptive attack technologies for global strike. That's where the real action is." Gagnon agrees that current U.S. space policy remains entirely consistent with the aggressive stance taken in the Rumsfeld report, "although they have slacked off just a bit on their rhetoric."

In September, The New York Times relayed a similar message from a former Pentagon official, who said that space weapons are "still definitely part of the program, but they don't emphasize it because the arms-control people come out of the woodwork."

From the World Policy Institute and other sources, we know about some of the weapons under planning or development in the murkier parts of the military-industrial budget:




• Micro-satellites that could stalk and destroy satellites of other nations

• The Evolutionary Air and Space Global Laser Engagement (EAGLE) project, a series of orbiting mirrors to direct beams from ground- or air-based lasers at targets in space

• The ground-based Kinetic Energy Anti-Satellite Weapon, which could shoot down satellites with missiles, along with the Kinetic Energy Interceptor, a missile-defense system that could double as an anti-satellite weapon

• The Washington Post revealed this week that the Congress has appropriated $100 million for a space-weapon system called "Falcon," described as "a reusable Hypersonic Cruise Vehicle (HCV) capable of delivering 12,000 pounds of payload at a distance of 9,000 nautical miles ... in less than two hours." House and Senate conferees wrote, "Enhancing these capabilities is critical, particularly following the Chinese anti-satellite-weapons demonstration last January."

• Hypervelocity Rod Bundles, or "Rods from God," 20-foot-long, one-foot-diameter tungsten poles (existing only on paper at this point) that would be hurled from low-Earth orbit at 25,000 miles per hour to pulverize "hardened" targets in enemy territory.



Such specifics were scarce at the Omaha conference, but the audience knew how to peer between the speakers' euphemisms and understand what was being discussed when, for example, Global Strike deputy commander Rear Adm. James Caldwell said his mission was to "deliver global effects, both kinetic and non-kinetic"or when Air Force Col. Kevin McLaughlin, as if giving a medical lecture, spoke of the "timely application of space power."

USSTRATCOM was created in 1992, replacing and expanding upon that old nuclear warhorse, the Strategic Air Command. Not long after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, USSTRATCOM -- which already commanded the nation's nuclear weaponry -- was given a host of other missions, including those of the former Space Command and a new Global Strike Integration Command, which will wield space weapons if they're ever fully deployed.

Tim Rinne is state coordinator of Nebraskans for Peace, which holds demonstrations outside the Strategic Space conference each October. He says that in its "global strike" capacity and its drive to enforce what the generals like to call "our mastery of space", USSTRATCOM has turned Omaha into "the most dangerous place on the face of the Earth."

Harking back to filmmaker Stanley Kubrick's classic tale of nuclear Armageddon, Rinne likens USSTRATCOM to "Dr. Strangelove on steroids."

What Will It Take to Start a War in Space

A 'Space Pearl Harbor' will be the only event able to galvanize the nation and cause the US Government to act. -- Rumsfeld's Commission Report

Why should we citizens even care what goes on outside the planet and its atmosphere? The prospect of space war seems a lot less ominous than did, say, the threat of a US-Soviet nuclear holocaust. Nobody lives in space; no civilians will be maimed or killed by a robotic shoot-em-up in orbit.

Helen Caldicott and Craig Eisendrath answered such arguments in their book War in Heaven: The Arms Race in Outer Space, published earlier this year. In the wake of the Soviet launch of Sputnik in 1957, they wrote, humans across the globe began asking, "Would [outer space] be the venue for wars and synchronized killings, or the common space for a complex of cooperative peaceful efforts benefiting our species? The two uses of space could not exist side by side."

They stress that the first deployment of weapons will set off a multi-trillion-dollar arms race, risk littering orbital space with enough debris to make it unusable for any civilian purpose, and possibly trigger a nuclear war.

The central problem is the vulnerability of orbiting spacecraft. They have the great advantage of "seeing"vast regions of the Earth's surface, but that leaves them hanging out there fully exposed. Space objects not only have nowhere to hide; they also move in fully predictable ways, making them vulnerable to attack at an adversary's convenience.

USSTRATCOM's Gen. Kehler -- who, ironically, bears a slight resemblance to the late actor Peter Sellers (but only as he played the amiable President Muffley, not the crazed Dr. Strangelove) -- emphasized that dilemma with an old war axiom: "If the enemy's within range, so are you."

That places space weapons in a classic "use 'em or lose 'em" position, pushing their owner to launch a preemptive strike at the first sign of danger. In the words of one analyst, "The hair trigger that characterized nuclear deterrence during the Cold War would be elevated to the heavens."

As for what might bump that hair trigger, most of the rhetoric at the conference focused on the so-called "war on terror." But when Air Force Lt. Gen. Frank Klotz predicted that "our next conflict may involve more traditional warfare against an adversary with more significant forces," he was pointing at the country that seemed to be on everyone's minds: China.

Back in 2000, China's official Xinhua News Agency gave U.S. strategic planners reason to worry, with an coyly "hypothetical" article predicting that "For countries that could never win a war with the United States by using the method of tanks and planes, attacking the U.S. space system may be an irresistible and most tempting choice."

China only knocked out its own satellite on Jan. 11; nevertheless, one conference speaker equated that incident's impact to the alarm caused by the Challenger and Columbia space-shuttle disasters of 1986 and 2003. Others in the hall implicitly compared the event to an even bigger turning point, referring to it as "1/11."

Speaker after speaker voiced the feeling of vulnerability that comes with having one's most critical military hardware protected by nothing but the void of space:

"Space is no longer a sanctuary."

"In the past, we were the unique masters of the air and space domains. Today, that cannot be taken for granted."

"Space is not a benign environment anymore."

"Malicious actors can disrupt communications links, and thereby our very way of life."

"We aren't ready for the big show."

It fell to a civilian, an industry man -- Northrup-Grumman vice president Frederick Ricker -- to hearten the military whiners: "If we can't have sanctuary in space, we can certainly have superiority."

Tim Rinne of Nebraskans for Peace sees a near-obsession with the "terrestrial and celestial encirclement of China," led by the warriors at USSTRATCOM with no thought given to diplomacy. "They simply are not going to allow China to become an economic or military rival in space."

The Big Money Behind Space Technology

The loss of space systems that support military operations or collect intelligence would dramatically affect the way US forces could fight. -- Rumsfeld's Commission Report

Without space hardware and software, the U.S. military would be crippled. Seventy percent of the bombs that struck Iraq during the Pentagon's 2003 "Shock and Awe" campaign were satellite-guided, and the looming attack on Iran would be almost completely by remote control. Space hasn't yet been "weaponized," but it is heavily militarized.

When they aren't talking about China, military leaders discuss the possibility of, say, Pakistan falling to Taliban types who might turn to "space jihad," shooting a nuclear weapon into orbit and detonating it. The resulting electromagnetic pulse could disable spacecraft across a quarter of the Earth's orbital space.

But to create havoc in space, nukes are really overkill. A missile that simply dumped a load of sand in low-earth orbit could render military commanders blind and deaf.

The pristine emptiness into which Sputnik ventured fifty years ago this fall no longer exists. Today, the busier orbits around Earth (ranging from 300 to 22,000 miles out) better resemble the industrial parks and military bases that litter the outskirts of cities.

The Air Force Space Command actually keeps a catalog of every human-made object that orbits the Earth. The number of such objects currently stands at 18,400. That includes only those measuring 4 inches or more across; however, at a speed of 16,000 miles per hour, even a nut or bolt can mortally wound a satellite.

The Colorado Springs-based Space Foundation reports that the global space industry grew at warp speed in 2006, at an 18 percent annual rate that sent it past $220 billion. Half of that activity is commercial, with the biggest growth in ìlifestyle mediaî (mostly satellite TV) and global positioning systems (GPS). But another 28 percent of total world spending is by the U.S. government.

When we think of "the space program," we generally think of the National Aeronautic and Space Administration's (NASA's) space shuttle flights, the international space station, and future trips to the moon and Mars. But budgets for war-fighting and spying in space quietly add up to almost three times NASA's budget. The United States accounts for 95 percent the world's spending on militarization of space and owns more than half of all military satellites.

And starting this year, USSTRATCOM's satellites will be allowed to keep an eye not only on foreign foes but on you and me as well. This spring, the government for the first time granted the Department of Homeland Security and other domestic law-enforcement agencies access to ìreal-time, high-resolution images and dataî from military intelligence satellites as they pass over America's cities and countryside.

Indeed, after her conference talk, Brig. Gen. Jennifer Napper, deputy commander for USSTRATCOM's Global Network Operations told reporters, "The FBI and CIA are in our operations center 24/7." What are they doing there? No one on the outside can be sure.

In its article on the newly permitted domestic spying from space, the Wall Street Journal says of intelligence satellites, "The full capabilities of these systems are unknown outside the intelligence community, because they are among the most closely held secrets in government."

Corporate Space Pork

The US Government needs to become a more reliable customer of commercial space products and services. -- Rumsfeld's Commision Report (emphasis theirs)

More than half of the Rumsfeld Commission members had current or former ties to the aerospace industry. In the wake of that report, five of the top space-weapon and missile-defense contractors -- Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Boeing, SAIC, and General Dynamics -- shelled out a total of $13 million in political campaign contributions from 2001 to 2006.

Congressional support for space weapons is bipartisan, led by a Space Power Caucus established in 2003. The top 15 House and top 15 Senate recipients of campaign funds from missile defense contractors are split almost evenly between the two major parties.

Three of the top four House recipients are Democrats, the champion being John Murtha of Pennsylvania with $319,000 in contributions between 2001 and 2006. Rep. Murtha famously turned against the Iraq war in 2005, but he continues working hard to bring missile-defense pork projects to his state.

At the Strategic Space conference, the Exhibit Hall provided defense contractors the opportunity to make the case for their products. There, the romance and adventure of space was eclipsed by the workaday concerns of industry; indeed, far more interesting displays and more enthusiastic sales reps can be seen at, say, a lawn-care convention.

When I asked a veteran military journalist about the Exhibit Hall, which seemed to hold all the competitive atmosphere of a Quaker meeting, he told me, "Yeah, they're always pretty laid back in there."

In the hall, at Orbital Sciences Corporation's booth, company rep Joshua Dinman was busy handing out what seemed to be the most popular aircraft in sight: spongy little rockets with the Orbital logo that could be shot the length of the hall with a rubber band. I asked him what function this meeting serves; surely, I said, your corporation and the Pentagon address the military's hardware needs in other venues.

He shrugged: Right. This is just a place to fly your corporate flag, and the real 'meat' is in one-to-one meetings." Those meetings aren't only with Pentagon brass. "We all get together here. Everyone in this industry works together on programs."

(One example of that: Orbital is one of 14 subcontractors on the Kinetic Energy Interceptor, with Northrop Grumman as prime contractor. The work is being done in nine states, ensuring wide political support.)

Another company -- Alliant Techsystems, which likes to go by the name "ATK" -- sponsored the conference name-tag pouches and had a prominent booth just inside the entrance to the hall. One of the reps, Cliff Baker, noted that ATK is the nation's largest manufacturer of solid-fuel propelled rockets, builds and refurbishes all Minuteman and Trident nuclear missiles and half of all tactical missiles, and supplies 95 percent of all the US military's ammunition (which, although he didn't say so, includes cluster bombs.)

Mr. Baker agreed that the Strategic Space conference was mainly an opportunity to "meet and greet, learn names." He said ATK doesn't go head-to-head with other giants like Boeing, Raytheon, and Lockheed-Martin; rather, those companies are generally ATK's customers.

Baker said he wouldn't call manufacturing for the military a "growth industry" so much as a "replenishment industry." "Take GPS satellites. There are only five launches a year of new ones, and with limited slots, that won't change." But growth areas do exist: "Our ammunition division -- Now they're doing very well, what with Iraq and Afghanistan. For them, it's been hard to keep up."

Our Future Depends on the Future of Space

The US must be cautious of agreements ... that may have the unintended consequence of restricting future activities in space. -- Rumsfeld's Commission Report

Experts Michael Krepon and Christopher Clary of the Henry L. Stimson Center have shown convincingly how the Rumsfeld Commission was dead wrong in declaring war in space to be inevitable. They note that even in the darkest days of the Cold War, and despite the Star Wars program, the U.S. and Soviet Union showed no eagerness at all to put weapons in space. Today, U.S. military dominance is so complete that taking the fight to space would add very little and probably make all U.S. forces more vulnerable.

As for potential adversaries, Krepon and Clary ask, "Why would an attacking country or terrorist group choose a distant target that provides services to many nations, rather than focusing on a distinctly American target?"

But that hasn't held back the space warriors. United Nations efforts supported by Canada, Russia, European Union members, and a long list of other nations to ban space weaponry have been vigorously opposed by the Bush Administration. A State Department official has succinctly explained the U.S. position: "Arms control is not a viable solution for space."

And in Omaha, Gen. Kehler stressed USSTRATCOM's distrust of treaties symbolically: "Boundaries drawn by us will be viewed by the enemy as seams to exploit."

Other American space hawks have derided international efforts to promote peace and harmony in the heavens as a type of "lawfare," defining it straight-facedly as "a strategy of using or misusing law as a substitute for traditional military means to achieve military objectives."

USSTRATCOM and its supporters regard other nations' plans to substitute legal accords for bombing and shooting as a diabolical scheme that can and must be foiled. So, thanks to the space warriors who get together in Omaha each fall, you might lose your TV reception, your Google Earth views, and maybe your hometown and your family, but at least you'll be safe from "lawfare."

[ericg]

http://www.topofcenter.com/?q=node/24

By bbowman - Posted on November 15th, 2007
[Sorry about all the live updates, this story is still developing. I pray it's a Hoax but it really doesn't look like one to me.]

Update: There are several confirmations from other Liberty Associates at RonPaulForums.com who have also gotten this email. The source was truth@libertydollar.org, which is the general contact address from the ALD. Most elements of the website remain up, but there are some conflicting reports about the Ron Paul Dollar page or the shopping cart being down. I have strong confidence that this is true. I cannot imagine a motivation for someone to get access to Liberty Associate email addresses, spoof the truth@ address, and send a letter that sounds just like Bernard. There is the issue of the time stamp being only minutes after the supposed beginning of the event and the claim of "six hours". It might be a mistake but it also might be a sign of a hoax.

Read this email closely. I just got it this morning because I'm on the LD's mailing list. Those of you who consider the gold standard a quaint anachronism, pay extra close attention. If gold standard and Liberty Dollar advocates were nothing but harmless kooks, why would the FBI raid their offices when no crime was ever committed? This is a currency competing with the USD, yes, but they never, but never make the claim that it is legal tender or anything other than what it is: private currency. And private currencies are numerous in the USA.

No. If this raid happened, it happened because the Liberty Dollar, the second most popular currency in the country, threatens to usurp the entrenched power of the Fed's Almighty Dollar. People can see the buying power of the greenback eroding, and they will choose something else if it is available, and the Liberty Dollar is ready and waiting. And that's why the government must resort to force in order to protect its stranglehold on the economy.

From the Liberty Dollar headquarters:

Dear Liberty Dollar Supporters:

I sincerely regret to inform you that about 8:00 this morning a dozen FBI and Secret Service agents raided the Liberty Dollar office in Evansville.

For approximately six hours they took all the gold, all the silver, all the platinum and almost two tons of Ron Paul Dollars that where just delivered last Friday. They also took all the files, all the computers and froze our bank accounts.

We have no money. We have no products. We have no records to even know what was ordered or what you are owed. We have nothing but the will to push forward and overcome this massive assault on our liberty and our right to have real money as defined by the US Constitution. We should not to be defrauded by the fake government money.

But to make matters worse, all the gold and silver that backs up the paper certificates and digital currency held in the vault at Sunshine Mint has also been confiscated. Even the dies for mint the Gold and Silver Libertys have been taken.

This in spite of the fact that Edmond C. Moy, the Director of the Mint, acknowledged in a letter to a US Senator that the paper certificates did not violate Section 486 and were not illegal. But the FBI and Services took all the paper currency too.

The possibility of such action was the reason the Liberty Dollar was designed so that the vast majority of the money was in specie form and in the people’s hands. Of the $20 million Liberty Dollars, only about a million is in paper or digital form.

I regret that if you are due an order. It may be some time until it will be filled... if ever... it now all depends on our actions.

Everyone who has an unfulfilled order or has digital or paper currency should band together for a class action suit and demand redemption. We cannot allow the government to steal our money! Please don’t let this happen!!! Many of you read the articles quoting the government and Federal Reserve officials that the Liberty Dollar was legal. You did nothing wrong. You are legally entitled to your property. Let us use this terrible act to band together and further our goal – to return America to a value based currency.

Please forward this important Alert... so everyone who possess or use the Liberty Dollar is aware of the situation.

Please click HERE to sign up for the class action lawsuit and get your property back!

If the above link does not work you can access the page by copying the following into your web browser. http://www.libertydollar.org/classaction/index.php

Thanks again for your support at this darkest time as the damn government and their dollar sinks to a new low.

Bernard von NotHaus

Monetary Architect

[ericg]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Irgbcw73d70
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8775995341064689390
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPlvdSQ6cAM

[ericg]

Homeland Security Links 9/11 Truthers to Taliban

by Barbara Peterson

http://www.opednews.com


Do you remember when Bush Jr. said, “either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists”? Well, he meant it. Homeland Security’s sub-committee on terrorism risk assessment convened a hearing on 11-06-2007 to discuss “using the Web as a weapon – the Internet as a tool for violent radicalization and homegrown terrorism.” In a video of this meeting, which was last aired by C-Span on 11-12-2007, members of the sub-committee clearly pointed to Internet sites that question the legitimacy of the official 9/11 story as tools for recruiting terrorists.

During the course of the hearing, Mark Weitzman of the Simon Wiesenthal Center displayed a Power Point Presentation illustrating what his organization considers terrorist recruitment sites. Here is his testimony:

One of these “media portals” displayed in the Power Point presentation is Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth. This site is sandwiched between a Taliban training manual, and several Taliban recruitment sites showing how to make bombs, take captives, and blow buildings up.

Representative Jane Harmon posed the following question to Mark Weitzman regarding the connection between 9/11 “conspiracy theorists” and terrorists: “So this movement develops them into violent killers?” Weitzman stated: “These people are constructing their own version of reality, full of conspiracy theories, full of doctored videos, that will recruit or inflame the emotions.” Bruce Hoffman, a Georgetown University security studies professor, and Chairman of the Rand Corporation in Counterterrorism and Counterinsurgency, agreed that “falsehoods and conspiracy theorists have become so ubiquitous and believed that you almost have some sort of parallel truth, and it has become a very effective tool for recruiting people.” The “people” he is referring to are potential terrorists.

By portraying sites such as Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth as terrorist recruitment organizations, the Department of Homeland Security has taken a dangerous step towards punishing anyone who questions the government. If you go to the A&E Website, you will see that it is a group of “ 212 architectural and engineering professionals and 518 other supporters including A/E students who have joined...in demanding of Congress a truly independent investigation of the collapse of the WTC buildings.” Their mission statement is, “To research and to disseminate the truth of the 9/11 “collapses” of all 3 WTC high-rise buildings to every architect and engineer.” I cannot find any indication that this site promotes terrorism, much less recruits terrorists for the Taliban, yet the Department of Homeland Security has taken the stance that the site is “intended to recruit or inflame the emotions” (Weitzman, M.), and lumps it in with sites disseminating the Taliban Training Manual, and advocating suicide bombings.

Rita Katz, director of the SITE Institute - The Search for International Terrorist Entities went on to blame the Internet for Bush Jr.’s failed “war on terror,” and Representative Charles Dent stated that one possible way to help fight purported Internet terrorism would be to “turn the Internet into a less reliable source of information” by putting up phony Websites to collect information on terrorists as well as disseminate false information. Parry Aftab, Executive Director of Wiredsafety.org, also suggested that the government should collect IP addresses of suspected terrorist Websites to aid in the fight against terror on the Internet. Websites such as Architects for 9/11 Truth for instance?

If all Websites that disagree with the official government explanation of the collapse of the WTC towers is placed on a list of suspected terrorist Websites, what is next? Like Bush Jr. stated: “either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists.”

http://spktruth2power.wordpress.com/

[ericg]

U.S. Concentration Camps Confirmed By Congressman Hefner

“Enclosed is the information you requested pertaining to the
Army’s policy and guidance for establishing civilian inmate labor
program and civilian prison camps on Army installations. This
information has not yet been published (it is currently at the
printers), however, it has been funded, staffed, and does reflect
current Army policy. I home you find this information useful."


Civilian Inmate Labor Program - Army Regulation 210—35


Confirming the government and the
Army's plans for U.S. based Concentration Camps.

Document's first five pages converted
to text included below.

Visit here for official Documents:

http://www.libertyforlife.com/jail-police/concentration_camp_army_regulation_21035.htm

Army Regulation 210—35
Installations
Civilian Inmate
Labor Program
Headquarters
Department of the Army
Washington, DC
14 January 2005
UNCLASSIFIED

SUMMARY of CHANGE
AR 210—35
Civilian Inmate Labor Program
This rapid action revision dated 14 January 2005--
o Assigns responsibilities to Headquarters, Installation Management Agency (para l-4j) -
o Makes administrative and editorial changes (throughout)
This new regulation dated 9 December 1997
o Provides Army policy and guidance for establishing civilian inmate labor programs and civilian prison camps on Army installations.
o Discusses sources of Federal and State civilian inmate labor.

*Army Regulation 210—35

Headquarters
Department of the Army
Washington, DC
14 January 2005

Effective 14 February 2005

Installations
Civilian Inmate Labor Program

By Order of the Secretary of the Army:

PETER J. SCHOOMAKER
General, United States Army
Chief of Staff

Official:

SANDRA R. RILEY
Administrative Assistant to the
Secretary of the Army
History. This publication is a rapid action revision. The portions affected by this rapid action revision are listed in the summary of change.
Summary. This regulation provides guidance for establishing and managing civilian inmate labor programs on Army installations. It provides guidance on establishing prison camps on Army installations. It addresses recordkeeping and reporting incidents related to the Civilian Inmate Labor Program and/or prison camp administration.
Applicability. This regulation applies to the Active Army, the Army National

Army Reserve unless otherwise stated. During mobilization, the Assistant Chief of Staff for Installation Management may modify chapters and policies contained in this regulation.
Proponent and exception authority.
The proponent of this regulation is the Assistant Chief of Staff for Installation Management. The proponent has the authority to approve exceptions or waivers to this regulation that are consistent with controlling law and regulations. The proponent may delegate this approval authority, in writing, to a division chief within the proponent agency or a direct reporting unit or field operating agency of the proponent agency in the grade of colonel or the civilian equivalent. Activities may request a waiver to this regulation by providing justification that includes a full analysis of the expected benefits and must include formal review by the activity’s senior legal officer. All waiver requests will be endorsed by the commander or senior leader of the requesting activity and forwarded through their higher headquarters to the policy proponent. Refer to AR 25—30 for specific guidance.
Army management control process.

Supplementation. Supplementation of this regulation and establishment of command and local forms are prohibited without prior approval from Assistant Chief of Staff for Installation Management (DAIM—ZA), 600 Army Pentagon, Washington, DC 20310—0600.
Suggested improvements. Users are invited to send comments and suggested improvements on DA Form 2028 (Recommended Changes to Publications and Blank Forms) directly to Assistant Chief of Staff for Installation Management (DAIM—MD), 600 Army Pentagon, Washington, DC 20310—0600.
Distribution. This publication is available in electronic media only and is intended for command levels A, B, C, D, and E for the Active Army, Army National Guard of the United States, and the U.S. Army Reserve.


H.R.6166 Military Commissions Act of 2006

The Military Commissions Act is the governments further enactment of
U.S. Concentration Camps that parallel Hitler's and Stalin's camps,
except these camps are for U.S. citizens.

The bill allows U.S. citizens to be targeted as terrorists, kidnapped
and stripped of all legal rights guaranteed under the U.S. Constitution.
Top legal scholars have expressed their shock at the scope of the
so-called "compromise" legislation. To top it off, the media touted it
as a 'defeat' for Bush. How Orwellian..

Yale Law Professor Bruce Ackerman states in the L.A. Times, "The
compromise legislation .... authorizes the president to seize American
citizens as enemy combatants, even if they have never left the United
States. And once thrown into military prison, they cannot expect a trial
by their peers or any other of the normal protections of the Bill of
Rights."

Similarly, law Professor Marty Lederman explains : "this [subsection
(ii) of the definition of 'unlawful enemy combatant'] means that if the
Pentagon says you're an unlawful enemy combatant -- using whatever
criteria they wish -- then as far as Congress, and U.S. law, is
concerned, you are one, whether or not you have had any connection to
'hostilities' at all."

The bill also contains a definition of "wrongfully aiding the enemy"
which labels all American citizens who breach their "allegiance" to
President Bush and the actions of his government as terrorists subject
to possible arrest, torture and conviction in front of a military
tribunal.

The bill also formalized:


<ol>
<li>State sponsored torture, including allowing the sexual torture
of children in the presence of their parents. (Including
specifically crushing and/or electrocuting the genitalia of children
in attempts to extricate coerced and untrue testimony from their
watching parents).</li>
<li>Designating a U.S. Citizen an "Unlawful Enemy Combatant" (which
would make them potentially vulnerable to experience the above).</li>
<li>Arresting "Unlawful Enemy Combatants" (AMERICANS) in the middle
of the night, never charging them, never allowing access to an
attorney and denying them every Constitutionally protected right -
in effect slicing the throat of Habeas Corpus (Due Process), the
backbone of democracy since the Magna Carta.</li>

<li>Making legal every illegal thing this Administration has done
over the last 3 1/2 years in the name of the "War on Terror"
(fear-mongering for profit), including illegally spying on Americans
and advocating and approving torture in violation of the Geneva
Conventions.

[ericg]

Famous Las Vegas dominatrix who ran for Nevada governor in 2006 is said to be missing. Her book, "Lustful Utterances," details the bondage/domination/sadistic/masochistic sex practices she claims with our never-elected president, Dubya, and "moral values author" William Bennett, and other American "leaders." Here is the "she's missing" report.


http://mparent7777-2.blogspot.com/2007/11/dominatrix-who-claimed-to-have-s-sex.html


Here are excerpts from her book, which was released on Dubya's birthday this year.


http://dedicationtopinkpenn.lustfulutterances.com/


Next is a newspaper account (mainstream) of a 2002 lawsuit against G.W. Bush -- African-American plaintiff dated Bush in their youth -- alleged him drugging and raping her in 2000 -- she was found dead from a bullet to the head in 2003.


http://www.fortbendstar.com/Archives/2003_4q/122403/n_Woman%20who%20filed%20lawsuit%20found%20dead.htm


And if all that doesn't confirm what you've always suspected about this sick son-of-a-bitch warmonger, then here's something that will keep you up all night. Below you will find a circa 1938 photo of a young man from a nazi family gathering in Germany -- it took place at young Martin Bormann's house, and "Angel of Death" Dr. Joseph Mengele was also there.


In the center of the picture of the happy gathering, wearing a sailor suit, cropped below, is George Scherff. A Hitler bodyguard claimed at the end of his life that George Scherff was early on sent to America with a new identity, that which we know as George Bush Sr, who became 41st U.S. president -- complete, of course, with a false family history.


Hard to swallow as that is, nevertheless, take a look at the below photo of young Dubya, and ask yourself whether or not his next-generation resemblance to nazi agent George Scherff isn't almost astounding. You can see the picture in clearer resolution and read the whole convoluted story at:

http://www.proliberty.com/observer/20070405.htm

[ericg]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkUH_ktWy44

[ericg]

www.redactedmovie.com

[ericg]

Standoff with Police as Activists occupy redwoods to oppose UCSC Expansion

UCSC Students launch tree-sit at site of controversial Biomedical Sciences building.

Nov. 7, 2007 Santa Cruz, CA Early Wednesday morning, activists opposed to UCSC's Long Range Development Plan (LRDP) launched a tree-sit in redwoods near Science Hill. UCSC plans to develop the occupied site into a new Biomedical Sciences Facility.

One person was arrested by UC police early in the morning. Police surrounded the site, where at least 4 activists were 50 feet up redwood trees. A scheduled rally and march that began at 11am drew hundreds of supporters to the site. A tense standoff with police commenced, as supporters attempted to get close enough to the trees to send up supplies. Police pepper sprayed the crowd and at least four people were arrested.

The Biomedical Sciences facility would be the first project under the University's plan to develop 120 acres of forest in order to accommodate 4,500 new students. The Biomedical Sciences building will have no allotted classroom space, despite student complaints about overcrowded class sizes. But it will have room for live animal experimentation, which includes such practices as food/air deprivation, infection, and non-anesthetized surgery, according to campus guidelines (http://carc.ucsc.edu).

This building, which will house biotechnology and nanotechnology research, is exemplary of how the new LRDP marks a clear shift from UCSC's commitment to undergraduate, liberal arts education to the more lucrative programs funded by large corporations. Following the trend of privatizing public universities, students are paying more for education and receiving less. Students are calling for more funding for humanities and arts, including the creation of an Ethnic Studies department. Meanwhile, the UC is cutting faculty, increasing enrollment and ignoring the concerns of students' concerns.

Critics say the planned addition of 4,500 full-time students is irresponsible given the existing shortage of resources. They cite overcrowded classrooms, overworked teaching assistants and dissatisfied faculty as signs that the UCSC has already exceeded its capacity. In addition, the Environmental Impact Report (EIR) accompanying the LRDP does not bind the UC to mitigate the impacts of growth. The LRDP calls for the development of 120 acres of forest. Environmentalists say that the current development plans will significantly damage unique ecosystems, including Moore Creek, the Jordan Gulch wildlife corridor and the Campus Natural Reserve seep zone. Again, UCSC refuses any binding language requiring them mitigate the effects of development on impacted habitats.

Students, faculty, city council, community members, and environmentalists all expressed concerns about the impact of expansion during the planning process and were disregarded by the University. The group of individuals who are occupying the trees believe that action is needed to oppose UCSC's destructive plans before construction begins on any of the LRDP buildings.</div>

<div class="link">http://lrdpresistance.org

[ericg]

Bottled water contains fluoride as well as tap water

From Anne Marie Helmenstine, Ph.D.

Preventing Fluorosis
Most people are aware that there is a controversy surrounding public fluoridation of drinking water. Here is a list of ways to obtain drinking water without fluoride. In addition, I've listed water purification methods which do not remove fluoride from water.

Ways to Remove Fluoride from Water
# Reverse Osmosis Filtration
This is used to purify several types of bottled water (not all), so some bottled waters are unfluoridated. Reverse osmosis systems are generally unaffordable for personal use.
{Check the RO prices on this website - Reverse Osmosis is Affordable!}
# Activated Alumina Defluoridation Filter
These filters are used in locales where fluorosis is prevalent. They are relatively expensive (lowest price I saw was $30/filter) and require frequent replacement, but do offer an option for home water filtration.
# Distillation Filtration
There are commercially available distillation filters that can be purchased to remove fluoride from water. On a related note: When looking at bottled water, keep in mind that 'distilled water' does not imply that a product is suitable for drinking water and other undesirable impurities may be present.

These Do NOT Remove Fluoride
# Brita, Pur, and most other filters {Except Reverse Osmosis!}
Some websites about fluoride removal state otherwise, but I checked the product descriptions on the companies' websites to confirm that fluoride is left in the water.
# Boiling Water
This will concentrate the fluoride rather than reduce it.
# Freezing Water
Freezing water does not affect the concentration of fluoride.

Steps to Reduce Fluoride Exposure

1. Don't take fluoride supplements.
2. Read labels on bottled beverages.
Unless they are made using distilled or reverse-osmosis water, they are probably made with fluoridated public water.
3. Consider using unfluoridated toothpaste.
4. Avoid drinking black or red tea.
They come from two different types of plants, but both leaves naturally contain high amounts of fluorine.
5. Be wary of tinned fish and canned food items.
Fluoride may be used as a preservative.
6. Avoid black or red rock salt or items containing black or red rock salt.
7. Avoid using chewing tobacco.
8. Avoid long term use of medication that contains fluorine.
Certain antidepressants and medications for osteoporosis contain fluorine.


Nowhere on earth does de-mineralized water occur naturally.. Distillation and Reverse Osmosis Systems produce de-mineralized water with an acidic pH. Prolonged consumption of distilled or de-mineralized water can lead to mineral deficiency. Water by nature has to balance itself and when minerals are stripped from water, it causes the pH to drop and water to become acidic. It then seeks to balance itself (a basic law of nature) and does so by taking on minerals, primarily calcium. If we consume de-mineralized water, it will actually pull its "balancing minerals" from our own body.

Very bad for health.. If I were using an RO unit to filter my water I would add Himalayan Crystal Salt to it before drinking. This will give your water life giving properties, and an abudance of minerals. I add up to 1 teaspoon per gallon, or a small pinch to a glass. I think the right amount is just below a level where you can taste salt in the water... It should just taste like smooth, soft water. I'm not completely sure if this would raise the PH enough but I suspect it would.. I'll test it and find out, I have a good ph tester at work....

Do more research:
http://www.mercola.com/forms/salt.htm

[ericg]

Every rational person should be outraged by Cannabis prohibition, whether or not they have ever even considered smoking weed.

25 million Americans have admitted to smoking Cannabis within the last year. 25 million is a large number taken by itself, but it is still only one-twelfth of the entire US population. And only 1% of those people who smoke weed actually work to legalize it, so out of a total population of 300 million Americans, only about 250,000 people are seriously working to legalize Cannabis Sativa again.

Even though the majority of Americans support our soldiers and the sacrifices they make, over 70% of the voters in the US oppose the endless, illegal war that Cheney, Bush and Congress have lied us into. Over $600 Billion have been spent on the illegal invasion/occupation of Iraq, with no end in sight. Another $69 Billion are spent on the "War on Drugs" each year, with no end in sight.

Now look at this:
DEA Drug Scheduling

Schedule I
Substance - Marijuana
DEA Number - 7360
Other Names - Cannabis, marijuana

Schedule II
Substance - Cocaine
DEA Number - 9041
Other Names - Methyl benzoylecgonine, Crack
-------------------------------------------------------
http://www.usdoj.gov/dea/pubs/scheduling.html


The most dangerous drugs that have no accepted medical value in the United States are Schedule I. If a drug is dangerous and has a high risk of abuse, but still has accepted medical value in the United States, then it is Schedule II.

Marijuana is Schedule I, and crack is Schedule II. The DEA actually considers crack cocaine to be a better medicine than Cannabis Sativa.
That's not a joke, even though its really, really funny.

The US Federal government is so mangled that it spends billions each year to try to wipe out Cannabis Sativa, imprisons millions of Americans (even those dying of cancer and AIDS), builds more prisons than schools, and wages endless, illegal war for oil, but has laws in place so that doctors are legally allowed to prescribe CRACK.

You should all be pissed off by this. The legalization of "Marihuana" saved the world from Hitler, and now innocent people are thrown into cages for it by the hundreds of thousands, while crack can be available by prescription.

You should all be pissed off enough to do something about this. You should all be so pissed off that you get off your computer and grow some pot.

Plant it outside your local police stations, fire departments, and town halls. Plant it at your schools, colleges, and churches. Grow it in your dorm rooms, closets, on your windowsills, in your garages, your front yards, backyards, riverbeds, and all open fields.

This is a revolution. We will show this deceitful government that no matter how many people they arrest or kill, no matter how much money they waste, no matter how many mercenary armies they hire, they will never defeat Cannabis.

Truth, justice, and common sense are on our side. So, while the Hollywood writers are on strike, please lend your support to this:

***

We're going to start collecting signatures for the California Cannabis Hemp & Health Initiative 2008 on November 26th. We need lots of volunteers so if you want to help out please go to the link below and make friends and send a message. Thanks!

- Jack Herer

[Bob]

i found a picture (http://www.gonemovies.com/WWW/Drama/Drama/StrangeloveRipper1.jpg) of ericg

[ericg]

Each button below will lead you to a site that will donate food to the hungry with just a click. This does not cost you a thing. Corporate sponsors have agreed to donate a ration of food each day that you click on their site. That is it. You click, lives are saved. 24,000 people die every day from hunger or hunger related causes, but you can help change that. Start saving lives today and everyday, click!

www.thehungersite.com
www.hungerfighters.com
www.porloschicos.com
www.hungrychildren.com
http://children.care2.com

[ericg]

i found a picture (http://www.gonemovies.com/WWW/Drama/Drama/StrangeloveRipper1.jpg) of ericg

?

'fools can't see me...'

[ericg]

www.teaparty07.com

[Qdrop]

this thread is a prime example of why I left here.



and, at the same time, why i almost miss it.

[ericg]

though they've only proven to be factioned off, half baked, on the fence, 'politically correct', mock up counter-balances, are the thousands of "democratic/ progressive" membership orgs up to speed enough to create one concerted voice ie floods of direct, in no uncertain terms letters etc to congress, to say the least?! oh, it's been done??

if an even bigger concerted voice existed, do you think that would convince fascists to change at this point? what a carrot. you're better off going back down the bunny hole until you figure what the... people gotta think and do much bigger than phoning and writing letters. you got unlimited amounts of money in a war machine secured and wrought by the world's biggest and filthiest bankers that know exactly wtf........ the whole country could stand in front of the white house and ultimately nothing would change except perhaps a new jail built. if you want to ever start thinking about actually doing something instead of trying to tell it, everything can be done. the mechanics of it all has to be changed. if you got real shit to say, put real money on it. bankrupt the monopoly man. create the biggest political legal action america's ever seen and see it through. it's not hard if so called professionals really get professional.

ultimately, all i've seen is remission - people who think reacting to reality is in forever talking about it to some extent, or rallying around somewhere, or making a living writing a book or singing a song. 10 years later................................. what do you got? if you haven't woken up by now... i've been saying for 10 years about most, be prepared for more nightmares than you ever even thought......... but sure as hell don't be surprised.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7x30tbot3M

[ericg]

http://www.livevideo.com/video/B9DCBFB9F8E542878D8BE9A237022498/katrina-witnesses-tell-congress-levees-bombed.aspx

[ericg]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m25jdhU4w_k

[ericg]

The Second Annual
Boston Tea Party and Conference for 9/11 Truth!

SCIENTISTS & CITIZENS SPEAK OUT!
December 15 &16, 2007

Building on the success of last year’s inaugural event, Boston 9/11 Truth is proud to present two days of 911 truth activism at this year’s Boston Tea Party and Conference for 9/11 Truth, to be held Saturday and Sunday, December 15 and 16, 2007. This year’s theme, “Scientists and Citizens Speak Out,” reinforces our commitment to the broadest exposure possible of the scientific, criminal and political issues being covered-up and/or ignored by our government and the media concerning the events of September 11, 2001.

CONFERENCE
SATURDAY DECEMBER 15
The weekend’s events will kick off with a day-long conference on Saturday December 15 at Boston’s historic Faneuil Hall and is entitled, “The Destruction of World Trade Center Towers 1, 2 and 7: A Case for Controlled Demolition.” In this scientific look at the collapses, a panel of four well-known and credentialed science and engineering professionals will present the case that the government’s theories could not possibly be true and that most of the evidence points to the one theory that’s been completely avoided by the government and the media – controlled demolition.

The Truth Movement got a huge boost in 2007 when California architect Richard Gage, AIA, exploded onto the scene with Architects and Engineers for Truth” (AE911Truth). Opening the presentations on Saturday morning at one of America’s most famous meeting halls, Gage will be joined by long-time 9/11 researcher and former BYU physics professor Dr. Steven Jones, Underwriters Laboratories whistleblower Kevin Ryan, and new to the scene, Dr. Joel Hirschhorn, who in September 2007 came out with an unequivocal endorsement of the work of AE911Truth. Dr. Hirschhorn is formerly a professor of Metallurgy at the University of Wisconsin and was a senior staff member at the US Congressional Office of Technology Assessment from 1978 to 1991, testifying more than 50 times before congress on scientific issues. He is the author of several books, including, Delusional Democracy: Fixing the Republic Without Overthrowing the Government.” We enthusiastically welcome Dr. Hirschhorn to the growing list of distinguished scientists and true patriots who are willing to step forward and speak out on the 9/11 cover-up. The Conference will conclude with a panel discussion and Q&A session.

Volunteer activists from across New England are currently working hard on a campaign to impress upon the academic, architectural and engineering communities near Boston, the need for honesty in dealing with the scientific data related to the horrific crime on September 11. Huge efforts are being made to invite as many of these academics and professionals as possible to the Conference, to judge for themselves where the scientific evidence points. Your support of this event makes that possible. For information on the Conference and how to purchase tickets, visit http://boston911conference.eventbrite.com/ The sucess of this event depends on your support! Please purchase your tickets now, visit http://boston911conference.eventbrite.com/

[ericg]

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3983706668483511310&q=aids&total=121686&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=1

www.boydgraves.com

[ericg]

http://www.poodwaddle.com/worldclock.swf

[ericg]

Items Of Interest
This article is an update for our supporters regarding our continuing projects and to comment briefly on related developments.


The Landmark Right to Petition Lawsuit:
We The People v United States

On October 24, 2007, we reported that we had filed the Petition for Writ of Certiorari to the Supreme Court of the United States. As had been the case with all of our filings in the case, both at the District Court and at the Court of Appeals, our filing was submitted under the signature of both Mark Lane (attorney for all 1450 Plaintiffs except Bob Schulz) and Bob Schulz (pro-se). RIGHT-Click here to download the Petition and its Appendix.

We delivered the required forty copies of the Petition, together with the $300 filing fee, expecting the Court to assign a Docket Number, and expecting to receive the Government’s response Brief by the end of November.

Instead, the Court kept one copy of the Petition, and our check, and returned the other 39 copies. The Court wrote that under its rules only one name can be on each Petition. We were informed that we had the choice of either submitting forty copies of each of two Petitions, one from Mark Lane and one from Bob Schulz (together with an additional filing fee), or forty copies of one new Petition from Mark Lane (as attorney for all Plaintiffs, including Bob Schulz).

On Tuesday, November 13, 2007, we filed forty copies of a Petition from Bob Schulz and forty copies of a Petition from Mark Lane. The two Petitions are identical, except for the cover and the signature page.

By early next week the Court is expected to assign a Docket Number to the Petition. The Government will have thirty days to respond.

Within a week or two following the Government's response, and holidays permitting, the Court will decide if it will hear the case of We The People v United States and declare, for the first time in history, the Rights of the People and the obligations of the Government under the last ten words of the First Amendment.


The “6700” Lawsuit:
United States v. We The People

On October 24, 2007 we reported that the United States Court of Appeals had granted our requests for a stay of enforcement pending appeal and an order expediting the appeal from Judge McAvoy’s August 9 Summary Judgment ruling that our “Blue Folder” on the subject of wage withholding was not protected by the First Amendment’s Petition and Speech clauses, and that the Folder was a prohibited “tax shelter.”

We reported that we had filed our Brief on the merits with the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, that the Government was required to file its response on or before November 19, and that the Court directed that the matter be set to be argued during the week of December 31.

We expect to receive the Government’s Response Brief early next week. We will have a week to file our Reply Brief. Click here to access all the "6700" court documents.


The NCEL National Clean Election Lawsuit:
Full-Page Ad in Washington Times

On < November 4, 2007, we reported that WTP was spearheading a lawsuit against all 50 states to block machine and computerized vote counting in the 2008 primaries and general election and beyond, and to require paper ballots, hand marked and hand counted.

The states have been summoned by the United States District Court for the Northern District of New York to respond to the Complaint that was filed on November 1 by three registered voters from each state.

Thus far, three states have responded. As expected, they have filed motions to dismiss for “lack of jurisdiction.” We expect other states to do the same.

Before the early 1900’s there were no Political Party Primaries. Before 2000, the Party Primaries did not begin before the month of March. By 2004 the Party Primaries were getting underway in February. This year, in conjunction with the Political Parties, the states are scheduling the Party Primaries and Party Caucuses to begin in the first week of January! Click here for the latest calendar of Primaries and Caucuses.

It is common knowledge that unless a candidate for President of the United States of America finishes among the top three or four in the early primaries and caucuses, that candidate will have a very difficult time raising any more money to pay to get his or her message out to the People in the remaining states, especially in all of those states that Primary on “super Tuesday.”

The Political Parties appear to be moving up the dates of the early Primaries in order to impede the opportunity for early success by candidates who are not among the Party favorites, especially any “upstart” with an appealing message whose campaign is gaining momentum and money.

For this reason, the NCEL Plaintiffs are planning to file a motion asking the Court to expedite the proceedings and to delay the presidential Primaries pending resolution of the critical constitutional issues raised in the lawsuit..

To bring much needed attention about the NCEL lawsuit to the general public, the Foundation is running a full-page color ad in the upcoming edition of the Washington Times National Weekly Edition. The ad will be the "centerfold" of the edition.

We thank the Times for helping us with a discount so we can distribute this important message across our nation. We encourage all our supporters to consider subscribing to the Time's National Weekly Edition. Click here for more information about subscribing or giving the Times as a gift. Subscribers also receive access to premium online content.

Click here to see the Foundation's full-page color Washington Times> ad.

Please visit the new NCEL Lawsuit Information Center. NCEL Flyers are available to print out & distribute.

We urge everyone to consider a donation to help finance WTP's National Clean Elections federal lawsuit.


http://www.wethepeoplefoundation.org/MISC/Vote-NewPlaintiffs-OCT-07.asp

[ericg]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4GMPTMiFQ4

[ericg]

gaviotas is said to have acoustic phenomena.
then there's a subway or some kind of station that has a walkway intersection with an arc. if you stand in the corner of the arc you can have a private conversation with a person in the opposite corner 20 or so feet away.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRDy31O9czs

[ericg]

Russia readies nuclear fuel bound for Iran

Moscow pushes ahead with plans to supply Tehran with uranium after release of IAEA report, Iran welcomes move, says Russian commitment to its nuclear program 'a matter of principle'

Reuters
Go To Original

Russia on Friday gave the clearest indication yet that it was ready to send uranium to fuel Iran's first atomic power station, upping the stakes in a diplomatic crisis surrounding Tehran's nuclear program.

Russia's state-run nuclear fuel producer said inspectors from the United Nations' nuclear watchdog would later this month start sealing nuclear fuel bound for the Bushehr plant, a major step to shipping the fuel to the Bushehr plant in Iran.

In a report on Iran issued on Thursday, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said it had "made arrangements to verify and seal the fresh fuel foreseen (for Bushehr) on Nov. 26, before shipment of the fuel from Russia to Iran".

Russia has so far given no concrete date for when it will send the nuclear fuel to Bushehr, but says it would be sent six months before the plant's repeatedly delayed start-up.

According to Russian forecasts, the reactor at the plant could be started up in 2008 and nuclear fuel would have to arrive at the plant six months before that.

Iran: Russian approach encouraging

Iran's ambassador to Russia on Friday said nuclear fuel deliveries to the Islamic Republic were a "matter of principle", and hoped Moscow would send them soon.

"We hope that promises we have been receiving from official Russian representatives on such an important issue ... will soon be carried out and realized," Ambassador Gholamreza Ansari said.

The diplomat was speaking at a news conference held simultaneously with Russia's announcement on fuel inspections.

In Iran, nuclear officials welcomed the fuel delivery developments.

"Russia has formally informed (the IAEA) that it is ready for the Bushehr nuclear fuel in Russia to be checked and sealed on Nov. 26," IRNA quoted Mohammad Saeedi, deputy head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, as saying.

"This means, from a technical and legal point of view, the fuel for the Bushehr nuclear power plant is ready for transfer to Iran," he said.

The United States, Israel and key European Union nations suspect Iran is trying to build nuclear bombs.

But Russia, a veto-wielding member of the UN Security Council, says there is no evidence Tehran is seeking atomic weapons.

"Those offers we hear about the Bushehr AES from our Russian friends are encouraging for us," Ambassador Ansari said in Moscow.

"The issue of construction at Bushehr between Russian and Iranian societies is a matter of principle," Ansari said.

Tehran says a report by the IAEA this week has vindicated its repeated statements that its nuclear program was purely civilian and showed that there would be no basis for further discussion of it in the United Nations Security Council.

The IAEA report, released on Thursday, said Iran had made important strides toward transparency about its nuclear activity but had yet to resolve outstanding questions. It also said Iran had expanded uranium enrichment.

[ericg]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSk4SUpWVuY

[ericg]

america can't even get the facts straight, nevermind electing an honest and good government. what chances do we have in progressing science?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9WB_PXjTBo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8lsjfjgAA8

[ericg]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjgidAICoQI
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=&xml=/earth/2007/11/14/scisurf114.xml

[ericg]

Here are some websites to register for that have movements, petitions and Class action lawsuits.

http://www.votefraud.org/

http://www.electionguardians.org/ncel.htm

http://www.wethepeoplefoundation.org/UPDATE/Update2007-10-02.htm



WTP Initiates National "Clean Elections" Lawsuit. OVERVIEW

N-CEL - All 50 states are being sued to prevent the use of computerized voting systems during the 2008 primary and general elections and beyond. The lawsuit seeks to halt the use of machine-based voting systems and vote counting procedures that hide the ballots and the counting of votes from the People.
The N-CEL complaint challenges the constitutionality of current voting procedures in the states, claiming that they "heighten the possibility of confusion, deception, frustration, and fraud." It contends that the existing practices are constitutionally deficient and prevent open, verifiable, transparent voting, and that the use of discredited electronic voting machines and flawed vote counting procedures drastically increase the likelihood of error and election fraud. The lawsuit calls for a visible chain of ballot custody with paper ballots kept in full public view throughout the voting, counting, and tallying process. The lawsuit asks the Court to prohibit the states from conducting elections that are not open, verifiable, transparent and machine and computer free.

The US Supreme Court has declared the meaning of the Right to vote, as guaranteed by the US Constitution. Individuals not only have the Right to cast a vote, they have the Right to cast an effective vote, meaning they have the Right to have their vote counted accurately. "We need to bring transparency and accountability to the voting process throughout the states," said Bob Schulz, who wrote the brief and is spearheading the nationwide effort. "We need to reclaim our vote and ensure that our voices are heard and that our votes are accurately counted. The only sure way to do that is to have the People, in the light of day, observe, verify, and secure the votes cast on paper ballots and to count those ballots before the public by hand." The ten states that have been sued thus far include New York, New Hampshire, Illinois, South Carolina, Florida, Ohio, Iowa, Texas, California and Oregon with additional states being added in the next modifcation of N-CEL .

http://w4sp.com/vote/ to learn more about N-CEL and ending Vote Fraud in America Now!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzPXer7946E (1 of 9)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAxLXfV-bkY

[QueenAdrock]

Honest question here, and I'm not trying to be a dick...but Eric, do you actually think people are reading all your stuff and looking at all your links?

[Bob]

oh have we ever been through this

[QueenAdrock]

I wouldn't know, it's hard to weed through this thread.

[Bob]

it's the internet equivalent of vietnam

[Laserface]

this guy is fucking crazy! must be on speed or something, unemployed, and living in a shack by himself just reading all this conspiracy shit

some people have waaaaay too much time on their hands

[ericg]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XS3mhjt7TrY

[ericg]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aW9PulYpjGs

[ericg]

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2007/nov2007/braz-n19.shtml

[ericg]

http://intelstrike.com/?p=135

[ericg]

http://vaccineawakening.blogspot.com/2007/11/police-with-dogs-vaccinating-kids-in.html

[ericg]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRY5cUW7_V8

[ericg]

http://www.projectcamelot.net/barksdale.html

[ericg]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5oUW5C02OQ

[ericg]

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=7378

[ericg]

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=7368

[ericg]

http://intelstrike.com/?p=136

[ericg]

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=7369

[ericg]

http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Moyers_on_planned_media_consolidation_FCCmedia_111 7.html

[ericg]

www.getup.org.au

[ericg]

http://www.livevideo.com/video/genghis6199/1666F9D3661E461EA858D7300117BAEF/911taboo-part-1.aspx
http://www.livevideo.com/video/embedLink/20B1D80FABD140D28DA9B5FFB0A2CB3E/433570/911taboo-part-2.aspx

[ericg]

1 of 8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WcptZNsQx4#

google 'iron mountain'

[ericg]

"Today I received a handwritten letter from Ed Brown.
Ed's letter was hand-written in a seemingly desperate scrawl, on lined notebook paper, its tone one of sadness, and yet much hope. Ed personally requested that I attempt to continue to promote awareness of his and Elaine's situation, and so, with only minor personal ommissions, here is his letter in full.
Please, please, pray for this dear couple. They are true Christian patriots and are fighting a fight few of us dare to take on for ourselves.
Please encourage them by writing to Ed & Elaine. If you are able, send them pictures (see letter and addresses below). If any of you have ever been kept away from loved ones, you understand how hard this must be for both of them. They need our encouragement, prayers, and if possible, financial assistance now more than ever. Let us not forget these courageous people."

- RT

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

Dear [Friends],

Please! Keep us in your prayers. The picture is the first. Thank you thank you thank you. I need pictures badly. I have nothing and my heart is breaking. We [Ed & Elaine] have never been apart this long before and I am really concerned for her.

They hurt me permanently. The damage will be with me for the rest of my life.
I pray to God they didn't do anything to my wife. Or any of the other guys.

Please put the word out. We seek reliable counsel to work with us. Maybe on the internet you might get the interest up.

I'm curious as to what Larry B Craft has to say about this case.

My wife and I are generous people and all the cases we wish to file in the name of the law are extremely winnable cases. Trust me! I am not cavalier about this. After what they [sic] already done to me, I have no illusions.

God Bless.

[signed] Edward Lewis Brown


--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Addresses:

Ed Brown 03923-049
FCI ELKTON
FEDERAL CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTION
P.O. BOX 10
LISBON,OH 44432

Elaine Brown 03924-049
FCI DANBURY
FEDERAL CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTION
ROUTE 37
DANBURY, CT 06811

Visits for ED
FCI ELKTON
FEDERAL CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTION
8730 SCROGGS RD.
ELKTON, OH 44415
MAPQUEST FOR DIRECTIONS

Visits for ELAINE
FCI DANBURY
FEDERAL CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTION
ROUTE 37
DANBURY, CT 06811

To send money to Ed OR Elaine Brown
FEDERAL BUREAU OF PRISONS
Insert Name
Insert Inmate Eight Digit Register Number ( Ed 03923 - 049 ) ( Elaine 03924 - 049 )
POST OFFICE BOX 474701
DES MOINES, IOWA 50947 - 0001

To ship a package to ELAINE (freight)
FCI DANBURY
FEDERAL CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTION
ATTN; WAREHOUSE
33 1/2 Pembroke Station
DANBURY, CT 06811

To ship a package to ED
FCI ELKTON FEDERAL CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTION
ATTN; WAREHOUSE
8730 SCROGGS RD.
ELKTON, OH 44415



Cirino Gonzalez
Merrimack County detention Center
214 Daniel Webster Hwy
Boscawen, NH 03303
Defense Fund for Cirno
http://www.sjopromotions.com/freereno.html


Daniel J. Riley, Inmate Strafford County House of Correction
County Farm Road
Dover, N.H. 03821-0799
Daniel J. Riley Legal Defense Page
http://danrileyld.blogspot.com/

[ericg]

http://stopthenau.org/

On Friday, November 16, Governor Napolitano issued a news release
announcing the formation of a partnership between Arizona and the
state of Sonora, Mexico, to promote business interests.

It is unconstitutional for any state to form an agreement -- even
with another state, not to mention a foreign government. There are
good reasons for this. For example, when Utah and Colorado formed a
water agreement, they had to have the approval of Congress because
the water flowed into Arizona and it wouldn't be fair for those
states to, say, cut off water to Arizona. That's just an example.
States CANNOT make agreements with other states or with foreign
countries.

We need to flood the Governor's office for the next three days with
phone calls opposing this partnership. If this is allowed to pass,
it just takes us one step closer to the merger of the United States,
Mexico, and Canada. Please make at least one phone call per day.
Just tell them that you oppose the agreement because it's
unconstitutional.

"No state shall enter into any Treaty, Alliance, or
Confederation ... No state shall, without the consent of
Congress ... enter into any Agreement or Compact with another state,
or with a foreign power ...." (U.S. Constitution, Article 1, Section
10)

GOVERNOR JANET NAPOLITANO

602-542-4331 (Main office)
928-708-0982 (Northern Arizona Office)
520-628-6580 (Southern Arizona Office)
602-542-2248 (Constituent Services)
602-542-1586 (General Counsel)
602-542-1304 (Chief of Staff)

Senator Karen S. Johnson
kjohnson@azleg.gov
602-926-3160

Arizona Senate
1700 W. Washington St.
Phoenix, Arizona 85007

[ericg]

http://www.nonationalid.com/TakeAction.aspx

[ericg]

http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_kevin_go_071119_protesting_the__22scho.htm

[ericg]

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8656756697574815390&q=peace+propaganda+%26+the+promise+land&total=70&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=0

[ericg]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKZg-RswIco

[ericg]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBoeRqPgxMI

www.nationalpriorities.org
www.costofwar.com

one day of the iraq war =
720 million dollars;
84 new elementary schools;
12,478 elementary school teachers;
34,904 four year scholarships for university students;
423,529 children with healthcare;
1,274,336 homes with renewable electricity
http://www.afsc.org/iraq/default.htm

iraq deaths due to us invasion: 1,118,625 (11.22.07)
http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/iraq/iraqdeaths.html

[ericg]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7r0R00c1bQ

[ericg]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KVTfcAyYGg

[ericg]

http://www.naica.com.mx/ingles/cristales.htm

Stefan Lovgren
for National Geographic News

April 6, 2007

It's "the Sistine Chapel of crystals," says Juan Manuel García- Ruiz.

The geologist announced this week that he and a team of researchers have unlocked the mystery of just how the minerals in Mexico's Cueva de los Cristales (Cave of Crystals) achieved their monumental forms.

Buried a thousand feet (300 meters) below Naica mountain in the Chihuahuan Desert, the cave was discovered by two miners excavating a new tunnel for the Industrias Peñoles company in 2000.

The cave contains some of the largest natural crystals ever found: translucent gypsum beams measuring up to 36 feet (11 meters) long and weighing up to 55 tons.

"It's a natural marvel," said García-Ruiz, of the University of Granada in Spain.

To learn how the crystals grew to such gigantic sizes, García-Ruiz studied tiny pockets of fluid trapped inside.

The crystals, he said, thrived because they were submerged in mineral-rich water with a very narrow, stable temperature range—around 136 degrees Fahrenheit (58 degrees Celsius).

At this temperature the mineral anhydrite, which was abundant in the water, dissolved into gypsum, a soft mineral that can take the form of the crystals in the Naica cave.

Volcanic Activity

The mining complex in Naica contains some of the world's largest deposits of silver, zinc, and lead.

In 1910 miners discovered another spectacular cavern beneath Naica.

Its walls studded with crystal "daggers," the Cave of Swords is closer to the surface, at a depth of nearly 400 feet (120 meters).

While there are more crystals in the upper cave, they are far smaller, typically about a yard (a meter) long.

Nearly the Size of a Basketball Court

The Cave of Crystals is a horseshoe-shaped cavity in limestone rock about 30 feet (10 meters) wide and 90 feet (30 meters) long.

Its floor is covered in crystalline, perfectly faceted blocks. The huge crystal beams jut out from both the blocks and the floor.

"There is no other place on the planet where the mineral world reveals itself in such beauty," García-Ruiz said.

Volcanic activity that began about 26 million years ago created Naica mountain and filled it with high-temperature anhydrite, which is the anhydrous—lacking water—form of gypsum.

Anhydrite is stable above 136 degrees Fahrenheit (58 degrees Celsius). Below that temperature gypsum is the stable form.

When magma underneath the mountain cooled and the temperature dropped below 58 degrees Celsius, the anhydrite began to dissolve. The anhydrite slowly enriched the waters with sulfate and calcium molecules, which for millions of years have been deposited in the caves in the form of huge selenite gypsum crystals.

"There is no limit to the size a crystal can reach," García-Ruiz said.

But, he said, for the Cave of Crystals to have grown such gigantic crystals, it must have been kept just below the anhydrite-gypsum transition temperature for many hundreds of thousands of years.

In the upper cave, by contrast, this transition temperature may have fallen much more rapidly, leading to the formation of smaller crystals.

To Reflood or Not to Reflood

While the chance of this set of conditions occurring on other places in the world is remote, García-Ruiz expects that there are other caves and caverns at Naica containing similarly large crystals.

"The caves containing larger crystals will be located in deeper levels with temperatures closer to, but no higher than, 58 degrees Celsius," he said.

He has recommended to the mining company that the caves should be preserved.

The only reason humans can get into the caves today, however, is because the mining company's pumping operations keep them clear of water. If the pumping is stopped, the caves will again be submerged and the crystals will start growing again, García-Ruiz said.

So what happens if—or when—the mine is closed?

"That's an interesting question," García-Ruiz said.

"Should we continue to pump water to keep the cave available so future generations may admire the crystals? Or should we stop pumping and return the scenario to the natural origin, allowing the crystals to regrow?"


englass the crystals in water and make some nice little cavern trails with naturopathic vendors.

[ericg]

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6632255652046262625

[ericg]

www.youtube.com/kevintechnology

[ericg]

for all the effort that's meant so much in making this a better world.
you're the best.

l. e

[ericg]

http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee44/tvzombies/wtfsmall.gif

[ericg]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOYS_BmKi3Q

[ericg]

"It's a beaut Clark, it's a beaut"

David Reilly Memoirs (OUT NOW!)
Date: Nov 23, 2007 7:31 AM


All proceeds from the book, and all add-on CDs will be going to a college fund (savings bond) for David’s 10 year-old nephew. All prices include any shipping & handling charges and any processing payment fees. The following prices are a result of the fact that I am self publishing the book out of pocket and releasing such a small run of them.

**The track listings for all the CD add-ons are listed below the package options:

1. -book e-mailed as a read-only PDF attachment, does not include cover art
$7 (total items in package: 1)

2. -book mailed on CD-ROM as a read-only PDF file, does not include cover art
$10 (total items in package: 1)

3. -book mailed printed and bound w/ color cover art & signed
$30 (total items in package: 1)

4. -book mailed printed and bound w/ color cover art & signed
(choose either:)
-David Reilly solo-acoustic show at TT The Bear’s Place in Cambridge, MA 9/1/01 on CD
OR
-God Lives Underwater Tribute CD
$40 (total items in package: 2)

5. -book mailed printed and bound w/ color cover art & signed
-David Reilly solo-acoustic show at TT The Bear’s Place in Cambridge, MA 9/1/01 on CD
-God Lives Underwater Tribute CD
$45 (total items in package: 3)

6. “The Mantis Package”:
-book mailed printed and bound w/ color cover art & signed
-David Reilly solo-acoustic show at TT The Bear’s Place in Cambridge, MA 9/1/01 on CD,
-the very last God Lives Underwater show ever on 7/13/00 at The Roxy in Los Angeles, CA on CD
-a radio interview and live acoustic broadcast with God Lives Underwater from May, 1996 on CD
-the very last interview David ever gave, 11 days before his death, on CD
-God Lives Underwater Tribute CD
$65 (total items in package: 6)


David Reilly solo-acoustic live at TT The Bear’s Place in Cambridge, MA 09/01/01
1. Miss You More Than Anything
2. Can’t Come Down
3. Happy?
4. 23
5. Lonely Again
6. Medicated To The One I Love
7. No More Love
8. Ordinary Man
9. Whatever You Got
10. Scared
11. Stripped


God Lives Underwater 1996 radio interview & acoustic broadcast
1. Stripped
2. (interview)
3. Weight
4. (interview)
5. Lonely Again
6. (interview)


God Lives Underwater: last show EVER 07/13/00 The Roxy, CA
1. 72 Hour Hold
2. No More Love
3. Rearrange
4. No Way (You Must Understand)
5. Whatever You Got
6. Tricked
7. Nothing
8. History
9. Alone Again
10. All Wrong
11. Don’t Know How To Be


David Reilly: Armada Sound Systems Interview
1. the very last interview David ever gave, 11 days before his death on 10/05/05 (run time is over 46 minutes)


Drowning In Air: A Tribute To God Lives Underwater
1. Mezzanine – intro
2. NASA Travel Agency – “No More Love”
3. Dave Grega – “23”
4. The Waiting Game – “Happy?”
5. Mezzanine – “Slip To Fall”
6. Quadriplegic High Jump – “Still”
7. Transpose – “Miss You More Than Anything”
8. Asa Morris/Brittany Garrison – “From Your Mouth”
9. Simian Think Tank – “Lonely Again”
10. Starshine – “Whatever You Got”
11. Wil/Reyes – “Scared”
12. Nathan Leigh – “All Wrong”
13. The Human Condition – “Weight”
14. Gates Of Dissent – “Weaken”
15. NASA Travel Agency – “Rush Is Loud”
16. Straight Jacket Civilians – “Fool”
17. AdamEater – “Medicated To The One I Love”



Accepted payments are:

PayPal.com (send payment to Jawa242@aol.com and in the comments list which package you are buying)

Check or Money Order made out to and send to:

Brian Paone
227 Royal Palms Ave
Kingsland, GA 31548

Orders will not be shipped until payment has been cleared by the bank.

“I wanted to make sure that everyone…friends and family alike has the opportunity to purchase “David Reilly Memoirs”. This is a beautiful work telling the last 10+ years of David’s life from the perspective of his close friend Brian “Rocky” Paone. Rocky is a wonderful man that was nothing but a good influence on David. These are tales of the “Rock Star David” as well as “David the Friend”. This is a keepsake for generations to come. Help us get the word out and let David’s friends know that there is a beautiful book depicting a “Beautiful David”…” – Gretchen Reilly Runner, David’s sister

“I've only just finished the first chapter but I want to compliment you Brian on how well written this is! You're story telling is great. You description of the 90s and the bands back then really takes me back. Great job and thanks for sharing the stories with everyone. If any of you guys don't have the book yet you really should get it!”

“I am nearly finished, and it is pretty excellent. I have to admit, I was a bit worried, but I am now thoroughly impressed. Good job Brian…”

“After I had just read the Anthony Kiedis bio (full of sex, drugs & Flea) page after page, chapter after chapter, the shockingness of it all started to wear down and eventually get hella-boring. So this new book 'Dreams Are Unfinished Thoughts' was a breathe of fresh air! It wasn't a bio with a lot of dirt but it was sweet and a good read! If anyone didn't get the book yet I would strongly recommend it.”

“You couldn't have done a better service to his memory than what you put together over the last 2 years. Your book explained his music to me from a completely new perspective. It's a shame that he died so young and even more that it happened when he had finally turned it all around. It really feels like he was stolen away. Reading your book has given me a feeling of closure and I can't thank you enough for giving me that. Thank you for writing this book.”

“I just wanted to let you know that I received the book yesterday. I also started it, and it's such a page-turner!! Fantastic work!”

“The beautifully written memoir, Dreams Are Unfinished Thoughts, describes the blossoming friendship between the intertwined souls of David Reilly and Brian Paone. This extremely moving account also reveals David’s everyday/human side for his fans to relate to. It is a must-read for anyone who appreciates David’s music and legacy.”

“Excellent Job, sir! You have every right to be proud of your accomplishment. It's a fantastic book, and I think you have taken a lot of fans into a world that we never saw. I really liked your 'firsthand only' approach. That's very honest.”

[ericg]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIO-tCPSfHA

[ericg]

http://www.mayanmajix.com/art_nt.html

[ericg]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlWSv0NZBRw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YENbElb5-xY

[ericg]

"you got your mind right?"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvsADU2OOWM

[ericg]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nK7DRPyNAHA

[QueenAdrock]

You know, if you post up enough crap in a row in a short amount of time, that's called spamming. If you actually have an argument, want to debate or have something of value to add, that's not spam. You're ruining any political discourse this thread may have potentially had.

[ericg]

http://www.currentconcerns.ch/config_03/print.php?source=../archive/2006/03/source/20060312.html&amp;issue=No%203/4

[ericg]

The empire’s operatives exposed: The Krongards, 9/11, and Blackwater/Iraq
By Larry Chin

Online Journal Associate Editor


New bombshell
testimony before Congress has revealed that Alvin B. “Buzzy” Krongard, the
former CIA executive director connected to 9/11
insider trading, is a consultant and advisory board member of Blackwater
USA, the New World Order’s leading intelligence-related corporate mercenary
death squad now under investigation for war crimes, murder, arms smuggling, and
fraud in Iraq.


“Buzzy” Krongard’s Blackwater role was confirmed by
“Buzzy”’s brother, Howard “Cookie” Krongard, who (not ironically) is the
Bush/Cheney administration’s State Department’s inspector general, and the
official under fire for stonewalling and quashing attempted probes of
Blackwater’s operations.


It was during the last Wednesday's hearing before the House Oversight and Government Reform
Committee, chaired by Henry Waxman (D-CA), that “Cookie” Krongard denied, then confirmed later in the same testimony, the fact that his own brother was a Blackwater advisory board member throughout the period in which “Cookie” engaged in the cover-up of Blackwater. It is not known if “Cookie” Krongard lied, or was lied to, but he has now recused himself from “all matters having to do with Blackwater."


As thoroughly documented by Michael C. Ruppert in Crossing
the Rubicon: The Decline of the American Empire at the End of the Age of Oil, until 1997, A.B. “Buzzy” Krongard was
the vice chairman of investment bank A.B.Brown (Alex. Brown). A.B. Brown and
its previous incarnations have been involved with Bush family business ventures
for generations, including deals with the Carlyle Group. It was also one of
many major investment houses implicated for money laundering in congressional probes.



Brothers in illegal arms


Krongard joined the CIA in 1998 as the counsel to CIA
Director George Tenet, and was named CIA executive director (the CIA’s #3
position) by George W. Bush in March 2001. The Deutsche Bank/Alex.Brown private
banking operation headed by Krongard through 1998, and taken over by Krongard’s
colleague Mayo Shattuck III, was one of the major hubs of 9/11
insider trading, where put options were purchased on United Airlines and
other 9/11-related stocks. As written by Ruppert, “the trades could only have
been made by people high enough in the US, Israeli and European intelligence
community (including Russia) to know about the attacks and -- more importantly
-- which of the many planned attacks were going to be successful.”


It is no surprise that Howard “Cookie” Krongard has, along
with brother “Buzzy," enjoyed high official Bush/Cheney positions, and
profits, from the “war on terrorism" -- apparently continuously from 9/11
all the way to the present Iraq occupation and quagmire.


These and other damning facts add to the multitude of direct
lines leading from 9/11 to Iraq and beyond, and have been exposed piecemeal in
recent years and months (in media reports that are largely ignored and
misunderstood by the masses). They confirm and underscore years of exhaustive
existing evidence about the true nature of the “war on terrorism," its
imperial architects from across the international political spectrum, and its
multinational universe of “soldiers” (exemplified by the Krongards), and
intelligence proprietaries, cut-outs, and political and media fronts.


The New World Order’s “above the law” criminals -- from the
Krongards and the entire Blackwater apparatus, to Bush, Cheney, Blair, and the
entire membership of the Bilderberg Group -- have committed unprecedented
atrocities out in the open, and have more than earned the kind of
“interrogations” that they and their armed-to-the-teeth functionaries continue
to inflict on political adversaries and innocent patsies in CIA prisons all
over the world.


Tragically, particularly in the present milieu, it is more
than likely that the Krongards will not be touched, any more than Bush, Cheney,
et al will receive the punishment they deserve.


Not only have no “heads rolled” since 9/11, but virtually
all of the 9/11/ “war on terrorism” criminals continue to hold the highest
offices of power, brazenly committing new crimes in the open, while holding the
people of world in contempt. The criminals, and their crimes, are on
television, every hour on the hour. Witness the fact that Rudolf Guiliani, who
was thoroughly exposed as a hands-on participant in the 9/11 operation in Mike
Ruppert’s Crossing the Rubicon,
is a leading 2008 presidential candidate. Senator Joe Biden, one of many
members of Congress who enjoyed breakfast on 9/11 with Pakistani ISI chief and
9/11 “money man” Mahmoud Ahmad, is also running for president.


Given the bipartisan complicity of the US Congress, it is
likely that the Blackwater probes, like all congressional “investigations” in
modern history, are simply more limited hangouts, designed to strengthen, not
expose, what remains a massive ongoing cover-up of imperial crimes.


In a time of open and unprecedented political lawlessness
and corruption, and mass public ignorance and acquiescence, true investigation
remains the bitter and tragic duty of a minority of courageous individuals
willing to seek the facts. They are contained on the pages of this publication,
and the following list of sources on the Krongards:


Michael C. Ruppert, Crossing the Rubicon: The Decline of
the American Empire at the End of the Age of Oil, Chapter 14: 9/11 Insider
Trading, or “You Didn’t Really See That, Even Though We Saw It”


Suppressed
Details of Criminal Insider Trading Lead Directly Into CIA's Highest Ranks


(Mike Ruppert, From the Wilderness, October 15, 2001

Profits
of Death: Insider Trading and 9/11 (Tom Flocco, From the Wilderness, December
27, 2001)


Jeremy
Scahill, Blackwater:The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army

[ericg]

http://www.knowledgedrivenrevolution.com/Articles/200711/20071119_IOR_3_Fight_Net.htm

[ericg]

Top Intelligence Officials Question 9/11
Top intelligence professionals from across the political spectrum question the government's version of 9/11
George Washington's Blog, November 20, 2007
Straight to the Source


Former military analyst and famed whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg recently said that the case of a certain 9/11 whistleblower is "far more explosive than the Pentagon Papers". He also said that the government is ordering the media to cover up her allegations about 9/11. And he said that some of the claims concerning government involvement in 9/11 are credible, that "very serious questions have been raised about what they [U.S. government officials] knew beforehand and how much involvement there might have been", that engineering 9/11 would not be humanly or psychologically beyond the scope of the current administration, and that there's enough evidence to justify a new, "hard-hitting" investigation into 9/11 with subpoenas and testimony taken under oath.

A 27-year CIA veteran, who chaired National Intelligence Estimates and personally delivered intelligence briefings to Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, their Vice Presidents, Secretaries of State, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and many other senior government officials (Raymond McGovern) said "I think at simplest terms, there's a cover-up. The 9/11 Report is a joke", and is open to the possibility that 9/11 was an inside job.

A 29-year CIA veteran, former National Intelligence Officer (NIO) and former Director of the CIA's Office of Regional and Political Analysis (William Bill Christison) said "I now think there is persuasive evidence that the events of September did not unfold as the Bush administration and the 9/11 Commission would have us believe. ... All three [buildings that were destroyed in the World Trade Center] were most probably destroyed by controlled demolition charges placed in the buildings before 9/11." (and see this).

20-year Marine Corps infantry and intelligence officer, the second-ranking civilian in U.S. Marine Corps Intelligence, and former CIA clandestine services case officer (David Steele) stated that "9/11 was at a minimum allowed to happen as a pretext for war", and it was probably an inside job (see Customer Review dated October 7, 2006).

A decorated 20-year CIA veteran, who Pulitzer-Prize winning investigative reporter Seymour Hersh called "perhaps the best on-the-ground field officer in the Middle East", and whose astounding career formed the script for the Academy Award winning motion picture Syriana (Robert Baer) said that"the evidence points at" 9/11 having had aspects of being an inside job .

The Division Chief of the CIA's Office of Soviet Affairs, who served as Senior Analyst from 1966 - 1990. He also served as Professor of International Security at the National War College from 1986 - 2004 (Melvin Goodman) said "The final [9/11 Commission] report is ultimately a coverup."

Professor of History and International Relations, University of Maryland. Former Executive Assistant to the Director of the National Security Agency. Former military attaché in China. 21-year career in U.S. Army Intelligence (Major John M. Newman, PhD, U.S. Army) questions the government's version of the events of 9/11.

The head of all U.S. intelligence, the Director of National Intelligence (Mike McConnel) said "9/11 should have and could have been prevented"

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'Agritourism'--A New Strategy to Strengthen Small, Organic & Sustainable Farms
Down on the Farm With Your Sleeves Rolled Up
By EMILY BIUSO
The New York Times, November 23, 2007
Straight to the Source


At an early morning hour most vacationers would spend unconscious, a few intrepid city dwellers outfitted in borrowed boots hunch over a creek full of watercress, carefully cutting the plants with kitchen scissors.

A field being dressed with manure.

For their hosts, farmers in the Blue Ridge Mountains of western North Carolina, it's the start of a regular workday. But for the visitors, it's a delicate balance between learning on the fly and trying to be of use on a working farm.

Hoeing, seeding and picking may not sound like a holiday, yet the appeal of agritourism is gaining in the United States. More and more people want to see where their food comes from, and the same drive that leads them to visit farmers' markets or join community-supported agriculture farm-share programs draws them to the farm itself.

"I shop at the farmers' market, but I didn't really know how these people operate or how a farm functions," said Elizabeth Schafer, who works for a visual-effects company in Los Angeles and decided to visit Maverick Farms in Valle Crucis, N.C., after a year of working 50-to-60-hour weeks. "It definitely made me appreciate what needs to be accomplished to put food on the table."

The arrangement at Maverick Farms is simple: vacationers pay $120 a night to stay in a room in the hosts' beautiful two-story, 125-year-old farmhouse, and they are also invited to work at harvesting, seeding and other chores. For each hour of labor, $7 is deducted from the bill. Up to 25 percent of the bill can be worked off. At night, the farmers cook dinner from food they grew, and the guests/laborers are encouraged to join them. At the end of the stay, visitors can, if they like, leave a donation for the food they've eaten.

Agritourism includes a wide variety of farm activities. Though most visitors simply spend an afternoon picking fruit or feeding animals, others remain several days, contributing labor to tasks ranging from planting crops to building greenhouses.

Full Story: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/23/travel/escapes/23
agritourism.html?_r=1&ore f=slogin

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZaIi_gM3Gr0

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http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=bd4_1174936678

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http://www.reversespeech.com