I met Ngugi and Njeeri on New Year's Eve. That was when I first heard about this incident. The brutality involved with this attack is shocking. Please take a moment to let the Kenyan authorities know that YOU ARE WATCHING this case. Click here for more details:

Dear Friends,

As you may already know, world renowned Kenyan playwright, novelist and social critic Ngugi Wa Thiong'o and his wife Njeeri Wa Ngugi were brutally attacked on August 11, 2003 in an apartment in Nairobi, Kenya. Ngugi was severely beaten and burned with cigarettes, and his wife, Njeeri, was raped in the ordeal.

Subsequently, several people were arrested in conjunction with the attack, and it is becoming increasingly clear that this was a politically motivated assault on a leading international intellectual and his wife. It was the first time that Ngugi had returned to his home country after 22 years of political exile.

We are writing to ask you to take a few minutes of your time to send a letter to the addresses appended below to encourage the Kenyan courts and government to take this attack seriously, and to prosecute not only the direct attackers, but all those involved in the attack. This is not only an issue of paramount importance for political liberties and the rights of intellectuals. It is also a critical test case for overcoming a culture of silence and impunity surrounding violence against women in Kenya (and, in many ways, the world at large).

We have included a letter, both in the body of this mail and as an attachment, that exemplifies the spirit of the pressure that we believe it is necessary to put on the Kenyan government to insure that these attacks are treated in the most appropriate and deliberate matter. We fear that without this pressure, the political forces behind this attack may go unpunished, and the issue of rape glossed over. A letter of any length, either in your own words or borrowing from the language of the one included here, would make an immense difference. Please send your letters to as many of the appended addresses as you wish and also forward our call to others who might want to join our efforts. If the Kenyan government in compelled to see the overall importance of this trial, we will win an overwhelming victory in our struggle against violence against women and for the rights of public intellectuals.

Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,
Gabriele Schwab
On behalf of The Ngugi and Njeeri Solidarity Committee
posted by Kevin at 6:51 PM

I can see it now. The limousine liberals are going to get decked out with all of the appropriate gear: SUV hybrid vehicle (with Kerry bumper sticker), pink tutu and a count-me-blue-bracelet. Wow. If that's not a rebellion, what is?

Count me blue = You're part of the problem!

The people who go for this nonsense are as lost as the dopes with the Bush/Cheney stickers on their Chevy Suburbans.

Express your outrage at this election by wearing a bracelet... In other words, compensate for your total lack of power with mindless, feel-good, me-too consumerism.

HAHA! Nevermind the fact that Kerry was in on this scam to begin with. (That's the unthinkable part for the limo libs.) Just wear a bracelet and grumble about Bush for the next four years. Good plan.

Oh yeah, don't forget, Cheney gets a percentage of the procedes from every bracelet that's sold. That's right, you count-me-blue twits. Those bracelets are made out of oil:

After spending 10 days in London with friends who were outspoken about their disdain for President Bush's policies, Berns Rothchild came home wishing she had a way to show the world she didn't vote for him.

"I sort of felt ashamed, and didn't really want to be associated with being an American," said Rothchild, who lives in New York City and voted for John Kerry.

Her mother had a suggestion: bracelets, inspired by the Lance Armstrong Foundation's popular "LIVESTRONG" bands, that would signal opposition to Bush.

Thousands of miles away, two women in Idaho had the same idea. So did a woman in Kansas. The result? At least three separate bracelet ventures targeting left-leaning citizens who want to wear their political affiliation on their wrists and at least one competitor bearing the opposite message.

Rothchild, 35, is selling blue bracelets that say "COUNT ME BLUE," while Laura Adams, of Fairway, Kan., offers blue bracelets that say "HOPE." The McKnight family, of Moscow, Idaho, is even more direct; their black bracelets proclaim: "I DID NOT VOTE 4 BUSH."

"It's kind of like saying, 'This is my tribe,'" said Adams, 43, a Kerry supporter, who was inspired by her 14-year-old stepson's yellow Lance Armstrong band.
posted by Kevin at 5:34 PM

Oracle Corp. unveiled plans to fire about 5,000 employees Friday, the result of the database firm's hostile takeover of PeopleSoft Inc.

The job cuts, which had been expected to number between 5,000 and 6,000, are being felt on both sides of the San Francisco Bay, with workers at Redwood City's Oracle and Pleasanton's PeopleSoft expected to get the axe.
posted by Kevin at 7:24 PM

I'm beginning to think that we're existing in a post-collapse world already. Most people just can't see it yet:

Monsanto Co.'s "seed police" snared soy farmer Homan McFarling in 1999, and the company is demanding he pay it hundreds of thousands of dollars for alleged technology piracy. McFarling's sin? He saved seed from one harvest and replanted it the following season, a revered and ancient agricultural practice.

"My daddy saved seed. I saved seed," said McFarling, 62, who still grows soy on the 5,000 acre family farm in Shannon, Miss. and is fighting the agribusiness giant in court.

Saving Monsanto's seeds, genetically engineered to kill bugs and resist weed sprays, violates provisions of the company's contracts with farmers.

Since 1997, Monsanto has filed similar lawsuits 90 times in 25 states against 147 farmers and 39 agriculture companies, according to a report issued Thursday by The Center for Food Safety, a biotechnology foe.

In a similar case a year ago, Tennessee farmer Kem Ralph was sued by Monsanto and sentenced to eight months in prison after he was caught lying about a truckload of cotton seed he hid for a friend.

Ralph's prison term is believed to be the first criminal prosecution linked to Monsanto's crackdown. Ralph has also been ordered to pay Monsanto more than $1.7 million.

The company itself says it annually investigates about 500 "tips" that farmers are illegally using its seeds and settles many of those cases before a lawsuit is filed.

In this way, Monsanto is attempting to protect its business from pirates in much the same way the entertainment industry does when it sues underground digital distributors exploiting music, movies and video games.

In the process, it has turned farmer on farmer and sent private investigators into small towns to ask prying questions of friends and business acquaintances.

Monsanto's licensing contracts and litigation tactics are coming under increased scrutiny as more of the planet's farmland comes under genetically engineered cultivation.
posted by Kevin at 5:49 PM

Secret ballots are the cornerstone of any democratic process. But little more than two weeks before Iraq's first free elections on Jan. 30, the country is finding that secrecy is being taken to new heights.

The identities of many of the candidates haven't been publicly disclosed and are likely to remain secret until after election day, an illustration of the difficulty in mounting an election amid war.
posted by Kevin at 5:46 PM

IF all goes well, this year a remote-controlled portable airplane will be taking to the air over Southern California, providing a low-cost eye in the sky for law enforcement.

Chang Industry of La Verne, Calif., is one of dozens of companies working on portable unmanned aerial vehicles, or U.A.V.'s, that can be equipped with cameras to transmit live video feeds to law enforcement officers on the ground, miles away. While larger and more sophisticated unmanned aircraft have been in use by the military for several years, this new breed of U.A.V.'s is small enough to be transported in the trunk of a patrol car, for example, assembled and flown by officers near a developing crime scene.

Dr. Yu-Wen Chang, the company's president, said that he expects to sell his Kite Plane, which has a wingspan of about 4 feet and weighs less than 5 pounds, for $5,000 apiece. The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department will be the first law enforcement agency to test the plane, probably in April, Dr. Chang said.
posted by Kevin at 2:10 AM

There is some follow up material to the Militant Electronic Piracy article.
posted by Kevin at 8:24 PM

Absolutely incredible!

ET (thekind.com) sent $50.

And JF (bendcyclecab.com) contributed $45. John is also the co-owner/pilot of a biodiesel shuttle bus. Please contact Green Energy Transportation & Tour (541-610-6103) for all your transportation needs in and around Bend, Oregon. Here's John in the Bend Bulletin.

Additionally, John has graciously offered to show an ad for Cryptogon on a video display on his bus!
posted by Kevin at 6:55 PM

Every time I post a message along these lines, I get email from several Christian Cryptogon readers who go on and on about how these stories refer to fake Christians, apostate Christians, and how either A) the Devil has tricked these people into serving the antichrist, or B) they haven't spent enough time studying the Word of God, etc.

Fine. I get it already. I understand your perspective. You should spend less time differentiating yourself from the certifiable lunatics and more time trying to do something about those freaks.

Don't email me about "God" issues. I won't waste any more of my time writing emails on this. I post stories about ANY groups that pose a clear and present danger to the rest of us. If you have a problem with that, tough sh*t:

It appears that members of the Religious Right feel empowered these days following the reelection of their man, George W. Bush. In addition to the usual social and cultural issues that incite these people, they also have strong views on the war in Iraq and the environment.

In a speech at Harvard Medical School, Bill Moyers lamented the twisted views of many on the Religious Right. Moyers writes that these are people who subscribe to the fundamentalist doctrine of the Apocalypse and the related Rapture, which concepts "[are] rather simple, if bizarre....

"Once Israel has occupied the rest of its 'biblical lands,' legions of the anti-Christ will attack it, triggering a final showdown in the valley of Armageddon. As the Jews who have not been converted are burned, the messiah will return for the rapture. True believers will be lifted out of their clothes and transported to heaven, where, seated next to the right hand of God, they will watch their political and religious opponents suffer plagues of boils, sores, locusts, and frogs during the several years of tribulation that follow."

Moyers continues:

"I’m not making this up. I've reported on these people, following some of them from Texas to the West Bank. They are sincere, serious, and polite as they tell you they feel called to help bring the rapture on as fulfillment of biblical prophecy. That's why they have declared solidarity with Israel and the Jewish settlements and backed up their support with money and volunteers. It's why the invasion of Iraq for them was a warm-up act, predicted in the Book of Revelations.... A war with Islam in the Middle East is not something to be feared but welcomed -- an essential conflagration on the road to redemption."

And there is official support in Washington for these Apocalyptic views. According to an article by Glenn Scherer in Grist, House Majority Leader Tom Delay -- a self-declared member of the Christian Zionists, an End-Time faction numbering 20 million Americans -- was present at a fire and brimstone sermon at John Hagee's San Antonio-based Cornerstone Church in 2002 when Hagee told his congregation, "The war between America and Iraq is the gateway to the Apocalypse." After Hagee's sermon, Delay was quoted as saying, "Ladies and gentlemen, what has been spoken here tonight is the truth from God."

In Delay’s view, and those of others End-timers, our soldiers are being thrown into combat to help fulfill a two-thousand year old Biblical prophecy that intelligent people know to be myth. It's true that since WMD and a connection to al Qaeda have both been discredited, George Bush's rationale for the war in Iraq has been forced to shift to "higher ground." But Bush has yet to lay this one on the American people. Perhaps this will come after the Iraq democracy experiment fails.
posted by Kevin at 6:20 PM

HA! Tell me another one! It's probably good for one's health to laugh this hard:

Cutting down on fossil fuel pollution could accelerate global warming and help turn parts of Europe into desert by 2100, according to research to be aired on British television on Thursday.

"Global Dimming," a BBC Horizon documentary, will describe research suggesting fossil fuel by-products like sulfur dioxide particles reflect the sun's rays, "dimming" temperatures and almost canceling out the greenhouse effect.

The researchers say cutting down on the burning of coal and oil, one of the main goals of international environmental agreements, will drastically heat rather than cool climate.
posted by Kevin at 6:14 PM

President Bush said Wednesday spending $87 billion to fund operations in Iraq and Afghanistan in the next fiscal year is "worth it" for national security and he rejected any call to raise taxes to pay for it.

"The $87 billion, it's important to spend that money. It's in our national interest that we spend it," Bush said following a White House meeting with Kuwait's prime minister.

"A free and peaceful Iraq will save this country money in the long term. It's important to get it done now."
posted by Kevin at 2:51 AM

How many stories have I posted like this? Dozens? More than a hundred?

America's trade deficit soared to an all-time high of $60.3 billion in November, reflecting record levels for imports of everything from oil and consumer goods to farm products, the government reported Wednesday.

The Commerce Department said the November deficit was up 7.7 percent from an imbalance of $56 billion in October, which had been the previous monthly record. The new record caught private economists by surprise. They had been forecasting a slight narrowing in the November trade gap.

"This caught a lot of us by surprise. We had been anticipating a pull back in the November deficit because of a decline in the price of oil," said Jason Schenker, an economist at Wachovia Bank in Charlotte, N.C.

The trade deficit through November totaled $561.3 billion, far above the previous annual record of $496.5 billion set in 2003, and put the country on track to record a trade imbalance topping $600 billion when the December figures are added.

The November deficit reflected record imbalances with a number of countries including Canada, South Korea and Russia. The largest deficit as usual was with China, although the $16.6 billion gap was down slightly from October.

Critics point to the yawning deficits as evidence that President Bush's trade policies are not working. Democrats contend that the administration has not done enough to protect American workers from unfair competition from low-wage foreign countries such as China.

The administration counters that the trade gap is primarily a reflection of a U.S. economy that has been growing faster than most of the rest of the world.

Private economists are concerned, nevertheless, about whether America will have the ability to continue finance trade deficits at such high levels.

If foreigners suddenly decide that they do not want to hold dollars in payment for the foreign goods that American consumers love to purchase, it could put added downward pressure on the American currency, which has been declining in value against a number of other currencies for the past three years.
posted by Kevin at 1:48 AM

Paging Doctor Mengele:

Volunteers are to undergo torture to see if faith eases pain.

Oxford University scientists will carry out experiments on hundreds of people in a bid to understand how the brain works during states of consciousness.

One aspect of the two-year study will involve followers of both religious and secular beliefs being burnt to see if they can handle more pain than others.

Some volunteers will be shown religious symbols such as crucifixes and images of the Virgin Mary during the torture.

Researchers believe the study may improve understanding of faith, how robust it is and how easily it can be dislodged.

The team from the newly-formed Centre for Science of the Mind also want to include people with survival techniques in the torture experiments, which may help the special forces easily identify people with high pain thresholds.

Volunteers will have a gel containing chilli powder or heat-pad applied to the back of their hand to simulate pain.
posted by Kevin at 1:39 AM

Clarence House was last night forced into a major damage limitation exercise after Prince Harry was pictured in Nazi uniform at a fancy dress party.

The photograph, splashed across the front page of the Sun, showed the Prince of Wales's youngest son enjoying a drink and a cigarette while dressed as a member of Rommel's Afrika Korps, complete with a prominent swastika armband.
posted by Kevin at 1:20 AM

Did you hear the one about the two guys arrested for telling lawyer jokes?

It happened this week to the founders of a group called Americans for Legal Reform, who were waiting in line to get into a Long Island courthouse.

"How do you tell when a lawyer is lying?" Harvey Kash reportedly asked Carl Lanzisera.

"His lips are moving," they said in unison.

While some waiting to get into the courthouse giggled, a lawyer farther up the line Monday was not laughing.

He told them to pipe down, and when they did not, the lawyer reported the pair to court personnel, who charged them with disorderly conduct, a misdemeanor.
posted by Kevin at 1:18 AM

A federal judge in New York ruled last week that police did not need court authorization when tracking Moran from afar. "Law enforcement personnel could have conducted a visual surveillance of the vehicle as it traveled on the public highways," U.S. District Judge David Hurd wrote. "Moran had no expectation of privacy in the whereabouts of his vehicle on a public roadway."

Last week's court decision is the latest to grapple with the slippery subject of how to reconcile traditional notions of privacy and autonomy with increasingly powerful surveillance technology. Once relegated, because of their cost, to the realm of what spy agencies could afford, GPS tracking devices now are readily available to jealous spouses, private investigators and local police departments for just a few hundred dollars.

Not all uses are controversial. Trucking outfits use GPS boxes to keep track of their drivers' locations, and companies sell software to dispatchers that instantly calculates which taxi is closest to a customer. OnStar uses GPS tracking to provide roadside assistance to owners of many General Motors vehicles.

What's raising eyebrows, though, is the increasingly popular law enforcement practice of secretly tagging Americans' vehicles without adhering to the procedural safeguards and judicial oversight that protect the privacy of homes and telephone conversations from police abuses.
posted by Kevin at 1:12 AM

As millions of Americans fill their plates with protein-rich steak and burgers rather than carb-heavy pasta or potatoes, researchers are reporting the strongest evidence yet that eating a lot of red meat increases the risk of colorectal cancer.

Those who ate the equivalent of a hamburger a day were about 30 percent to 40 percent more likely to develop cancer of the colon or rectum than those who ate less than half that amount.

Long-term consumption of high amounts of processed meat such as hot dogs increased the risk of colon cancer by 50 percent.

The findings, published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association, join a growing body of evidence linking diet and certain types of cancer. By some estimates, as many as 3 million to 4 million cancer cases could be prevented worldwide each year simply through healthy eating and lifestyle changes.
posted by Kevin at 1:09 AM

A sophisticated computer hacker had access to servers at wireless giant T-Mobile for at least a year, which he used to monitor U.S. Secret Service e-mail, obtain customers' passwords and Social Security numbers, and download candid photos taken by Sidekick users, including Hollywood celebrities, SecurityFocus has learned.

Twenty-one year-old Nicolas Jacobsen was quietly charged with the intrusions last October, after a Secret Service informant helped investigators link him to sensitive agency documents that were circulating in underground IRC chat rooms. The informant also produced evidence that Jacobsen was behind an offer to provide T-Mobile customers' personal information to identity thieves through an Internet bulletin board, according to court records.

Jacobsen could access information on any of the Bellevue, Washington-based company's 16.3 million customers, including many customers' Social Security numbers and dates of birth, according to government filings in the case. He could also obtain voicemail PINs, and the passwords providing customers with Web access to their T-Mobile e-mail accounts. He did not have access to credit card numbers.
posted by Kevin at 7:17 AM

Can you believe it? These people are being targeted for termination:

A retired research assistant professor at the University of Missouri-Columbia died of multiple stab wounds before firefighters found in his body in the trunk of a burning car Friday.

Boone County Medical Examiner Valerie Rao said after an autopsy that Jeong H. Im, 72, of Columbia was stabbed several times, but she declined to elaborate.

MU police yesterday named Im as the victim. His body was found in the trunk of his burning white, 1995 Honda inside the Maryland Avenue parking garage, MU police Capt. Brian Weimer said.

The case was under investigation by the Mid-Missouri Major Case Squad. No arrests had been made by last night.

Im was primarily a protein chemist. Mark McIntosh, chairman of the MU department of molecular microbiology and immunology, said he doubted the crime could have been the act of an angry student.

Related: Microbiology: The Most Dangerous Area of Inquiry in the World

Not Yet on the List: Robert Leslie Burghoff
posted by Kevin at 4:28 AM

A SOLDIER suspected of murdering Sally Geeson, the forensic science student who disappeared on New Year's Day, has killed himself in Glasgow.

Lance Corporal David Atkinson, who had recently returned from service in Iraq, set himself on fire before jumping to his death from an upper floor of the Corus hotel in the city centre at 4.30am on Saturday.
posted by Kevin at 4:09 AM

A 19-year-old Marine from Ceres, California, shot and killed a police officer and wounded another before dying in a weekend gunbattle.

Investigators said he may have been driven by a desire to avoid returning to Iraq.

According to the Marines, he had been awarded the National Defense Service Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal and the Navy and Marine Corps Sea Service Deployment Ribbon.
posted by Kevin at 4:03 AM

Not long ago, Pfc. Herold Noel proudly rumbled through the Iraqi desert with the first wave of American troops.

Today, he rambles through the streets of Brooklyn in an SUV looking for a place to sleep.

The 25-year-old father of four, who suffers from posttraumatic stress disorder and has been homeless for the better part of six months, may represent the beginning of a wave of troops returning from battle with no place to go.

"When I was in Iraq, I was fighting a war for the American dream," Noel told The Post. "Now, I'm fighting a different kind of war, but it's still a war for survival."

His wife and toddler son may join him on the streets. They are living with Noel's sister-in-law, but she is moving to a smaller apartment and can't take them in.
posted by Kevin at 4:01 AM

If you're ticketed by Green Bay police, you'll get more than a fine. You'll get fingerprinted, too. It's a new way police are cracking down on crime.

If you're caught speeding or playing your music too loud, or other crimes for which you might receive a citation, Green Bay police officers will ask for your drivers license and your finger. You'll be fingerprinted right there on the spot. The fingerprint appears right next to the amount of the fine.

Police say it's meant to protect you -- in case the person they're citing isn't who they claim to be.

The article goes on to say that you can refuse. Uhhh huh.
posted by Kevin at 3:53 AM

There is something irresistable about supersized Americana at the edge of oblivion. It's like a bad traffic accident, at night, in the rain. I can't look away.

My personal favorite was the SUV with fly-by-wire Ma Deuce:

Two private U.S. companies have designs on building the first luxury recreational vehicle that could withstand nuclear radiation.

Parliament Coach Corp., a privately held company in Clearwater, Florida, which converts Prevost buses into high-end RVs, has partnered with Homeland Defense Vehicles to offer consumers a luxury motor coach that can protect occupants against nuclear radiation from dirty bombs as well as biological and chemical attacks.

The idea is to offer the option on the pricey vehicles to consumers worried about terror attacks, officials for both companies said Tuesday.

"Many people enjoy the RV lifestyle, but we also live in an era when people have some level of fear about terrorism," Parliament Chief Executive Harvey Mitchell said in a statement. "These concerns about terrorism are linked to states where people with RVs like to travel."

The vehicles, costing from $1.2 million to $2 million, will be introduced Wednesday at the Tampa Super RV Show in Florida.
posted by Kevin at 3:27 AM

This thing is 0% legitimate:

Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi has admitted for the first time that violence will prevent some parts of Iraq voting in this month's election.

"There are some pockets that will not participate in the election, but they are not large," he said.

He spoke on a day when at least 15 people were killed across the country.
posted by Kevin at 3:24 AM

CHILDREN under the age of eight should not use mobile phones, parents were advised last night after an authoritative report linked heavy use to ear and brain tumours and concluded that the risks had been underestimated by most scientists.

Professor Sir William Stewart, chairman of the National Radiological Protection Board (NRPB), said that evidence of potentially harmful effects had become more persuasive over the past five years.

The news prompted calls for phones to carry health warnings and panic in parts of the industry. One British manufacturer immediately suspended a model aimed at four to eight-year-olds.
posted by Kevin at 2:49 AM

This Albanian I was trying to recruit wanted to sleep with me. I'm so sure! I just wanted to go see my boyfriend in Bulgaria. Yeah, the spy business is fully icky. You have to lie a lot and use people. Like, totally.

Well, at least she quit before she got in too far over her head.
posted by Kevin at 2:25 AM

The United States lost nearly 1.5 million jobs between 1989 and 2003 because of increased trade with China, according to a report released on Tuesday by a government watchdog committee.

The report was prepared by the pro-labor Economic Policy Institute for the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, a congressionally-appointed panel that has pushed for a tough U.S. approach to China on trade.

The study estimates that imports from China displaced 1.659 million jobs between 1989 and 2003, while exports to that country generated only 199,000 additional U.S. jobs.

The job losses have accelerated and moved into unexpected new sectors as the trade deficit -- which reflects the gap between imports and exports -- with China skyrocketed to a record $124 billion in 2003, report author and EPI senior international trade economist Robert Scott said.

"The assumptions we built our trade relationship with China on have proved to be a house of cards. Everyone knew we would lose jobs in labor-intensive industries like textiles and apparel, but we thought we could hold our own in the capital-intensive, high-tech arena," Scott said in a statement.
posted by Kevin at 5:53 AM

It started in Omaha, Nebraska and went all the way to the White House. This documentary exposes realities that are, quite literally, unthinkable. Obviously, They had to eliminate this film.... but copies survived.

Alternative Download Link: 41MB - Windows Media
posted by Kevin at 2:13 AM

I guess the request for help from the Russians makes more sense now:

It is an event so large that the best seat in the house is in space: a massive iceberg is on a collision course with a floating glacier near the McMurdo Research Station in Antarctica. NASA satellites have witnessed the 100-mile-long B-15A iceberg moving steadily towards the Drygalski Ice Tongue. Though the iceberg's pace has slowed in recent days, NASA scientists expect a collision to occur no later than January 15, 2005.
posted by Kevin at 1:12 AM

And remember who's the President of the Senate:

With no fanfare, the U.S. House has passed a controversial doomsday provision that would allow a handful of lawmakers to run Congress if a terrorist attack or major disaster killed or incapacitated large numbers of congressmen.

"I think (the new rule) is terrible in a whole host of ways - first, I think it's unconstitutional," said Norm Ornstein, a counselor to the independent Continuity of Government Commission, a bipartisan panel created to study the issue. "It's a very foolish thing to do, I believe, and the way in which it was done was more foolish."

But supporters say the rule provides a stopgap measure to allow the government to continue functioning at a time of national crisis.

GOP House leaders pushed the provision as part of a larger rules package that drew attention instead for its proposed ethics changes, most of which were dropped.

Usually, 218 lawmakers - a majority of the 435 members of Congress - are required to conduct House business, such as passing laws or declaring war.

But under the new rule, a majority of living congressmen no longer will be needed to do business under "catastrophic circumstances."

Instead, a majority of the congressmen able to show up at the House would be enough to conduct business, conceivably a dozen lawmakers or less.

The House speaker would announce the number after a report by the House Sergeant at Arms. Any lawmaker unable to make it to the chamber would effectively not be counted as a congressman.

The circumstances include "natural disaster, attack, contagion or similar calamity rendering Representatives incapable of attending the proceedings of the House."

The House could be run by a small number of lawmakers for months, because House vacancies must be filled by special elections. Governors can make temporary appointments to the Senate.
posted by Kevin at 5:57 PM

When it finally comes down, don't say that it caught you by surprise:

Alan Greenspan, that Matador of the Money Supply, the esteemed Impresario of Interest Rates, has suffered precious few slings or arrows over his many years as chairman of the Federal Reserve. Even the White House has had to offer its critiques off the record for fear of roiling the markets or upsetting the chairman's Elvis-in-Vegas-like following. So when the chief economist of one of the world's most prestigious banks calls Greenspan a bum, that's a big deal.

And yesterday it happened. Stephen Roach, the chief economist for Morgan Stanley & Co., one of the most powerful investment banks and one of the 50 largest companies in the world, says Greenspan has "driven the world to the economic brink."

Writing in an upcoming issue of Foreign Policy, Roach says that when Greenspan steps down as chairman of the Federal Reserve next year, he will leave behind a record foreign deficit and a generation of Americans with little savings and mountains of debt. Americans, Roach says, are far too dependent on the value of their assets, especially their homes, rather than on income-based savings; they are running a huge current-account deficit; and much of the resulting debt is now held by foreign countries, especially in Asia, which permits low interest rates and entices Americans into more debt.

RELATED: ASTONISHING ECONOMIC WARNING FROM PIMCO MANAGING DIRECTOR
posted by Kevin at 5:53 PM

What the hell? Maybe some of these alleged Christians who voted for Bush should ask him what happens inside the crypt of The Order of Death?

Oh yeah, when you attend the coronation of your King, make sure you don't commit any facecrimes in the presence of the paramilitary cops that will be swarming the area.

Victory for democracy and Jesus!

Public display of crosses at President George W. Bush's Inaugural Parade on January 20 will be prohibited, according to a letter sent to the National Park Service by the U.S. Secret Service last month.

On December 17, 2004, the Secret Service sent a letter on U.S. Department of Homeland Security letterhead to Terry Carlstrom, who serves as the regional director of the National Park Service in the National Capitol Region.

A list of banned items during the Inaugural Parade is outlined in the letter, including firearms, ammunition, explosives, weapons of any kind, aerosols, sign supports, packages, coolers, thermal or glass containers, backpacks, large bags, laser pointers, animals, structures, and anything else determined to be a safety hazard.

Specifics are mentioned in the letter about the size and scope of any signs brought to the Inaugural Parade, including being made with materials that do not pose any danger to parade participants by means of concealing a weapon.

Other prohibited items that the Secret Service deems as threatening to parade participants are also listed within the text of the letter, including props, folding chairs, bicycles, puppets, paper mache, coffins, crates, crosses, theaters, cages, and statues.
posted by Kevin at 5:34 PM

UK political assassinations require a dedicated site:

The commander of Britain's military forces in Gibraltar, who was found dead in his swimming pool over the weekend, was under police investigation, officials said.

A spokesman for Britain's Ministry of Defence (MoD) said Commander David White, 50, had been called back to London to face unspecified allegations.

"He was the subject of an MoD police investigation," the spokesman said in a statement on Sunday. "Pending its outcome, it had been decided to return him to the United Kingdom."

Monday's Times newspaper said White, who was single, was found in civilian clothes in the swimming pool at his house in an exclusive residential area of Gibraltar on Saturday.

The defence ministry spokesman refused to disclose the nature of the police investigation and declined to comment on a report in the Sun newspaper it was related to White's personal life.

The cause of death is not yet known but it is not being treated as suspicious, official sources said earlier.

Other Recent UK Assassinations: Two British Bankers Murdered On December 2

Research Credit: GR
posted by Kevin at 5:33 PM

Metro police officers are using new behavioral profiling techniques as they patrol subway stations, identifying suspicious riders and pulling them aside for questioning.

The officers are targeting people who avoid eye contact, loiter or appear to be looking around transit stations more than other passengers, officials said. Anyone identified as suspicious will be stopped and questioned about what they are doing and where they are going.
posted by Kevin at 5:30 PM

The NOAA user (host: lgraves.wasc.noaa.gov, ip: 161.55.204.2) conducted the following Google search: "michael aquino" 2005.

I think this is somewhat interesting, considering the fact that Aquino wrote the PSYOP thinkpiece, "Mindwar." (No I didn't forget to include the hyperlink. You can find it for yourself if you wish.) I wonder what press releases NOAA is drafting about the weird weather with users of that organization looking for information related to one of the most infamous figures in the PSYOP/MK community?
posted by Kevin at 5:23 PM

Senior, Dubya and Bubba, sitting around, enjoying lunch together. Touching.

Do you get it yet?

I hope all of the Dems out there are paying CLOSE attention:

Four years ago George W. Bush used to call him "the shadow" and promised a fresh start by pledging to "uphold the honor and dignity" of the presidency. He even joked to late-night TV's David Letterman that one of his top 10 priorities in the White House would be to give the Oval Office "one heck of a scrubbing."

But when President Bush welcomed Bill Clinton into that same office last week, those barbs were ancient history. After Clinton remarked how much he liked the new Oval Office rug, Bush encouraged him to praise his interior designer—Laura. (He did.) Over lunch with the president's father, the compliments flowed the other way. When Bush 41 inquired whether Chelsea Clinton had marriage plans, Bush 43 declared how impressed he was with the former president's daughter.

For two men at opposite ends of the political spectrum, the relationship between the 43rd and 42nd presidents has grown surprisingly warm and personal over the last six months.

Clinton has been close to the Bush cabal for much longer than that. Someone should ask Clinton about what it was like serving Senior in Mena for all those years. What did Senior do, Bill, make you an offer you couldn't refuse, or did you just view those CIA ops as another cash cow that you could use to line your pockets?
posted by Kevin at 5:21 PM

At least Icarus didn't take us all with him. These jackasses just might:

Endy is the newest recruit to a cabal of MIT engineers gathered around one of the university's computer science gurus, Tom Knight. Their aim is to create a field of engineering that will do for biological molecules what electronics has done for electrons. They call it synthetic biology.

"I think this will likely be the most important thing I've done," says Knight, whose track record already includes designing some of the earliest network interfaces, bitmapped displays, and workstations. "We're at the cusp of some dramatic changes."

If the notion of hacking DNA sounds like genetic engineering, think again. Genetic engineering generally involves moving a preexisting gene from one organism to another, an activity Endy calls DNA bashing. For all its impressive and profitable results, DNA bashing is hardly creative. Proper engineering, by contrast, means designing what you want to make, analyzing the design to be sure it will work, and then building it from the ground up. And that's what synthetic biology is about: specifying every bit of DNA that goes into an organism to determine its form and function in a controlled, predictable way, like etching a microprocessor or building a bridge. The goal, as Endy puts it, is nothing less than to "reimplement life in a manner of our choosing."
posted by Kevin at 5:20 PM

HAHA!

Scientists are developing a pill to stop people suffering heart attacks and strokes. The drug would be taken regularly by middle-aged men and women to prevent their arteries clogging up or developing fatal blockages in later life.

These criminals hope you don't know about Vitamin E...

"Vitamin E, either in supplement or in food, appears to prevent coronary heart disease," said American Heart Association (AHA) president Dr. Jan Breslow. The AHA listed Vitamin E research as the fourth most noteworthy accomplishment in heart and stroke research advancement for 1996.

Dr. Breslow cited a British study of patients with heart disease conducted by the University of Cambridge. "In a study of 2,000 patients with heart disease, Vitamin E supplements reduced heart disease by 75 percent," Dr. Breslow said.

The Cambridge study found that Vitamin E reduced the risk of both fatal and non-fatal heart attacks by 47 percent and non-fatal heart attacks by 77 percent. "Our findings support the use of a high dose of Vitamin E to prevent non-fatal myocardial infarction (heart attack)," the study concluded. Professor Morris Brown, the study's lead researcher, said: "Now we can confidently say that Vitamin E protects against heart attacks -- I will be recommending that patients with angina and those who are at risk of heart disease should be given supplementary Vitamin E at high dose."

...Or capsicum. I use this one. WOW! Those are hot. When my Dad had a heart attack, I saved his life with those.
posted by Kevin at 5:13 PM

The failure of the government's policy to stem drug imports is revealed today by research which shows that Britain is awash with cheap drugs, with a line of cocaine now costing less than a cappuccino.

The price of ecstasy, heroin, crack, cocaine and cannabis has tumbled to a record low in the last year, as dealers pumped ever greater quantities onto the market, encouraging hundreds of thousands of people to become regular users.
posted by Kevin at 5:11 PM

The AlsoAlso author writes: "I warn you that if you spend much time at Cryptogon, the NSA will hoist red flags with your name on them. :)"

HA! Hey AlsoAlso, I noticed a Department of Homeland Security (host: n021.dhs.gov, ip: 63.162.143.21) hit today. Guess where it came from? Look in the mirror, buddy. We're all on the same list:

63.162.143.21 - - [10/Jan/2005:16:19:41 -0700] "GET /2005_01_09_blogarchive.html HTTP/1.1" 200 24181 "http://alsoalso.typepad.com/" "Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1; IE6.0; .NET CLR 1.1.4322)"
posted by Kevin at 5:05 PM

We see you.

02/04/05 14:32:12 dig fusion.mil @ 68.4.16.25
Dig fusion.mil@ns1.fusion.mil (214.4.236.3) ...
Authoritative Answer
Recursive queries supported by this server
Query for fusion.mil type=255 class=1
fusion.mil NS (Nameserver) ns1.fusion.mil
fusion.mil NS (Nameserver) ns2.fusion.mil
fusion.mil SOA (Zone of Authority)
Primary NS: ns1.fusion.mil
Responsible person: ns2@fusion.mil
serial:2003103001
refresh:10800s (3 hours)
retry:3600s (60 minutes)
expire:604800s (7 days)
minimum-ttl:3600s (60 minutes)
fusion.mil MX (Mail Exchanger) Priority: 10 mail.fusion.mil
fusion.mil NS (Nameserver) ns1.fusion.mil
fusion.mil NS (Nameserver) ns2.fusion.mil
ns1.fusion.mil A (Address) 214.4.236.3
ns2.fusion.mil A (Address) 214.4.236.4
mail.fusion.mil A (Address) 214.4.236.5
Dig fusion.mil@ns2.fusion.mil (214.4.236.4) ...
Authoritative Answer
Recursive queries supported by this server
Query for fusion.mil type=255 class=1
fusion.mil MX (Mail Exchanger) Priority: 10 mail.fusion.mil
fusion.mil NS (Nameserver) ns1.fusion.mil
fusion.mil NS (Nameserver) ns2.fusion.mil
fusion.mil SOA (Zone of Authority)
Primary NS: ns1.fusion.mil
Responsible person: ns2@fusion.mil
serial:2003103001
refresh:10800s (3 hours)
retry:3600s (60 minutes)
expire:604800s (7 days)
minimum-ttl:3600s (60 minutes)
fusion.mil NS (Nameserver) ns1.fusion.mil
fusion.mil NS (Nameserver) ns2.fusion.mil
mail.fusion.mil A (Address) 214.4.236.5
ns1.fusion.mil A (Address) 214.4.236.3
ns2.fusion.mil A (Address) 214.4.236.4
Dig fusion.mil@68.4.16.25 ...
Non-authoritative answer
Recursive queries supported by this server
Query for fusion.mil type=255 class=1
fusion.mil MX (Mail Exchanger) Priority: 10 mail.fusion.mil
fusion.mil SOA (Zone of Authority)
Primary NS: ns1.fusion.mil
Responsible person: ns2@fusion.mil
serial:2003103001
refresh:10800s (3 hours)
retry:3600s (60 minutes)
expire:604800s (7 days)
minimum-ttl:3600s (60 minutes)
fusion.mil NS (Nameserver) ns2.fusion.mil
fusion.mil NS (Nameserver) ns1.fusion.mil
fusion.mil NS (Nameserver) ns2.fusion.mil
fusion.mil NS (Nameserver) ns1.fusion.mil
mail.fusion.mil A (Address) 214.4.236.5

If you know what fusion.mil is, please email me.
posted by Kevin at 2:30 PM

Cryptogon readers were informed that a major U.S. policy shift in Iraq might be underway a full four days before it was reported in mainstream news.

My analysis of server logs indicated that a user from the U.S. Central Command was looking for information about counterinsurgency operations in El Salvador.

I assumed that a military analyst was working on something related to covert counterinsurgency operations, and that a flawed analogy was being drawn between El Salvador and Iraq.

Cryptogon post from 1/4/05:

U.S. Central Command Hits Cryptogon... Again

The CENTCOM user (host: cumulus.centcom.mil, ip: 192.31.19.50) conducted the following Google search: RAND: Counterinsurgency in El Salvador.

HINT to the CENTCOM user: If you're an analyst trying to use analogical reasoning to link the tactics that resulted in "success" for the U.S. in El Salvador to Iraq, you can forget it. The U.S. will bankrupt itself, economically and politically, before an El Salvador-type horror show could ever work. Besides, El Salvador was a covert war. Iraq is much more in the spotlight. How many U.S. trained death squad members did it take to terrorize El Salvador into semi-submission? Scale that up to the Iraqi situation. The FMLN never had the level of public support the Iraqi insurgency has now. And, the last time I checked, FMLN guerrillas weren't willing to use their bodies as weapons delivery platforms in suicide attacks by the thousands... but I digress.

Wow, brother, it's not going to be easy to torture all those women and children to death... Maybe you should think about letting Saddam out of his cage so he could get up to his old tricks, eh? Maybe keep him on his leash this time?

What? You don't find my humor amusing? Well, all that's left to do at this stage is make jokes about the absurd state of reality, so, get used to it.

Why don't you consider a different line of work? Surely, by now, you know your education and your career have been a fraud. You must also know that the beast you're serving will eventually eat you.

Related: The Other CENTCOM Hit from a Couple of Days Ago...

The CENTCOM user (host: cumulus.centcom.mil, ip: 192.31.19.50) conducted the following Google search: map of fiber optic network in Iraq.

And now, MSNBC/Newsweek from 1/8/05 (yesterday):

WEB EXCLUSIVE
By Michael Hirsh and John Barry
Newsweek
Updated: 5:33 p.m. ET Jan. 8, 2005

Jan. 8 - What to do about the deepening quagmire of Iraq? The Pentagon’s latest approach is being called "the Salvador option"—and the fact that it is being discussed at all is a measure of just how worried Donald Rumsfeld really is. "What everyone agrees is that we can’t just go on as we are," one senior military officer told NEWSWEEK. "We have to find a way to take the offensive against the insurgents. Right now, we are playing defense. And we are losing." Last November’s operation in Fallujah, most analysts agree, succeeded less in breaking "the back" of the insurgency—as Marine Gen. John Sattler optimistically declared at the time—than in spreading it out.

Now, NEWSWEEK has learned, the Pentagon is intensively debating an option that dates back to a still-secret strategy in the Reagan administration’s battle against the leftist guerrilla insurgency in El Salvador in the early 1980s. Then, faced with a losing war against Salvadoran rebels, the U.S. government funded or supported "nationalist" forces that allegedly included so-called death squads directed to hunt down and kill rebel leaders and sympathizers. Eventually the insurgency was quelled, and many U.S. conservatives consider the policy to have been a success—despite the deaths of innocent civilians and the subsequent Iran-Contra arms-for-hostages scandal.

When that CENTCOM user hit Cryptogon, the darkness reached out and touched me, and it told me what it was going to do. I didn't want to believe it, but as soon as I saw the domain name from where the search originated, I felt a chill shoot down my spine. I thought, "Maybe I can talk some sense into the person who's working on this policy. Maybe I can influence someone enough to make a difference."

It's difficult to describe the feeling of shock that set in when I saw this MSNBC/Newsweek piece. My hands began to shake and I felt sick. You might think that I would have been excited about making the connections based upon a single entry from an Apache web server log. Nope. I thought about corpses. Oscar Romero. Wiped out villages. Nuns, raped and executed.

If El Salvador was a success, what counts as failure?

The Crucifixion of El Salvador

Death Squads in El Salvador: A Pattern of U.S. Complicity

Justice Denied

El Salvador - Lost History: Death, Lies and Bodywashing

Dick Cheney's El Salvador
posted by Kevin at 2:02 AM