cryptogon.com

3/11/2005

The Ascent of the Robotic Attack Jet :.

What has happened to all the emails from people saying that I was nuts for warning about this? Not even one email? Come on.

They are the future of warfare, the first working models of networked autonomous attack jets, and the U.S. Department of Defense would like to start building them by 2010.

Eventually such planes will be military mainstays. Of this, most observers are sure; it is simply a lot less expensive and safer to send machines into battle than to send people, who require food, sleep, training, and pay. Humans can only tolerate so much G-force and are prone to error; unmanned aircraft have the potential to be more dependable. Already, lone unmanned planes with humans at the remote controls are widely used for surveillance. But the next crop of planes will fly in coordinated groups, with more autonomy. They'll tackle jobs such as attacking enemy air defenses, identifying new targets, and releasing precision bombs. The long-range vision is that the president will wake up some day and decide he doesnt like the cut of someones jib and send thither infinite numbers of myrmidonsrobotic warriors and that we could wage a war in which we wouldnt put at risk our precious skins is how John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, a leading defense policy website, puts it.

posted by Kevin at 7:20 PM

Cryptogon Readers Contribute $25 and $10

JG, who sent $25, wrote, "During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act."

MH, who sent $10, wrote, "Please dont buy drugs or alcohol with this money. I dont condone anything like that. Puritan by nature, Catholic by choice. Lol"

Thanks ladies!

posted by Kevin at 3:11 PM

Cryptogon Reader Buys Limu :.

SL will be enjoying some green stuff soon!

posted by Kevin at 3:09 PM

Seattle Declares Drought Emergency :.

With snowpacks at a quarter of normal levels and sunny, warm days well ahead of the summer months, the home state of the "rainy city" of Seattle declared a drought emergency on Thursday.

posted by Kevin at 2:49 PM

CHUD Tools Reveal Apple's 970MP Quad Power Mac :.

Compressing video on a 1.8Ghz Pentium 4 is proving to be incredibly slow. It took about three hours to do a high quality, full res, two pass Windows Media encode of only ten minutes of video. The CPU utilization went to 100% the entire time and that sucker got hot. I set my coffee cup next to the fan output on the laptop to keep my beverage warm.

Clearly, there's got to be a better way.

Is anyone out there using dual G5 Macs with the Flip4Mac WMV Export Component encoder? What's the speed like using that thing? Are the results as good as Microsoft's free Windows Media Encoder? Unfortunately, I need to produce WMVs for end users. Yep, WMV is required.

If Apple actually releases a dual-dual core G5 system, well, would there be any question about the fastest way to encode video? Dual-dual core G5s?! Man... That would be something...

Apple's compression specs for current systems are impressive vs. the Pentium/Xeon systems, but are these numbers believable? I've learned, over the years, to ignore Apple's claims. I'd especially like to hear from people who have switched from Windows/Intel to the Mac, and people like me, who switched to the Mac a couple of years ago, and switched back to Windows/Intel because of the speed difference.

I'm considering the switch again.

Of course, the solution might be to buy a couple junk PCs for a few hundred bucks and use Microsoft's free encoder to do the jobs. A less elegant solution, perhaps, but viable:

Apple's newest CHUD 4.1.0 toolset includes an updated MONster.app. This updated version includes clues for a new Apple Quad G5 Power Mac, which would utilize two dual-core 970MP chips.

posted by Kevin at 11:42 AM

3/10/2005

Empower Peace is a DoD PSYOP/Honeypot :.

You almost wonder if the entire crackpot Left takes its orders from the Pentagon.

This article will hold special significance to Cryptogon supporters who received my essay, "Militant Electronic Piracy: Non-Violent Insurgency Tactics Against the American Corporate State."

I wrote:

Political activism amounts to an utterly useless waste of time, in terms of tangible power, which is all the ACS understands. Political activism is a cruel guise that is sold to people who are dissatisfied, but who have no concept of the nature of tangible power. Counterinsurgency teams routinely monitor these activities, attend the meetings, join the groups and take on leadership roles in the organizations.

Do you get it yet?

Write your letters to the editor. Vote. Wave your signs. HA! Oh yeah, get your kids to participate in a peace organization:

Mar 4, 2005 Contact: Press Office
202-646-5172

PENTAGON SUED FOR RECORDS ON PROPAGANDA, PSY-OPS AND "PERCEPTION MANAGEMENT" TARGETTING U.S. CIVILIANS

Pentagon Media Consultants Develop "Empower Peace" Internet Site Aimed at School Children

(Washington, DC) Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, announced today that it has filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia seeking records under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act ("FOIA"), 5 U.S.C. ' 552, from the Department of Defense concerning Pentagon funded programs engaged in "strategic influence, perception management, strategic information warfare and/or strategic psychological operations" through media consultants, "think tanks," foreign expatriate political organizations and Internet sites. Judicial Watch filed its FOIA request with the Pentagon on March 23, 2004. Following eight (8) requests for a status update, several phone calls and Judicial Watch offers to accept incremental production of the requested records, the Pentagon produced only two (2) spreadsheets listing Defense Department contracts. Judicial Watch was forced to file suit on February 25, 2005.

Judicial Watch is seeking, among other matters; information on a "peace movement" Internet site that reportedly was funded and established by the Pentagon called "Empower Peace." The site was developed by The Rendon Group, a media consultancy firm the Pentagon has paid more than $40 million dollars to since 2001, and targets participation of American school age children, teachers and schools in what appears to be a "grassroots" peace movement. The Rendon Group's relationship with the Pentagon has been reported in the New York Times and public relations trade magazines. "Empower Peace" offers "cultural awareness," interactive web broadcasts between New York and Jordan, as well as Boston and Bahrain, and interaction with school age children of Islamic countries. There is no indication on the site that it is a project of the U.S. Defense Department.

The Smith-Mundt Act of 1948 (22 U.S.C. ' 1461), forbids the domestic dissemination of U.S. government authored or developed propaganda or "official news" deliberately designed to influence public opinion or policy. The Pentagon has made aggressive use of various information warfare techniques, developing new programs and hiring outside media consultants in executing their various missions in the Global War on Terror.

"Programs such as 'Empower Peace,' in addition to their dubious value, may be in violation of U.S. law," stated Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton.

posted by Kevin at 4:32 PM

Major Newspaper Requests Information from Cryptogon on CIA Torture Flights

A writer for one of the most respected newspapers in the world has requested help from Cryptogon in identifying the routes used by the CIA to move victims around the world for torture and interrogation.

I casually busted the CIA with its pants down back in December, but I'm no expert on this matter. All I did was nail them on the misuse of tailnumbers. I didn't establish the routes used by these aircraft.

I'm guessing someone out there can shed some more light on the routes used by the CIA.

I'd rather not have to re-invent the wheel on this one, so if you can point me in the direction of who's doing the sh*t hot research on this (especially the routes used), I'll put them in touch with this reporter.

The best information I have on the routes used by the aircraft comes from the Swedish television show, Kalla Fakta (Cold Facts), on Monday 22 November 2004. The transcript indicates:

The plane's routes always follow the same pattern. After take-off from its home base in Smithfield, North Carolina it makes a short stop at Dulles International Airport in Washington, close to the CIA headquarters and Pentagon.

After crossing the Atlantic it makes stops in places such as Shannon, Ireland; Frankfurt, Germany and Prague in the Czech Republic.

Thereafter, it flies exclusively to countries that are allied with the United States in the fight against terror: Morocco, Libya, Egypt, Jordan, Uzbekistan and Pakistan.

Countries where prisoners are kept and interrogated, far beyond the reach of American and international courts.

All of these are common destinations for N379P. Just like the American prison camp at Guantanamo, Cuba.

The pattern is repeated over and over again.

And if the Irish Government users (you know who you are), who were looking into this, want to speak to a reporter for a "household name" newspaper, I'd be happy to facilitate that connection. Just email me. Expect your man from the paper to vet your credentials.

Also, for the love of God, please learn how to use PGP. My public key is here.

posted by Kevin at 3:25 PM

Man Claims to Have Slain Judge's Family, Kills Himself :.

Tell me another one... Hardcore MK researchers might want to focus on this one.

I wonder what, exactly, "radiation treatment without his consent" means?

The full text of the AP piece is below:

A man who shot himself to death during a traffic stop in Wisconsin claimed in a suicide note that he killed a federal judge's husband and mother, a source close to the investigation told The Associated Press Thursday.

Police Chief Phil Cline said Thursday that two letters and a witness description appear to connect Bart Ross to the killing, but he stopped short of calling the 57-year-old Chicago man the sole suspect.

Cline said authorities believe Ross was the man a witness had described seeing near U.S. District Judge Joan Lefkow's home the day of the killings.

"We're satisfied that there's information in the letter that would point us to Ross being in Lefkow's house," Cline said.

The suicide note was found in Ross' van after he shot himself just outside Milwaukee, the source told the AP on condition of anonymity.

WMAQ-TV in Chicago said it also received a hand-written note Thursday signed by a Bart Ross, in which the writer describes breaking into the house of Judge Joan Humphrey Lefkow around dawn on Feb. 28 with the intent to kill her, the station reported.

Lefkow had ruled against Ross in a civil case involving a medical-malpractice lawsuit, a ruling that was upheld by a federal appeals court in January. Ross was also being evicted from his home and had a court date Thursday.

Cline cautioned that authorities were still searching Ross' Chicago home and comparing crime evidence to him.

"We are not prepared at this time to definitely say that any one person in responsible for these homicides," he said.

Lefkow, 61, found the bodies of her husband, attorney Michael Lefkow, 64, and her mother, Donna Humphrey, 89, on the basement floor of the Lefkow home the evening of Feb. 28.

Suspicion immediately turned to white supremacist Matthew Hale, who had been convicted of soliciting Lefkow's murder after she ruled against him in a trademark dispute. Investigators insisted, however, that Hale's followers and other hate groups were just one focus of the investigation.

James Finch, head of the Milwaukee FBI office, said Thursday that agents were not yet scaling back the investigation into the slayings because "we have not definitively tied this individual to the Lefkow murders."

Finch said he didn't know if agents had yet compared DNA and fingerprints found at the Lefkow home to Ross. Authorities have said that DNA from a cigarette butt found in a sink did not match anyone in the Lefkow family or anyone in the FBI's database of felons.

In the letter to WMAQ, Ross said he waited all day in a utility room in the basement and shot the judge's husband after being discovered. Ross said he then shot Lefkow's mother after she heard the gunshot and called out to her son-in-law.

"After I shot husband and mother of Judge Lefkow, I had a lot of time to think about life and death. Killing is no fun, even though I knew I was already dead," the station quoted the letter as saying.

Ross said he stayed in the house until about 1:15 p.m. before deciding to leave, according to the letter.

The suicide note found in the van indicated that Lefkow had ruled against Ross in a civil case, costing him "his house, his job and family," the Chicago Tribune reported, citing unidentified sources. The note also included details in the slayings that were not released to the public, Tribune Deputy Managing Editor James Warren said in an interview on CNN.

Ross was stopped by police in West Allis, Wis., Wednesday evening because his van had a faulty tail light, police said. As officers approached the car, he killed himself with a gunshot to the head, police said.

Police in the Milwaukee suburb declined to characterize the evidence found in the van. But a source close to the investigation told the AP on condition of anonymity the van contained a suicide note that also listed other judges.

The Tribune also reported that about 300 .22-caliber shells were found in the van. Investigators found three casings of the same caliber in the Lefkow home.

Last September, Lefkow dismissed a civil rights lawsuit in which Ross claimed doctors at the University of Illinois-Chicago Hospital and its clinic had disfigured him, damaged his mouth and caused him to lose his teeth when they treated him for cancer from 1992 to 1995.

Among other claims, Ross alleged doctors committed a "terrorist act" against him by giving him radiation treatment without his consent. Defendants included the federal government, the state of Illinois, five doctors and four attorneys who had taken part in an earlier lawsuit filed by Ross that was dismissed by U.S. District Judge David Coar. Ross represented himself in the lawsuit.

Ross wanted Congress to impeach Coar and federal appeals court judges John Coffey, Frank Easterbrook and Daniel Manion for failing to reform the justice system and denying Ross' petition to move his case to a higher court.

Coffey's office is in Milwaukee. Judge Terence Evans, who was on the federal appeals court panel that affirmed Lefkow's decision Jan. 21, is also based in Milwaukee.

Evans said in a statement Thursday that he was notified early Thursday by U.S. Marshals about Ross's suicide. A receptionist at Coffey's office said he would have no comment.

In the letter to the television station, Ross said he "gave up further killings" after the Lefkow and Humphrey slayings, but approached the homes of a doctor and another judge who at one point he apparently planned to kill.

Ross was also about to face eviction from his home, according to Cook County Sheriff's spokesman Bill Cunningham. A lawsuit was filed in housing court Feb. 23 seeking to evict Ross, and sheriff's deputies tried three times in early March to serve Ross with court papers. The case was due in court Thursday.

Police have been unable to find any of the man's family. Chicago police Thursday cordoned off the street outside Ross' last-known address, a two-story home across from a high school on a tree-lined street on the city's North Side.

Jinky Jackson, 34, a neighbor, said Ross was wearing a neck brace as of a month ago. She said she would say hello to Ross when she saw him but he would not reply.

"He doesn't mingle with other neighbors," Jackson said. "He'd come home late and stay inside."

Related: Guckert/Gannon, Plame, Chicago Connection?

posted by Kevin at 3:04 PM

Carlyle Group, China Invest in Fingerprint ID Company :.

AuthenTec Inc., an innovator and manufacturer of biometric fingerprint sensors, is introducing a new sensor that it says is the world's smallest, most powerful and versatile biometric sensor.

...

AuthenTec is privately held and counts among its investors The Carlyle Group, Sierra Ventures, Harris Corp. and the China Development Bank.

posted by Kevin at 9:41 AM

Poli Sci 495: 911 The Road to Tyranny :.

UPDATE, 3/17/05: I've retracted this post. It remains up for an accurate account of what has since transpired with Professor Christensen. See the update here.

Maybe college isn't useless afterall! Nice going Professor Christensen!

COURSE DESCRIPTION

The events of September 11, 2001, indisputably changed the course of American politics and history. This course is offered so students may examine various events and policies leading to 911. In particular, this course will focus largely on the specific destruction in lower Manhattan and the Pentagon. We will examine the official story and analyze it critically. We will consider alternative explanations of what occurrred as well. 911 was a catalyst for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq as well as the attack on civil liberties in the United States. We will examine each of these with a critical eye. The goal of this course is to arrive at a solid understanding of how 911 has shaped our political future and to promote critical analysis by students of this catastrophic event and its aftermath.

This course is outside the scope of traditional "political science" in many ways. First it is "unscientific" in that it relies much on eyewitness accounts and speculation. Secondly, there is not yet a solid literature on the September 11 "attacks" or on the war on terrorism. This literature is emerging, particularly on the latter. Thirdly, this course will rely somewhat extensively on alternative news media accounts and a variety of films and videos in lieu of literature.

posted by Kevin at 9:30 AM

Weak Dollar Getting Pommelled :.

* yawn *

The dollar weakened on Thursday against most currencies on concerns over global central bank reserve diversification, a widening U.S. trade deficit and tumbling bond prices.

posted by Kevin at 9:28 AM

3/9/2005

Sorry Honey

Well, I've managed to blow an entire evening doing this. Was it worth missing dinner with my girlfriend.

Nope.

posted by Kevin at 10:05 PM

Testing

Did anything break?

posted by Kevin at 9:53 PM

Server Switch Tonight

If Cryptogon gets set up the bomb, it's because I switched ISPs and something got cocked up.

Here goes nuthin!

posted by Kevin at 6:39 PM

Gun Ban Utopia Creates Violent Crime Increase :.

Here's one to give to the crackpot limousine liberals who want to disarm you for your own good:

In a pattern that's repeated itself in Canada and Australia, violent crime has continued to go up in Great Britain despite a complete ban on handguns, most rifles and many shotguns. The broad ban that went into effect in 1997 was trumpeted by the British government as a cure for violent crime. The cure has proven to be much worse than the disease.

Crime rates in England have skyrocketed since the ban was enacted. According to economist John Lott of the American Enterprise Institute, the violent crime rate has risen 69 percent since 1996, with robbery rising 45 percent and murders rising 54 percent. This is even more alarming when you consider that from 1993 to 1997 armed robberies had fallen by 50 percent. Recent information released by the British Home Office shows that trend is continuing.

Reports released in October 2004 indicate that during the second quarter of 2004, violent crime rose 11 percent; violence against persons rose 14 percent.

The British experience is further proof that gun bans don't reduce crime and, in fact, may increase it. The gun ban creates ready victims for criminals, denying law-abiding people the opportunity to defend themselves.

contrast, the number of privately owned guns in the United States rises by about 5 million a year, according to the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The number of guns owned by Americans is at an all-time high, fast approaching 300 million.

Meanwhile the FBI reports that in 2003 the nation's violent crime rate declined for the 12th straight year to a 27-year low. The FBI's figures are based on crimes reported to police. By comparison, the U.S. Department of Justice reported in September that, according to its annual national crime victim survey, violent crime reached a 30-year low in 2003.

Right-to-Carry states fared better than the rest of the country in 2003. On the whole, their total violent crime, murder and robbery rates were 6 percent, 2 percent and 23 percent lower respectively than the states and the District of Columbia where carrying a firearm for protection against criminals is prohibited or severely restricted. On average in Right-to-Carry states the total violent crime, murder, robbery and aggravated assault rates were lower by 27 percent, 32 percent, 45 percent and 20 percent respectively.

As usual, most of the states with the lowest violent crime rates are those with the least gun control, including those in the Rocky Mountain region, and Maine, New Hampshire and Ver-mont in the Northeast. The District of Columbia and Maryland, which have gun bans and other severe restrictions on gun purchase and ownership, retained their regrettable distinctions as having the highest murder and robbery rates.

posted by Kevin at 1:46 PM

Public Version of Saddam Capture Fiction :.

They lied about WMD. Why would anything else They say be true?

A former U.S. Marine who participated in capturing ousted Iraqi President Saddam Hussein said the public version of his capture was fabricated.

Ex-Sgt. Nadim Abou Rabeh, of Lebanese descent, was quoted in the Saudi daily al-Medina Wednesday as saying Saddam was actually captured Friday, Dec. 12, 2003, and not the day after, as announced by the U.S. Army.

"I was among the 20-man unit, including eight of Arab descent, who searched for Saddam for three days in the area of Dour near Tikrit, and we found him in a modest home in a small village and not in a hole as announced," Abou Rabeh said.

"We captured him after fierce resistance during which a Marine of Sudanese origin was killed," he said.

He said Saddam himself fired at them with a gun from the window of a room on the second floor. Then they shouted at him in Arabic: "You have to surrender. ... There is no point in resisting."

"Later on, a military production team fabricated the film of Saddam's capture in a hole, which was in fact a deserted well," Abou Rabeh said.

Abou Rabeh was interviewed in Lebanon.

posted by Kevin at 1:00 PM

Lexis-Nexus 0wNeD :.

Using misappropriated passwords and identifications from legitimate customers, hackers got access to personal information on as many as 32,000 U.S. citizens in a database owned by LexisNexis, the company's corporate parent said Wednesday.

Reed Elsevier Group said the breach of its recently acquired Seisint unit was being investigated by staff and by U.S. law enforcement authorities.

Boca Raton, Florida-based Seisint stores millions of personal records including individuals' addresses and social security numbers. Customers include police and legal professionals and public and private sector organizations.

Reed Elsevier bought Seisint---which provides data for Matrix, a crime and terrorism database project funded by the U.S. government that has raised concerns among civil liberties groups---for $775 million in August.

posted by Kevin at 12:48 PM

Limu Related: Japan

My brother just got back from Japan. Limu is going to be huge there. If you're in Japan, or know anyone in Japan, you need to listen to tonight's conference call at 5pm PST! If you want the number please email me with LIMU CALL as the subject heading. I'll reply immediately.

Related: My Limu Story

Related: My Limu Site in Japanese

posted by Kevin at 12:44 PM

Man Ticketed Over Daughter Selling Girl Scout Cookies :.

Mad pig disease is running rampant in New York:

The Girl Scouts of America is promising to come to the defense of a Long Island girl who was ticketed for selling scout cookies in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

The flap happened over the weekend when 13-year-old Grace Marie Louis and her father, Howard Louis, were delivering cookies to their old neighborhood. They have since moved to Bethpage, Long Island, but the girl has gone back to the Brooklyn neighborhood for the last seven years to sell her girl scout cookies.

Her father had set up a card table next to their van to sort out the orders, and that's when a police captain and an another officer from the 94th Precinct came by in an unmarked car and shouted "Get over here, police."

The 55-year-old father wasn't sure they were legitimate police so he told his daughter to get in the van. The police ticketed Louis for selling cookies without a permit. The NYPD said Louis was selling the cookies from the table and the officer didn't see any Girl Scouts nearby.

The Girl Scouts of Nassau County said Grace Marie has been one of their top cookie sellers since she joined the scouts in kindergarten. She's sold about 600 boxes for her Troop 3019. But she's afraid to go back to Williamsburg to finish making her deliveries.

The scouts said they will provide an attorney to the family when the father appears in Manhattan Criminal Court on April 11.

posted by Kevin at 12:13 PM

3/8/2005

Milk is Good for Bone Health: Add Another Nonsense Theory to the Scrap Heap :.

Make sure your kids get their daily dose of snot, skin problems and ear infections...

The argument that milk is good for bone health has been known to be a fraud in alternative health circles for easily two decades. Guess what: We're not baby cows. And nevermind what's contained in pHarmed milk.

Don't get me wrong. Becky and I can't wait to make our own goat cheese. But drinking large amounts of liquid milk from doped up, caged animals is suicide in slow motion:

In a new scientific review scheduled to appear in the March issue of the peer-reviewed journal, Pediatrics, Cornell-trained nutritionist Amy Joy Lanou, Ph.D., and co-authors show that dairy products do not promote bone health in children and young adults. Physical activity does have a positive impact on bone health, while evidence linking bone health with dairy product consumption is weak, at best.

"Under scientific scrutiny, the support for the milk myth crumbles. This analysis of 58 published studies shows that the evidence on which U.S. dairy intake recommendations are based is scant," says Dr. Lanou, lead author of the study. "A clear majority of the studies we examined for this review found no relationship between dairy or dietary calcium intake and measures of bone health. In the remaining reports, the evidence was sketchy. In some, the effects on bone health were small, and in others, the results were confounded by vitamin D intake from milk fortified with vitamin D. To build strong bones and healthy bodies, children need exercise, sunshine, and a diet rich in fruits and vegetables that helps them maintain a healthy body weight."

The level of dairy product consumption in the United States is among the highest in the world, and yet osteoporosis and fracture rates are also among the highest. This "calcium paradox" was an impetus for the current investigation. "We found no evidence to support the notion that milk is a preferred source of calcium," the authors conclude. Dr. Lanou is nutrition director for the non-profit Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM), and her co-authors are Susan E. Berkow, Ph.D., C.N.S., and Neal D. Barnard, M.D.

posted by Kevin at 2:02 PM

Gas Prices :.

$3.08 is the real price to watch. That's the inflation adjusted record price for a gallon of gas. Also note, that number will continue to increase as the dollar continues to collapse.

All that's left to do is brace for impact. This thing is going to crash. The people who can't see the writing on the wall---at this point---never will:

Gasoline prices will hit a new record high this spring, reaching a national monthly average of $2.15 a gallon, the government said Tuesday.

During the busy 2005 driving season, which runs from April through September, gasoline will average $2.10 a gallon, up 20 cents from the same period last year, the Energy Information Administration said in its monthly energy forecast.

The record high U.S. gasoline price was $2.06 a gallon set last May. However, when adjusted for inflation in today's dollars, the highest price for gasoline was $3.08 a gallon in March 1981, according to the Energy Department's analytical arm.

posted by Kevin at 1:10 PM

Wiki Becomes a Way of Life :.

Obviously, they can't help it. I know the feeling:

Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia, has 490,000 articles -- in English alone. All together, including its French, German, Italian, Chinese, Spanish and many other versions, it has well over 1.3 million entries.

But without its 16,000 contributors, Wikipedia would be about as useful as a moldy 1978 edition of Encyclopedia Americana. With them, Wikipedia has become the world's largest effort of its kind, and one that is compared to Encyclopedia Britannica in terms of quality and breadth.

Note to the Women Out There: There isn't a single woman on this list of top contributors to the Wikipedia effort. Why might that be? I find it a little disturbing that such a massaive open-source knowledge project doesn't list ANY women as top contributors.

(My girlfriend is teaching discussion sections for a Women's Studies class at a large university this quarter. I'm sure she'd be interested in your responses to this.)

posted by Kevin at 12:21 PM

3/7/2005

U.S. National Security Agency Hits Cryptogon

The NSA user (host: tigers.ncsc.mil, ip: 144.51.1.133) conducted the following Netscape search: middle east waterway chokepoints

This crusty NSA user is reporting SunOS 5.6 as the OS on this session. Are they taking the piss, or could they actually still be running that? (This might be a proxy server.) If this guy has a big pot belly, a pony tail, a long, grey beard, and a black t-shirt, this might make more sense. I think all of the previous hits from NSA have indicated Windows as the OS, believe it or not.

For those of you who don't know, computer nerds sometimes cause the servers they visit to think they're using different browsers and operating systems than they're actually using. For example, did someone actually visit Cryptogon using Lynx on the Amiga OS? Or did they just spoof the OS and browser types with the most ridiculous options available? (No offense meant to Lynx and Amiga users. God bless the freaks, I say!)

posted by Kevin at 1:29 PM

Mobile Telephone TV!? :.

Forget requiring the Telescreen to be turned on at all times. That's so 1980's. You'll want to carry the damn thing around with you in your pocket! Hopefully, it will be combined with a GPS tracking unit. Ahhh, bliss. Take the police state and a non-invasive lobotomy tool with you everywhere! Yours for only $19.99 (with two-year contract):

You might have only just gotten your head around your camera phone. Perhaps you've had a bit of fun playing with video clips. What mobile companies want you to do next is to see it as a mini TV.

Operators worldwide are already selling short video clips. Two of the biggest phone companies -- Verizon and Vodafone -- are partnering with Twentieth Century Fox Television to create specially made-for-mobile dramas, or "mobisodes," that last only a minute.

posted by Kevin at 12:53 PM

U.S. Deploys B-2 Bombers in Guam :.

From Guam to the Taiwan Strait, it's just a leisurely puddle jump to the Apocalype:

The United States has deployed B-2 Spirit bombers at the Andersen Air Force Base in Guam, to support the Pacific Command's security efforts in the Western Pacific, the Air Force said in a press release on Saturday.

The B-2 bombers were from the 393rd Expeditionary Bomb Squadron,the 509th Bomb Wing, which was based at the Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri, currently the only B-2 unit in the Air Force.

Along with the B-2 bombers, which are distinguished from other bombers and fighters by their stealth capabilities and high aerodynamic efficiency, over 270 airmen of the 393rd ExpeditionaryBomb Squadron were deployed at the Andersen Air Force Base.

The 393rd Expeditionary Bomb Squadron was the first B-2 squadron to deploy in Guam to support the Pacific Command's continuous bomber presence in the Asia-Pacific region.

Previously, the Air Force has deployed three B-52 Stratofortress squadrons at the Andersen Air Force in Guam.

posted by Kevin at 12:36 PM

CIA Sends Terror Suspects Abroad for Interrogation :.

No kidding. I personally had a part in busting the Company on Cryptogon back in December. Compare the screen shot I'm hosting of the FAA record for N379P to what now appears in the FAA system. I knew that screenshot would come in handy. ;)

Proving the CIA is running cutouts for the purpose of flying victims around for torture is about as controversial as alleging that the sky is blue on sunny days, but this should inspire us to bust other cutout ops. You never know, you might just find one operating in a town near you. I did.

A note to the U.S. and Irish government investigators who are looking into this (yes, I see you), please make sure you're saving all of this information and not relying on it being available on the Internet:

The CIA has been allowed to secretly transfer terrorism suspects overseas for interrogation, a former U.S. official said Sunday, but a White House spokesman denied that the United States used the practice to "export torture."

The official, who asked not to be named because there are classified issues involved, emphasized that the process -- known as "rendition" -- is conducted with strict government oversight and with approval from the White House and the Department of Justice.

The practice had existed for years, but President Bush expanded it after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, The New York Times reported Sunday.

"This program of renditions is fully authorized, so the CIA is not doing anything illegal that has not been authorized by the president," the former official said. He said both the chairmen and ranking Democrats on the House and Senate intelligence committees are entitled to know about it or have been briefed on it.

posted by Kevin at 11:59 AM

3/6/2005

Israeli Bank Implicated in Money Laundering Scam :.

Duh, "money laundering" is known as "private banking services" to wealthy clients:

Police have arrested 22 people working at one of Israel's biggest commercial banks over suspected money-laundering.

The Bank Hapoalim employees are thought to have been involved in an operation worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

Police chief Amichai Shai said the affair was one of the largest in Israeli history and involved funds from several other countries.

Investigators say employees helped customers move money without reporting the transfers.

"It appears they helped customers transfer funds without reporting it as required by law. We are talking about hundreds of millions of dollars," Mr Shai said at a press conference.

posted by Kevin at 7:38 PM

CRYPTOGON READER ORDERS ORIGINAL LIMU THREE PACK! :.

JG has made bold move to improve his life, and help Cryptogon. He obviously saw the potential of Original Limu as a business. Without even communicating with me, he took the "Three Month Commitment Pack," complete with everything he'll need to start his Original Limu business off right. I'm looking forward to working with JG and hearing about his success with Original Limu.

Well done, JG!

If you're even remotely considering Original Limu as a business (you will after you get results, just like I did), the "Three Pack" is the only way to go. In addition to three cases of Original Limu, you'll get about $90 worth of free tools, including a personal website.

posted by Kevin at 7:07 PM

Buffett Deepens Dollar Worries :.

The only people who get it are billionaires and penniless bums with blogs. Short the dollar and go long the cigarette butts and bottle caps, I say!

Warren Buffett has warned that the US trade deficit risks creating a "sharecropper's society" as his letter to shareholders sounded an increasingly bearish tone about the value of the dollar.

Mr Buffett's bet against the dollar also grew. Foreign exchange contracts - mostly short positions against the US dollar - nearly doubled over the year to $21.4bn, generating $1.8bn in gains as the greenback fell against other major currencies.

These currency profits were partly responsible for a sharper than expected rise in fourth quarter earnings from $2.39bn to $3.34bn, although Berkshire earnings are notoriously volatile due to the timing of investment gains.

Mr Buffett stepped up his warning about the US trade deficit and the need to finance it with foreign investment, devoting more than two full pages of the annual report to the topic.

"This force-feeding of American wealth to the rest of the world is now proceeding at the rate of $1.8bn daily, an increase of 20 per cent since I wrote you last year," he said. "Consequently, other countries and their citizens now own a net of about $3,000bn of the US"

In particular, he warned that this meant a sizeable portion of what US citizens earned in future would have to be paid to foreign landlords.

"A country that is now aspiring to an "Ownership Society" will not find happiness in - and I'll use hyperbole here for emphasis – a "Sharecropper's Society," added Mr Buffett. "But that's precisely where our trade policies, supported by Republicans and Democrats alike, are taking us."

posted by Kevin at 4:24 PM

Alabama Outlaws Dildos :.

"The Heart of Dixie" has no love for sex toys.

Alabama had outlawed the sale of what some call "marital aids." The U.S. Supreme Court last week declined to review the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling in Williams v. Alabama that upholds the 1998 ban.

Sell "any device designed or marketed as useful primarily for the stimulation of human genital organs" and risk a $10,000 fine and a year in jail. A Southern jail.

posted by Kevin at 4:15 PM

U.S. Army Struggles to Coax Recruits Amid Iraq War :.

Do you feel a draft?

Staff Sgt. Richard Guzman is on the front lines of one of the U.S. Army's toughest battles in years, and he's not in Iraq.

He's an Army recruiter trying to coax young men and women into volunteering to serve at a time when U.S. ground forces are engaged in a bloody guerrilla war halfway around the world.

"To me, recruiting used to be easy. Right now, you really have to hunt for those ones who really want to do it (Army service)," said Guzman, who recruits in New York City's Harlem section.

Nearly two years into an Iraq war that has left more than 1,500 U.S. troops dead and another 11,200 wounded, recruiters like Guzman are having to work hard as the Army strives to sign up 80,000 recruits this year to replace soldiers leaving the service.

The Army in February, for the first time in nearly five years, failed to achieve its monthly recruiting goal. It is in danger of missing its annual recruiting target for the first time since 1999.

Recruiting for the Army's reserve component -- the National Guard and Army Reserve -- is suffering even more as the Pentagon relies heavily on these part-time soldiers to maintain troop levels in Iraq. The regular Army is 6 percent behind its year-to-date recruiting target, the Reserve is 10 percent behind, and the Guard is 26 percent short.

The Marine Corps, the other service providing ground forces in Iraq, has its own difficulties.

In January and February, the Marines missed their goal for signing up new recruits -- the first such shortfall in nearly a decade -- but remained a bit ahead of their target for shipping recruits into boot camp.

Iraq marks the first protracted conflict for U.S. forces since the end of the draft in 1973, which ushered in the era of the all-volunteer military.

posted by Kevin at 9:02 AM

Back Off or Suffer Oil Shock: Tehran :.

OIL-rich Iran has raised the stakes in the standoff over its nuclear program, warning that any attempt to impose sanctions on its activities would lead to an energy crisis in the US and Europe.

Referring the Islamist state to the UN Security Council, as the US had urged, would be "playing with fire", Iran's top nuclear official said yesterday.

"The first to suffer will be Europe and the US themselves," Hassan Rowhani said at a Tehran conference on nuclear technology and sustainable development. "(It) would cause problems for the regional energy market, for the European economy and even more so for the US."

posted by Kevin at 8:48 AM

:. Reading

Fatal Harvest: The Tragedy of Industrial Agriculture by Andrew Kimbrell Readers will come to see that industrial food production is indeed a "fatal harvest" - fatal to consumers, as pesticide residues and new disease vectors such as E. coli and "mad cow disease" find their way into our food supply; fatal to our landscapes, as chemical runoff from factory farms poison our rivers and groundwater; fatal to genetic diversity, as farmers rely increasingly on high-yield monocultures and genetically engineered crops; and fatal to our farm communities, which are wiped out by huge corporate farms.

Friendly Fascism: The New Face of Power in America by Bertram Myron Gross This is a relatively short but extremely cogent and well-argued treatise on the rise of a form of fascistic thought and social politics in late 20th century America. Author Bertram Gross' thesis is quite straightforward; the power elite that comprises the corporate, governmental and military superstructure of the country is increasingly inclined to employ every element in their formidable arsenal of 'friendly persuasion' to win the hearts and minds of ordinary Americans through what Gross refers to as friendly fascism.

The Good Life
by Scott and Helen Nearing Helen and Scott Nearing are the great-grandparents of the back-to-the-land movement, having abandoned the city in 1932 for a rural life based on self-reliance, good health, and a minimum of cash...Fascinating, timely, and wholly useful, a mix of the Nearings' challenging philosophy and expert counsel on practical skills.

Silent Theft: The Private Plunder of Our Common Wealth by David Bollierd In Silent Theft, David Bollier argues that a great untold story of our time is the staggering privatization and abuse of our common wealth. Corporations are engaged in a relentless plunder of dozens of resources that we collectively own—publicly funded medical breakthroughs, software innovation, the airwaves, the public domain of creative works, and even the DNA of plants, animals and humans. Too often, however, our government turns a blind eye—or sometimes helps give away our assets. Amazingly, the silent theft of our shared wealth has gone largely unnoticed because we have lost our ability to see the commons.

The Self-Sufficient Life and How to Live It: The Complete Back-To-Basics Guide by John Seymour The Self Sufficient Life and How to Live It is the only book that teaches all the skills needed to live independently in harmony with the land harnessing natural forms of energy, raising crops and keeping livestock, preserving foodstuffs, making beer and wine, basketry, carpentry, weaving, and much more.

When Corporations Rule the World by David C. Korten When Corporations Rule the World explains how economic globalization has concentrated the power to govern in global corporations and financial markets and detached them from accountability to the human interest. It documents the devastating human and environmental consequences of the successful efforts of these corporations to reconstruct values and institutions everywhere on the planet to serve their own narrow ends.

The New Organic Grower: A Master's Manual of Tools and Techniques for the Home and Market Gardener This expansion of a now-classic guide originally published in 1989 is intended for the serious gardener or small-scale market farmer. It describes practical and sustainable ways of growing superb organic vegetables, with detailed coverage of scale and capital, marketing, livestock, the winter garden, soil fertility, weeds, and many other topics.

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