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10/21/2005

Open Office 2.0 :.

Open Office 2.0 is great. Give it a try!



Congress Set to Pass Law Eliminating Liability For Vaccine Injuries :.

Do you get it yet?

The National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) is calling the "Biodefense and Pandemic Vaccine and Drug Development Act of 2005"(S. 1873), which passed out of the U.S. Senate HELP Committee one day after it was introduced "a drug company stockholder's dream and a consumer's worst nightmare." The proposed legislation will strip Americans of the right to a trial by jury if harmed by an experimental or licensed drug or vaccine that they are forced by government to take whenever federal health officials declare a public health emergency.


10/20/2005

Bush Calls Domestic Problems "Background Noise" :.

Let them eat freedom fries:

President George W. Bush, hit by a series of domestic woes that have eroded his popularity, said on Thursday he was focused on his job and not on what he called "some background noise."



The Tom Delay Conspiracy and Money Laundering Smile :.

Looking for a definition of sh*t eating grin?



CIA Sponsors Mobile Solar/Wind Power Station :.

SkyBuilt Power recently captured the world's imagination with news that the CIA's venture capital firm, In-Q-Tel, has invested in their company and has a development agreement with them. SkyBuilt is an energy solutions company that makes innovative renewable energy systems. One product on the drawing board is a wind-solar hybrid power unit that can be parachuted to a rugged location and deployed within a few hours by two people.



Former City Dwellers Starting Organic Farms :.

They have given up well-paid jobs in the cities in search of the good life. With no previous experience, but equipped with degrees, idealism and the skills acquired in the corporate world, they are breathing new life into the countryside.

These are the findings of a new report published today examining the astonishing impact that organic farming is having on England's rural economy. Such is the influx of new blood, it is estimated that one in three of all new organic farmers has no previous farming experience. Six out of 10 organic producers have worked outside traditional farming at some point, bringing a much-needed injection of fresh ideas, the report said.

...

As well as being younger they are also happier, said Dr Lobley. "We think this reflects an increasingly popular lifestyle trend which is in part helping to shape the rural economy. They are working hard, but they seem to be happy with their way of life because they have made a positive choice to do it, and are not doing it by default."


Research Credit: cafemateo.com


10/19/2005

U.S. PSYOPS/Treachery :.

US soldiers in Afghanistan burnt the bodies of dead Taliban and taunted their opponents about the corpses, in an act deeply offensive to Muslims and in breach of the Geneva conventions.

An investigation by SBS's Dateline program, to be aired tonight, filmed the burning of the bodies.

It also filmed a US Army psychological operations unit broadcasting a message boasting of the burnt corpses into a village believed to be harbouring Taliban.

According to an SBS translation of the message, delivered in the local language, the soldiers accused Taliban fighters near Kandahar of being "cowardly dogs". "You allowed your fighters to be laid down facing west and burnt. You are too scared to retrieve their bodies. This just proves you are the lady boys we always believed you to be," the message reportedly said.

"You attack and run away like women. You call yourself Taliban but you are a disgrace to the Muslim religion, and you bring shame upon your family. Come and fight like men instead of the cowardly dogs you are."
AdvertisementAdvertisement

The burning of a body is a deep insult to Muslims. Islam requires burial within 24 hours.


Research Credit: Mark



White House Indictments :.

Maybe "bin Laden" will swoop low over Jesus Land, dropping fire and pestilence from his magic carpet...

* poof *

What indictments?

The special counsel in the C.I.A. leak case has told associates he has no plans to issue a final report about the results of the investigation, heightening the expectation that he intends to bring indictments, lawyers in the case and law enforcement officials said yesterday.



Meat Incubators :.

Via hereticfig, Apocalypse Soon:

Laboratories, some hope, may someday replace slaughterhouses and even now, researchers are working feverishly to pull steaks and hamburger out of their pipettes. Their goal is the development of giant bioreactors where butcher shop wares are grown out of cell cultures, potentially forever relegating mass-production chicken farms, veal calf production and pigsties to agriculture museums. One day, say some scientists, meat incubators could become standard kitchen equipment, allowing consumers to grow their own liver pâté and meat balls, turkey sausage and smoked salami.

Related: USDA's Mandatory Property and Animal Surveillance Program



Wilma Strengthens to Category 5 Hurricane :.

Since when did hurricanes start going from Category 1 to Category 5 in under 24 hours?!? WTF!?

Hurricane Wilma strengthened into a Category 5 monster early Wednesday packing 175 mph winds, and forecasters said a key reading of the storm's pressure showed it to be the most powerful of the year.

...

The storm's power multiplied greatly over the last day. It was only Tuesday morning that Wilma grew from a tropical storm into a weak hurricane with 80 mph winds.


10/18/2005

In a Nutshell :.

Ran writes:
"Sustainable, clean energy that you can't cheaply gather in your back yard is the worst technology possible, because it will enable the systems that enslave us to continue forever."
Here's my long-winded version of what Ran just said:
Very few people are willing to accept the fact that our only real chance of survival is to leave the system and re-establish right human relationships, and a balance with the natural world, outside of the societies currently in existence---BEFORE THEY COLLAPSE. This is the only option that offers even a slim hope for the survival of the human race in any form we would like to see.

My advice to anyone who is serious about doing something real and meaningful: RUN FOR YOUR LIFE, RIGHT NOW. Run for your life. It's that simple.

If you try to run after "it" happens, you might as well forget it. If you have a place "in the hills," you should already be there. Think hard about what you should take with you. Build an arc with the things you think are important to the survival of the human race. Take an encyclopedia with you. Take some of the books I have listed on the right side of this webpage. Take some heirloom seeds with you. Have kids out there and tell them what happened and why they MUST NOT allow it to happen again.

Yes. This means you should stop voting, stop working at the job you hate and stop buying sh*t from WalMart. This also means that you may not have much money, but chances are, you don't have much money anyway. And what do you care if you are self-sufficient, or getting close to it?

Oh, but wait, Kevin, if "it" comes down, that will mean that there will be chaos, violence and, and, and... I won't get any new DVDs or that neat sweater or the new video game...

Hey, nobody said it was going to be easy, but it just might be paradise compared to what this thing is about to become. Besides, if this society doesn't come down, if the genetic engineering, artificial intelligence, robotics and surveillance research all continue apace, your children are going to inherit a dystopia that is so incomprehensible that science fiction authors will be struck dumb by it. A total, systemic collapse would be extremely bad, and it's the best of all possible outcomes at this point. Pray for it.

Yeah, I'm nuts. I know. But... it's time to throw in the towel on the Democrats, the Republicans, the Greens, Pinks, Blues and Reds. This system is down. D.O.W.N. Nobody is coming to save you or me or anyone else.

If you're afraid, that's fine, you should be. Now get over it and figure out how you're going to get your land. And if you're lucky enough to have land, by God, you had better be getting proficient in the skills you need to live off of that land. You have an obligation to the human race to learn those skills and to pass them on to others.

People are making the mistake of squirting out babies in toxic, polluted cities that are, quite literally, on the verge of collapse. Friend, don't disconnect your brain from your biological predisposition to multiply. What's the point of having a child in a prison? Sure, go forth and multiply! But do it in a place where you and your children will have a fighting chance to not just survive, but to prosper. Build a new society outside of this doomed society, rebuild the culture, before you are forced to do these things under the yoke of chaos and starvation. Choose your wife/husband, friends and neighbors wisely. You're going to need their help, and they're going to need yours.
@ssholes and elbows, people!



McDonalds Restaurants Will Have WiFi Access for Nintendo Video Games :.

Take your obese, diabetic, attention deficit, hyperactive, smacked up Satan spawn to the asylum:

Nintendo has struck a deal with McDonalds to enable Nintendo DS users to log on to WiFi networking for free at 6,000 McDonald's restaurants. Wayport, a provider of WiFi Internet access in public places, will opeate the WiFi networks for Nintendo. The free service for Nintendo DS users will begin on Nov. 14.

"This agreement with Wayport will bring countless people together to play games in a single, simultaneous wireless community," says Reggie Fils-Amie, executive vice president of sales and marketing at Nintendo of America, in a statement. "Nintendo WiFi connection is simple to use. Beginning with free access at participating McDonald's, we have removed one of the major barriers that have kept people from going online to play games."


Research Credit: TP



White House was Worried About Rogue CIA Group :.

A new account of the CIA leak scandal rocking the White House suggests top US presidential aides were seriously concerned about a dissident faction inside the US spy agency that appeared to work even behind the back of the CIA director to debunk the notion Iraq had weapons of mass destruction.



U.S. Department of Homeland Security: Expel All Illegal Immigrants :.

Did the Third Reich confiscate guns before or after the expulsion of foreigners?

The U.S. has left its borders open from the beginning, but now it's time to expel millions of people...

If you are planning to leave the U.S., get out now. If you are planning to stay, God help you:

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said his department aims without exception to expel all those who enter the United States illegally.



Producer Prices Increase by Most in 15 Years :.

Live it up!

U.S. producer prices rose in September by the most in 15 years as higher crude oil and gasoline prices stemming from Hurricane Katrina filtered through into increased costs for chemicals, steel and plastics.

The 1.9 percent surge in prices paid to factories, farmers and other producers was more than forecast and followed a 0.6 percent rise in August, the Labor Department said today in Washington. The core measure, which excludes fuel and food, rose 0.3 percent after no change a month earlier.

Higher costs for raw materials such as crude oil and partially finished goods including lumber and chemicals are raising concerns consumer inflation will eventually accelerate. With some companies such as General Electric Co. boosting prices to cover their costs, Federal Reserve policy makers will keep raising interest rates through early 2006, economists said.

"Slowly but inexorably, inflationary pressures are building across the economy," said Joel Naroff, president of Naroff Economic Advisers in Holland, Pennsylvania. "While I've said on many occasions that the pathway from wholesale to retail prices is hardly direct, the broad-based nature of the increases is worrisome."



Lawyers, Murder, Hit Men and the Devil :.

Horowitz is currently defending Susan Polk, who stabbed her husband, famous psychologist Felix Polk, 15 times in their mansion ... just 5 miles from where Horowitz discovered his slain wife.

Susan Polk's defense included tales of ritual abuse, Satanic cults and narcotics. Her 70-year-old husband was a cocaine-crazed lunatic who hypnotized his wife and children to make them obey his "sinister orders."


Related: Rigorous Intuition


10/17/2005

USDA's Mandatory Property and Animal Surveillance Program :.

This will probably become law. Why not? Most Americans think food comes from McDonalds or WalMart. So, who cares? The people who want to have control of their own food are obviously terrorists, or insane, or both, or WORSE! God bless America. Wave your flags.

Why stop with animals? I wouldn't be surprised if home gardens were outlawed completely. Well, maybe, if you're a good citizen, you will be allowed to grow some Monsanto terminator-gene vegetables, if, of course, the correct permit is obtained beforehand.

HA! I wonder how many cops are going to risk their lives to make sure that farmer Joe has diligently chipped all of his chickens?

By January 1, 2008, the NAIS will be mandatory. (Plan, pp. 2, 10, 17.)

Every person who owns even one horse, cow, pig, chicken, sheep, pigeon, or virtually any livestock animal, will be forced to register their home, including owner's name, address, and telephone number, and keyed to Global Positioning System coordinates for satellite monitoring, in a giant federal database under a 7-digit "premises ID number." (St., pp. 3-4, 10-12; Plan, p. 5.)

Every animal will have to be assigned a 15-digit ID number, also to be kept in a giant federal database. The form of ID will most likely be a tag or microchip containing a Radio Frequency Identification Device, designed to be read from a distance. (Plan, p. 10; St., pp. 6, 12, 20, 27-28.)

The plan may also include collecting the DNA of every animal and/or a retinal scan of every animal. (Plan, p.13.)

The owner will be required to report: the birthdate of an animal, the application of every animal's ID tag, every time an animal leaves or enters the property, every time an animal loses a tag, every time a tag is replaced, the slaughter or death of an animal, or if any animal is missing. Such events must be reported within 24 hours. (St., pp. 12-13, 17-21.)

Third parties, such as veterinarians, will be required to report "sightings" of animals. (St., p. 25.) In other words, if you call a vet to your property to treat your horse, cow, or any other animal, and the vet finds any animal without the mandatory 15-digit computer-readable ID, the vet may be required to report you.

If you do not comply, the USDA will exercise "enforcement" against you. (St., p. 7; Plan, p. 17.) The USDA has not yet specified the nature of "enforcement," but presumably it will include imposing fines and/or seizing your animals. There are no exceptions -- under the USDA plan, you will be forced to register and report even if you raise animals only for your own food or keep horses for draft or for transportation.


Research Credit: AH



Ohio Police Arrest Woman For $1 In Unpaid Taxes :.

An Ohio woman was arrested after she didn't pay just more than $1 that she owed in income taxes, WLWT-TV in Cincinnati reported.

Deborah Combs owed the city of Loveland $1.16 last year, but she also hadn't filed her city income tax forms in five years, the television station said.

She said officers pulled her over and acted as though she were a violent criminal.

"One sheriff approached my car with his hand on his gun," she said. "Another from the other side of the car leaned in and said, 'Are you Deborah Combs?' He said, 'We have a warrant for your arrest.' I was absolutely shocked."



Oil Leaps as Storm Menaces Gulf of Mexico :.

Here we go again:

Oil leapt by around $1 on Monday as another tropical storm gathered strength in the Caribbean and menaced U.S. rigs and refineries already rocked by the most active hurricane season in decades.

Tropical Storm Wilma, the 21st named storm this year, formed from a depression in the Caribbean and could move into the oil-rich Gulf of Mexico by the end of the week, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said on its website.

The last time there were so many named storms was 1933. Vulnerable oil platforms and refineries along the Gulf of Mexico have already battled an onslaught from two major hurricanes, and six plants are still completely shut.



Senior Military Torture Investigator Found Dead in Iraq :.

A senior British military police officer in Iraq involved in the investigation of alleged abuse of Iraqi civilians by soldiers has been found dead at a camp in Basra.

The body of Captain Ken Masters, the commander of 61 Section of the Special Investigations Branch (SIB), was found in his bed at the airport at the weekend. The death is being investigated by the SIB.

Defence sources said the death was "not due to hostile action and also not due to natural causes".

However, it is believed that investigators have not found a suicide note, nor firearms related to the incident. Capt Masters was not receiving any medical or psychological treatment.


10/16/2005

Notes From Sunday Afternoon in the University Library Basement

Reading about pseudo operations and counter insurgency:
Though fraud in other activities may be detestable, in the management of war it is laudable and glorious, and he who overcomes the enemy by fraud is as much to be praised as he who does so by force.

Niccolo Machiavelli, Arte Della Guerra

- - - - -

The U.S. should be serious about deception. Strategic deception is but one of the panoply of instruments that a state disposes and orchestrates to assert, retain, and aggrandize its power. Deception operations should be an integral component of peacetime and wartime national security.

The Military Perspective on Strategic Deception, Captain Jane G. Dalton, JAGC, U.S. Navy; Conference on Strategic Deception in Modern Democracies: Ethical, Legal, and Policy Challenges, Chapel Hill, NC, 31 October -1 November 1, 2003, sponsored by the Triangle Institute for Security Studies, The United States Army War College, The United States Naval Academy, and Duke University's Kenan Institute for Ethics

- - - - -

Urban zones are often densely populated with noncombatants, and among the most intractable of challenges in urban operations is the task of acquiring, identifying, engaging, and neutralizing adversary elements while they circulate among that civilian populace. Combatants with links to the local population in an urban conflict enjoy a tremendous advantage in intelligence gathering; communications networks; freedom of movement; anonymity and concealment; and availability of food, fuel, ammunition, medical treatment, and other vital resources. Combatants who are perceived as foreign bodies (or worse yet, hostile foreign bodies) in the corpus of the city suffer the opposite set of consequences: their senses are dulled; their communications are degraded or made more fragile; their actions are clumsy and exposed; and their logistics and resupply are more difficult. Given the disparity between these two states, it is an obvious priority for individual or small-unit urban operators to develop effective techniques for penetrating, co-opting, and installing themselves in population centers.

Unweaving the Web: Deception and Adaptation in Future Urban Operations by Scott Gerwehr, Russell W. Glenn; Rand Publication: MR-1495-A; 2003



"IRA" BOMBS KILLED EIGHT BRITISH SOLDIERS IN IRAQ :.

Do you get it yet?

Eight British soldiers killed during ambushes in Iraq were the victims of a highly sophisticated bomb first used by the IRA, The Independent on Sunday can reveal.

The soldiers, who were targeted by insurgents as they travelled through the country, died after being attacked with bombs triggered by infra-red beams. The bombs were developed by the IRA using technology passed on by the security services in a botched "sting" operation more than a decade ago.

This contradicts the British government's claims that Iran's Revolutionary Guard is helping Shia insurgents to make the devices.

The Independent on Sunday can also reveal that the bombs and the firing devices used to kill the soldiers, as well as two private security guards, were initially created by the UK security services as part of a counter-terrorism strategy at the height of the troubles in the early 1990s.


Related: Two British SAS Soldiers Dressed as Arabs, Shoot at Iraqi Police



Cryptogon Reader Contributes $20 for Tony's Crusty Road Show :.

Frequent Cryptogon contributor, MW, is doing his part to help Tony fire it up. Thanks MW!




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:. 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.