* yawn *

And then it was too late...

The twit governors aren't even aware of the martial law legislation already on the books. Ever heard of the Insurrection Act? Bush's lawyers have:

A senior administration official said that Bush has clear legal authority to federalize National Guard units to quell civil disturbances under the Insurrection Act and will continue to try to unify the chains of command that are split among the president, the Louisiana governor and the New Orleans mayor.

Maybe all the squealing over this is just to put on a show for the handful of people who still pay attention to these matters:

The nation's governors are closing ranks in opposition to a proposal in Congress that would let the president take control of the National Guard in emergencies without consent of governors.

...

The measure would remove the currently required consent of governors for the federalization of the Guard, which is shared between the individual states and the federal government.

Research Credit: C
posted by Kevin at 7:20 PM

I went to a screening of a new documentary called China Blue in Kaitaia last night. The director, Micha Peled, was in attendance.

The most interesting thing about the doc, in my opinion, is how Peled got access to the factory---this was discussed during the Q and A session after the screening. The factory (sweat shop) owner, a former Chinese police chief, believed that conditions in his operation were so admirable, compared to other factories, that he had absolutely nothing to hide! He was proud of his practices. As a result, Peled had unlimited, unsupervised access.

Of course, the factory is more like a prison than any sane or humane work place. The workers live in factory dorms, up to 12 per room. They eat company prepared food. The big difference between prison life and factory life is that the workers pay the company for the room and meals. Working 15 hours or more per day is routine... Etc.

Anyway, try to imagine some of the hardcore dungeons that have signed contracts with WalMart and Target, etc. that prohibit access to any media.

China Blue puts a very personal and human face on the grim sweatshop existence. The film is definitely worth your time.

Related: Teddy Bear Films
posted by Kevin at 5:58 PM

In case you're sick of hearing it from me over the years, here it is again in Matt's words:

In my opinion, Goodman's niche within the petroleum-banking matrix is to keep the 1%-5% of the population that considers themselves "dissidents" invested within what Jeffery Brown calls the "iron triangle" formed by the media, housing, and banking industries.

Now don't get me wrong, I'd prefer 30 minutes of Amy Goodman over 30 minutes of Rush Limbaugh any day of the week but I'm not a fool. Limbaugh's niche is to keep a certain (perhaps) 25%-to-33% of the population who identify themselves as "conservative" squarely trapped within the iron triangle. The Al Frankens and Randi Rhodes of the world exist to keep the 25-to-33% of the population who identify themselves as "liberal" trapped within the iron triangle. Goodman exists to keep the 2.5-3.3% of the population who identify themselves as "radicals" or "dissidents" within the iron triangle.

I've been to the suburban homes of people who listen to Limbaugh, Franken, and Goodman respectively. To be quite frank, somebody from Mars would not be able to distinguish the listener of one show from the listener of anotherr. They all had the following:

1. Moderate to severe weight problem(s)

2. Giant mortgages on overbubbled homes

3. Two or more cars in the garage/driveway

4. Jobs they either hated or were indifferent too

5. Neighbors they did not know

6. Multiple credit cards they were carrying balances on

The only differences were superficial. The Goodman listener might have a hybrid with a Che Guevara bumper sticker where the the Limbaugh listener has an SUV with a "W" sticker but, in the end, their respective lifestyles were far more similar than different. They're just located in within different corners and/or opposite sides of the "iron triangle."

I've never seen or heard anything on DN that would have helped the listener/viewer deal with numbers one-through-six listed above. The best I could tell, these things would vaguely be solved by getting some slightly greened- up Democrats into office.

Research Credit: Idleworm
posted by Kevin at 8:17 PM

Where are the chicken sh*t, rhetoric spewing Muslim states now? Due to their inaction, Syria, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, etc. are as responsible for the holocaust in Lebanon as Israel and the U.S.:

Israeli aircraft struck deep into Lebanon yesterday, killing at least 33 Syrian Kurdish farm workers and destroying four bridges on a key aid route leading north from Beirut.

The attack on the farm workers, who were loading peaches and plums on to trucks at Qaa in the north of the Beka'a valley, was one of the single deadliest strikes of the war.

And for the clinically insane Christians out there who support Israel in this holocaust:

Israel Strikes Christian Heartland Just North of Beirut
posted by Kevin at 6:12 PM

I've said it before and I'll say it again:

Choke on your dry-rotted, stuccobox McMansions and re-fi one last time to pay your bankruptcy lawyers!

As always, have a nice day:

The number of defaults on mortgage payments rose to a three-year high in the second quarter in California, a 67% increase from the year earlier period, according to DataQuick, a real estate data-compiling firm.

Lenders sent 20,752 default notices to homeowners across the Golden State, up 10.5% from 18,778 the previous quarter and up 67.2% from 12,408 in the second quarter of 2005. Notices of default are formal documents filed with the county recorder's office which mark the first step of the foreclosure process.
posted by Kevin at 6:06 PM

The guys over at The Oil Drum are trying to call "the" month when global oil production peaked.

That's right. Peaked.

The chart shocked me when I saw it.

"That's a triple top," I mumbled to myself. "Hoooooooooly sh*t."

Maybe it's a plateau. I hope it's a plateau. I'd like a bit more time...

Right now, May 2005 is the winner, but December 2005 and April 2006 are statistical ties.
posted by Kevin at 1:31 AM

Difficult as it may be to believe, many of the conservatives who have great influence in the Bush administration and now in Congress are governed by a Higher Power.

In his book "The Carbon Wars," Greenpeace activist Jeremy Leggett tells how he stumbled upon this otherworldly agenda. During the Kyoto climate change negotiations, Leggett candidly asked Ford Motor Company executive John Schiller how opponents of the pact could believe there is no problem with "a world of a billion cars intent on burning all the oil and gas available on the planet?" The executive asserted first that scientists get it wrong when they say fossil fuels have been sequestered underground for eons. The Earth, he said, is just 10,000, not 4.5 billion years old, the age widely accepted by scientists.

Then Schiller confidently declared, "You know, the more I look, the more it is just as it says in the Bible." The Book of Daniel, he told Leggett, predicts that increased earthly devastation will mark the "End Time" and return of Christ. Paradoxically, Leggett notes, many fundamentalists see dying coral reefs, melting ice caps and other environmental destruction not as an urgent call to action, but as God's will. In the religious right worldview, the wreck of the Earth can be seen as Good News!

Some true believers, interpreting biblical prophecy, are sure they will be saved from the horrific destruction brought by ecosystem collapse. They'll be raptured: rescued from Earth by God, who will then rain down seven ghastly years of misery on unbelieving humanity. Jesus' return will mark the Millennium, when the Lord restores the Earth to its green pristine condition, and the faithful enjoy a thousand years of peace and prosperity.
posted by Kevin at 1:07 AM

Another one for the Hating Us for Our Freedom file:

A freelance journalist and blogger was jailed on Tuesday after refusing to turn over video he took at an anticapitalist protest here last summer and after refusing to testify before a grand jury looking into accusations that crimes were committed at the protest.

The freelancer, Josh Wolf, 24, was taken into custody just before noon after a hearing in front of Judge William Alsup of Federal District Court. Found in contempt, Wolf was later moved to a federal prison in Dublin, Calif., and could be imprisoned until next summer, when the grand jury term expires, said his lawyer, Jose Luis Fuentes.

Suggested reading list for Josh Wolf, as he's cooling his heels in federal prison:

U.S. Army Field Manual FM 100-20, Military Operations in Low Intensity Conflict

Documents on the Information Warfare PSYOP site

Low-intensity Operations: Subversion, Insurgency and Peacekeeping by General Sir Frank Kitson

Endgame: Volume 1: The Problem of Civilization and Endgame: Volume 2: Resistance, both by Derrick Jensen

The section 'Political Activism and the ACS Counterinsurgency Apparatus' in Militant Electronic Piracy: Non-Violent Insurgency Tactics Against the American Corporate State

Research Credit: West
posted by Kevin at 5:31 PM

Ahh, to be a kid again...

To the 12-year-old friends planning to build themselves a den, the cherry tree seemed an inviting source of material.

But the afternoon adventure turned into a frightening ordeal for Sam Cannon, Amy Higgins and Katy Smith after they climbed into the 20ft tree - then found themselves hauled into a police station and locked in cells for up to two hours.

Their shoes were removed and mugshots, DNA samples and mouth swabs were taken.

Officers told the children they had been seen damaging the tree which is in a wooded area of public land near their homes.

Questioned by police, the scared friends admitted they had broken some loose branches because they had wanted to build a tree house, but said they did not realise what they had done was wrong.

Officers considered charging the children with criminal damage but eventually decided a reprimand - the equivalent of a caution for juveniles - was sufficient.
posted by Kevin at 4:35 PM

Are the poorest countries in the world going to have better rural broadband access than New Zealand? At the rate things are moving in New Zealand, you can bet on it.

Mr. Cunliffe:

Green Wi-Fi, a non-profit that seeks to provide "last mile internet access with nothing more than a single broadband internet connection, rooftops and the sun." Their wi-fi access nodes, which consist of a small solar panel, a heavy-duty battery, and a router, can be linked together to extend one internet connection into a larger network. By using an "intelligent" charge controller that moderates power use and access based on amount of sunlight, the $200 nodes can run for as long as a month on low sunlight.
posted by Kevin at 3:37 PM

French fries are back on the menu of cafeterias that cater to US lawmakers on Capital Hill, more than three years after they were replaced by "freedom fries" in anger over France's refusal to join the US-led war in Iraq.

...

A spokesman for Representative Vernon Ehlers, a Republican who chairs the House Administration Committee, which oversees the cafeterias, declined to comment on the change when questioned by AFP.
posted by Kevin at 7:21 PM

Harold Powers was only 20 when he watched a frightening sight unfold here 60 years ago: Battle-hardened World War II veterans in a shootout with armed sheriff's deputies.

The so-called "Battle of Athens" began Aug. 1, 1946, when veterans opened fire on the local jail to stop corrupt local officials from stealing an election.

"It was scary," said Powers, a retired elementary school principal who was right in the middle of the fighting and was sprayed with pellets from a shotgun blast.

Felix Harrod, 84, was a 25-year-old poll watcher at the courthouse during the shootout and said it was common for incumbents in the county about 45 miles northeast of Chattanooga to take ballot boxes to the jail and stuff them with pre-marked ballots.

That was a practice the former soldiers hoped to stop. They offered an all-ex-GI, nonpartisan ticket that promised a fraud-free election and reform. Their rallying cry: "Why fight overseas for freedom and come home and be denied the right to have your ballot counted?"

The shooting continued until the pre-dawn of Aug. 2 when the former soldiers tossed dynamite at the jail, prompting deputies and a sheriff candidate holed up with ballot boxes to surrender.

The uprising left one man with a bullet wound and sent a deputy to prison.

On the 60th anniversary of the uprising, Powers and others who can recall the 1946 violence shake their head as state election officials predict only about 35 percent of voters will cast ballots in Thursday's primaries in Tennessee.

"The lesson is that people ought to take voting a whole lot more seriously than they do and not let things get out of hand," Powers said. "Don't let the politicians just take over."

...

Guy said it remains unclear exactly how many veterans took up arms for the Battle of Athens.

"Estimates have ranged between 50 to 250," he said. "No one really knows. It wasn't any organized military type of assault. They only wanted the ballot boxes."

The former soldiers raided National Guard and State Guard armories for weapons, and the governor mobilized the Guard, although troops never went to Athens.

The veterans shielded themselves behind overturned cars as they fired shots at the jail from across the street. Sympathizers even served them refreshments.

"It almost got to be like a party-type atmosphere," Guy said.

Guy said that after the fighting, the GIs recovered several ballot boxes that hadn't been manipulated and counted the votes. The veteran-backed candidates were declared the winners and sworn into office.

"The McMinn County veterans had won the day in a hail of gunfire, dynamite, and esprit de corps," Brooks wrote.

The local government had been part of a statewide political machine run by Memphis Mayor Ed "Boss" Crump.

"That's just the way things were all over the South, machines everywhere," Guy said. Outdated state laws and overly powerful sheriffs who had the power to arrest and collect fines and fees contributed to the frustration.

"Unfortunately Athens sort of got to be the tinder point of a great many social problems," Guy said.

Powers said the violence was motivated by disgust about corruption. "Some folks just had had all they could take. They just lost it," Powers said.

In Other News: Worst Ever Security Flaw In Diebold Voting Machine
posted by Kevin at 3:31 PM

AM of resist.ca is sponsoring the the ad you now see on Cryptogon for Derrick Jensen's Endgame books. I have both Endgame volumes and will be writing an extensive review in the future. In the meantime, I encourage all Cryptogon readers to check out these books.
posted by Kevin at 12:02 AM

The ghoulish, international criminal, Tony Blair, recently delivered a warning to Syria and Iran:

"We need to make clear to Syria and Iran that there is a choice: come into the international community and play by the same rules as the rest of us; or be confronted."

The same rules as the rest of us...

Is Israel subject to those rules, Tony?


Hmmm. Just who are 'the rest of us'?

I'm WARNING Cryptogon readers now: This story is about to take a turn for the weird.

I found a hair raising article in Britain's Daily Mail about Tony Blair's recent visit to the U.S. While it did not, however, include any descriptions of summoning demonic entities through trans-dimensional portals, black robes or underground crypts, the mind fairly boggles in trying to imagine what did go on during Blair's trip to California. Oh yeah, HAHAHA, only the lunatic fringe, tinfoil hat crowd will see any connection to the Bohemian Grove (just-boys-having-fun) event that was happening at the same time.

Forget about the Them. It's all about 'the rest of us':

The Prime Minister flew into California amid claims he was using a taxpayer-funded trip to tout for lucrative retirement berths on the boards of American conglomerates. If so, he had certainly come to the right place.

He began his five-day West Coast tour with a glitzy cocktail party attended by America's richest men.

The soiree was arranged by society hostess Charlotte Shultz, whose husband George has advised the last three US Presidents.

She gushingly greeted Mr Blair when he arrived in San Francisco earlier before he rubbed shoulders with a select group of super-rich guests at the couple's home.

Among the 90 present were stockbroker Chuck Schwab and Phil Bronstein, Sharon Stone's media tycoon ex-husband. There were also executives from US corporate giants such as Chevron oil, internet search engine Yahoo and Wells Fargo bank.

...

Indeed, Mr Shultz, 85, retains an enviable reputation as one of California's best-connected men. His paid business interests include the banking giant JP Morgan, international stockbrokers Charles Schwab and management consultants Accenture.

Most controversially, he is the former president and director of Bechtel, the construction conglomerate which has been accused of having undue influence in Downing Street.

The San Francisco-based company has helped devise Mr Blair's new nuclear power strategy - but despite its inside knowledge it has itself recently been given the go-ahead to bid for potentially lucrative radioactive waste clean-up projects.

...

Mr Shultz remains well plugged into the Republican establishment, advising President Bush on foreign policy.

He was a leading advocate of "pre-emptive" action against Iraq and now recommends an equally hardline stance against Iran.

He is also a senior figure at Bohemian Grove, the secretive club of the US political and business elite which, by chance, is holding its annual gathering outside the city this weekend.

There was speculation that Mr Blair might even have been a guest at the male-only event, following in the footsteps of John Major and Prince Philip.

As it is, the Shultz party was said to have been littered with guests who had left the Grove in order to meet Mr Blair.

Mr Shultz's wife Charlotte has a reputation for throwing the best soirees on the West Coast.

Last year she entertained Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall during their official tour.

The fun-loving Shultzes dressed up as Superman and Wonderwoman in an amateur revue show put on specially for the Royal couple.

A previous party guest said of the Shultzes' apartment: "It is the most spectacular place, with 360-degree views over the city, San Francisco Bay and the Golden Gate bridge.

"It has glass walls and is probably one of the most exclusive addresses in the country. It's very elegant inside, with priceless artwork on the walls."

Should Mr Blair elect to join the lucrative West Coast lecture circuit on his retirement, there will clearly be no shortage of invitations.

Mr Blair will also be the guest at a reception hosted by mayor Antonio Villaraigosa at the Getty Villa in Malibu. It reported that local officials were 'still dealing with attendance' requests from Anglophile business leaders.

Mr Blair will also fly the flag for BP boss Lord Browne of Madingley, who is eager to trumpet the oil giant's new-found 'ethical' and 'green' credentials.

...

Transport spokesman Chris Grayling urged him to provide the Commons with an urgent statement detailing exactly whom he was due to meet during the visit.

He said: "The trouble with the position that Mr Blair has now got himself into is that even if he is doing something perfectly properly, the suspicion always remains there is a hidden agenda.

What kind of lunatic would think there was a hidden agenda in any of this!? These deranged, costume wearing billionaires and ass licking politicians are obviously playing by the same rules as the rest of us.
posted by Kevin at 7:29 PM

I'm starting to really enjoy stories that sum up the situation humanity is facing in very concise ways. Stories that are so jam packed with insanity and evil that one doesn't even know where to begin the analysis. The point, of course, is that analysis is no longer necessary to see where we are headed. The thing is apparent, prima facie.

What's not totally clear, upon reading this, is how many blows from a sledge hammer would be required to smash this thing into dust. Maybe a few grad students will wake the F up and conduct that research:

...grad students at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) are creating the first biometric vending machine. The current machine comes equipped with a barcode scanner, a fingerprint reader, and a web cam for facial recognition. One student dubbed it the "most over-designed soda machine in the world." The project, code-named "SodaVision" is the brainchild of associate professor Stefan Savage, but it was the students who really made it come to life. And yes, it runs Linux.

Related Google Search: "Stefan Savage" DARPA
posted by Kevin at 6:09 PM

Greeting to readers from Germany who reached Cryptogon through blog.fefe.de. I find it incredible that, over the last couple of days, a site written in German has referred more visitors to Cryptogon than any other English language site on the Internet.

If you enjoy the content, please refer other German/English speakers to Cryptogon.

Thanks!
posted by Kevin at 5:54 PM

Imagine my surprize when I checked my email today and found not one, but TWO Blue Host signups!!! July was a great month for contributions and it looks like a couple of folks wanted to start August off right.

mlxvi.org and runwithscissors.com took hosting packages with Blue Host. Cryptogon received $130!

Thanks, guys. I'm sure you will be pleased with Blue Host and the $130 will go a long way for Becky and me. (We're making our spring seed selections right now.)

If you're thinking about starting a website, or changing hosts, check out what Blue Host has to offer.

Related: Hosting With Blue Host
posted by Kevin at 3:35 PM

They hate us for our freedom:

"You can't be in here protesting," Officer Adkins said, pointing to my Veterans For Peace shirt.

"Well, I'm not protesting, I'm having a cup of coffee," I returned, thinking that logic would convince Adkins to go back to his earlier duties of guarding against serious terrorists.

Flipping his badge open, he said, "No, not with that shirt. You're protesting and you have to go."

Beginning to get his drift, I said firmly, "Not before I finish my coffee."

He insisted that I leave, but still not quite believing my ears, I tried one more approach to reason.

"Hey, listen. I'm a veteran. This is a V.A. facility. I'm sitting here not talking to anybody, having a cup of coffee. I'm not protesting and you can't kick me out."

"You'll either go or we'll arrest you," Adkins threatened.

"Well, you'll just have to arrest me," I said, wondering what strange land I was now living in.

You know the rest. Handcuffed, led away to the facility's security office, past people with surprised looks on their faces, read my rights, searched, and written up.
posted by Kevin at 5:07 AM

As faraway war and chaos dazzle the United States, the massive crisis brewing in Mexico is all but ignored. Civil unrest, paramilitary killings, stolen elections, satanic murder cults, child-sex rings, drug-gang beheadings ... Mexico's got it all.

Just two months ago, the biggest threat to U.S. citizens was an immigrant Mexican dishwasher getting the right to legally work for long hours and low pay.

But now that Mexico is on the verge of civil war -- a war that would send millions of Mexicans running for the safety of the United States -- the national media and Washington politicians are only interested in Israel's tragic yet distant war against Lebanon.
posted by Kevin at 7:16 PM

Well, friends, this might be it...

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad told the Syrian military on Monday to raise its readiness, pledging not to abandon support for Lebanese resistance against Israel.

"We are facing international circumstances and regional challenges that require caution, alert, readiness and preparedness," Assad said.

"The barbaric war of annihilation the Israeli aggression is waging on our people in Lebanon and Palestine is increasing in ferocity," Assad said in a written address on the occasion of the 61st anniversary of the foundation of the Syria Arab Army.

Diplomats in Damascus say the Syrian army has been on alert since the Israeli onslaught on Lebanon began on July 12 after Hizbollah fighters captured two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border operation.
posted by Kevin at 6:54 PM

Keeping an eye on it...

Russia's Druzhba oil pipeline, the supplier of an eighth of Europe's imports, sprung a leak near the Belarus border, spilling crude over at least 10 square kilometers and sending oil prices higher in London.

The rupture in the Soviet-built pipeline may cause ``ecological catastrophe'' in the Bryansk region in western Russia, the Natural Resources Ministry said today in an e- mailed statement, citing local environmental groups. The ministry didn't say if deliveries to Europe were affected. Crude rose as high as $73.74 a barrel.
posted by Kevin at 4:22 AM

They hate us for our freedom:

A Philadelphia man is free just days after local cops humiliated themselves by unlawfully arresting a man for taking pictures with his cell phone.

Neftaly Cruz, a 21-year-old senior at Penn State, was at his parents home Wednesday night when he heard a ruckus outside. He stepped out of the house and saw a line of police cars on the street.

"I opened (my camera phone) and took a shot," Cruz told NBC 10's Harry Hairston.

...

"They threatened to charge me with conspiracy, impeding an investigation, obstruction of a investigation," Cruz said. "They said, 'You were impeding this investigation.' (I asked,) "By doing what?' (The officer said,) 'By taking a picture of the police officers with a camera phone.'"

Cruz's mother, Aracelis Cruz, says she was told the same thing.

"He said he was taking pictures with his cell phone and that was obstructing an investigation."

After an hour of desperately trying to find a law Cruz had broken, cops came up empty. Lacking the courage to admit their mistake, they told Cruz they were going to do him a favor.

"They said if the supervisor was there I wouldn't be a free man and that he is letting me go because he felt that I was a good person," Cruz said.
posted by Kevin at 9:07 PM

Are you interested in obtaining the intellectual equivalent of a degree in International Relations by reading just two sentences?

"One of the things I want to do is get to the point where I'm not killing so many people a day. I want to give them jobs."

-U.S. Marine Colonel Sean MacFarland, from Ramadi, Iraq

Serve the machine, or be eaten by it.
posted by Kevin at 6:05 PM

Has Bush gone off his meds?

'Today's actions in the Middle East remind us that the United States and friends and allies must work for sustainable peace, particularly for the sake of children,' Bush said.

In other news, the U.S. rushes arms shipments to Israel to insure that the extermination of Lebanese civilians continues.
posted by Kevin at 6:03 PM

Help some of the Reddit users Gettit. This story is being modded down. I wonder why...



Israel is systematically exterminating Lebanese civilians with U.S. made and supplied weapons. In other words, America is systematically exterminating Lebanese civilians. In other words, Americans who pay federal taxes are systematically exterminating Lebanese civilians. In other words, I am systematically exterminating Lebanese civilians.

Never mind the writing on the wall. Pay closer attention to the writing on the bombs:


posted by Kevin at 5:11 PM

BOMBS destined to be used by Israel are being flown via Scotland only because the Irish government refused to allow them to land on its soil.

Scotland on Sunday can reveal that after the conflict in Lebanon began three weeks ago, Ireland turned down a United States request for planes carrying 600lb so-called bunker busters to refuel at Shannon airport in Co Clare.
posted by Kevin at 2:56 PM

An Israeli bombing raid killed 54 people in the southern Lebanese town of Qana, prompting U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to postpone a trip to Beirut for talks aimed at stopping the fighting.

Fifty-four bodies were removed from the rubble of a three- storey building, at least 20 of them children, according to a Lebanese police spokesman, who asked not to be named.
posted by Kevin at 4:23 AM

True Torah Jews is a non-profit organization formed by a group of religious Orthodox Jews dedicated to informing the world and the American public and politicians in particular, that the idealogy of Zionism is in total opposition to the teachings of traditional Judaism.

Research Credit: propagandher.wordpress.com
posted by Kevin at 2:00 AM