CIA Built Flying, Mechanical Insects :.

We can't even begin to imagine what they have now:

The CIA once built a mechanical dragonfly to carry a listening device but found small gusts of wind knocked it off course so it was never used in a spy operation.
posted by Kevin at 3:24 PM

Israel to Deploy Robot Bulldozers :.

When I came unhinged the other day about the use of technology to attack people in built-up areas, I had absolutely no idea that Israel was about to deploy remote controlled bulldozers!

I said, "The trick....is to stop Them while They still bleed. Things will get considerably more difficult when They're made out of steel, titanium and kevlar."

It's too late for the Palestinians:

The giant Caterpillar bulldozer, used by the Israeli military to destroy Palestinian homes in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, now comes with a controversial new feature: remote control.

Israel says its remote-control technology will lower risks to soldiers. But Palestinians fear it will lead to more frequent raids using the machines and make the three-year conflict even bloodier.

The remote-controlled D-9 bulldozer and a remote-control version of the Humvee, equipped with machine guns, were developed by the Israeli army and the Technion Institute of Technology. Both machines are U.S.-made, with Israeli modifications. They are expected to go into service in the next few weeks.

The army refused to comment or reveal further details about the new equipment.

Israel has been a pioneer in unmanned weapons systems for nearly three decades, developing one of the first remote-controlled planes and more recently creating machine guns and grenade launchers that can be fired from afar. The weapons are equipped with cameras, so their operators can see what they are doing.
posted by Kevin at 3:20 PM

Clone Burgers with Your Freedom Fries :.

Apocalypse Now:

Milk and meat products from cloned cattle, pigs and goats are safe for consumers to eat, according to a Food and Drug Administration document obtained by Reuters on Thursday.

The FDA findings bring the agency one step closer to determining whether to allow the commercialization of food from cloned animals. A final policy decision is expected next year.
posted by Kevin at 2:56 PM

Barbara Bush Unfurls on Larry King :.

And you can criticize me, but don't criticize my children and don't criticize my daughters-in-law and don't criticize my husband, or you're dead.
posted by Kevin at 2:52 PM

Third-Quarter Growth of 7.2% Strongest in Nearly Two Decades :.

More debt than ever, piled on top of MORE DEBT THAN EVER, piled on top of Depression-like joblessness and underemployment. Yep, things are great! As long as new credit card applications keep showing up and people can pull cash out of their home equity, it's Freedom Fries For All!

Gross domestic product (GDP), the broadest measure of economic activity, grew at a 7.2 percent annual rate in the quarter after growing at a 3.3 percent pace in the second quarter, the Commerce Department reported. Economists, on average, expected GDP growth of 6 percent, according to Briefing.com.

"This is obviously an extraordinarily strong report, led by the consumer, but also with good signs about the state of the business sector and business confidence," said Lehman Brothers economist Drew Matus.

The burst of GDP growth was led by a 6.6 percent jump in consumer spending, the fastest pace since the third quarter of 1997. Consumer spending grew at a 3.8 percent pace in the second quarter.
posted by Kevin at 2:55 PM

Chomsky: Bush Could Manufacture a Threat :.

No shit:

Leading linguist and commentator Noam Chomsky has said President George Bush will have to "manufacture" another threat to American security to win re-election in 2004 after US failure in occupying Iraq.

Chomsky, attending a Latin American social sciences conference in the Cuban capital Havana, said that since the September 11 attacks the Bush administration had redefined US national security policy to include the use of force abroad, with or without United Nations approval.

"It is a frightened country and it is easy to conjure up an imminent threat," Chomsky said at the launching of a Cuban edition of a book of interviews published by the Mexican newspaper La Jornada, when asked how Bush could get re-elected.

"They have a card that they can play... terrify the population with some invented threat, and that is not very hard to do," he said.

Research Credit: TR
posted by Kevin at 2:46 PM

Britain: Hell on Earth :.

Just as Britain gets used to CCTV cameras, a new Big Brother system is to become part of everyday life.
Hidden watchers are starting to talk - loudly - to anyone seen acting suspiciously or misusing disabled bays at trial parking sites.

Tests in Nottingham have persuaded nine local schools to start the school year by installing the "talking eye" system, officially called public address voice activation. Security cameras are linked to loudspeakers and staff in a central control room who issue messages such as: "The police are coming."
posted by Kevin at 2:43 PM

While People Die, Corporations Make a Killing :.

Buying off politicians has got to be one of the most lucrative investment activities around. I don't know of any other racket in which a $500,000 "investment" pays out billions:

Private contractors that received billions in reconstruction contracts for Iraq and Afghanistan contributed significantly to President Bush's election campaign and stocked their staffs and governing boards with well-connected former federal officials, according to a report released today by a watchdog group.

The Center for Public Integrity matched companies with political donations to conclude that dozens of companies that won contracts had contributed to national political campaigns, with President Bush receiving more money than any other candidate since 1990--about $500,000.
posted by Kevin at 2:41 PM

Weapon of Mass Deconstruction

Question: What common piece of hardware could be used to collapse society?

Answer: A wrench.

If society is just hanging by a thread (or, in this case, a few bolts) to begin with, can someone explain to me why the "terrorists" haven't done us in yet? I've written about how easy it would be to attack the information systems, but even I was making the task more complicated than it really is! If "they" hate us so bad, why go through all the trouble of getting weapons of mass destruction when all they would have to do is drive on down to Home Depot with twenty bucks in their pocket and buy a weapon of mass deconstruction?

Try to keep this story in mind if Bush/Cheney unleash some kind of dirty bomb or biological weapon scenario:

FBI Investigating Sabotage of West Coast Power Lines
By Jeff Stein, Congressional Quarterly
Thu Oct 30 2003 13:04:58 ET

An "individual with an extensive criminal record" is suspected of loosening the bolts on the base of high voltage electrical transmission towers in California and Oregon, authorities said Thursday in a bulletin to West Coast utilities.

"Several incidents involving the removal of support bolts at the base of electric high-power transmission towers have been reported on the West Coast, between Oregon and California," said the warning from the National Counterintelligence Executive, a unit of the Department of Homeland Security.

"Although not confirmed at this time, due to the common modus operandi and Pacific Northwest locations of these events, the sabotage may be the work of a single individual or group," it said.

There was "no evidence" of a terrorist connection to the attempted sabotage, the bulletin said.
posted by Kevin at 2:39 PM

Shooting Around Corners and Leveraging Technology for Oppression :.

"Still, if you will not fight for the right when you can easily win without bloodshed, if you will not fight when your victory will be sure and not so costly, you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a precarious chance for survival. There may be a worse case. You may have to fight when there is no chance of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves."

-Winston Churchill

I don't talk too much about firearms on this site, but I thought that readers should be aware of a new weapon system that not only represents a paradigm shift in close quarters battle (CQB) and military operations on urbanized terrain (MOUT), but also serves as an indicator of how technology is being leveraged for destructive purposes and oppression.

As the civilian populations of the planet are increasingly targeted by military operations, weapons technologies designed for use against individuals in built up areas will proliferate. Combatants have been looking around corners with small mirrors for generations and there have been several niggardly attempts to convert firearms to shoot from around corners. The CornerShot weapon system, however, is a complete break from all previous attempts to enable aimed fire from defensive positions. That weapon is not science fiction, or an artists representation of technology described in some dystopian novel. Nope. Fascists with the proper credentials are receiving those things by the crateloads today; all paid for with your tax money!

To place this development in a wider sociological context, I would note that this weapon is the epitome of what technology winds up being used for when psychopaths are in control. Gaze upon that thing and try to imagine where we will be in twenty years. Will resistance be possible then? (HA! Is it even possible now?)

My guess is that the "operator" of such weapon systems won't even be human in the years ahead. If that sounds nuts, what do you think is the purpose of this race? The U.S. government is funding hundreds of similar projects involved with making computers self aware of their surroundings. The ultimate goal is to be able to field autonomous robots that kill people; machines that don't get tired, don't question orders and don't require food or water. Instead of the video feed from a camera mounted on the muzzle of a gun winding up on a small monitor, I'd expect that imagery data to be processed by machines on a battle field near you within a decade.... assuming humanity makes it that long.

To conclude, just remember, the opposing force has God-Like powers. Just because you can't see Them, it doesn't mean that They can't see you. Consider a move to a main battle rifle that uses .308 (7.62x51 NATO). You'll have a better chance of reaching out and touching someone more effectively through walls, shelter and barricades. Do what you can to increase your standoff distance. I haven't seen any specs, but from a lifetime of firearms experience, I can tell you that the CornerShot system can't be accurate past more than about 100 feet. I don't feel like talking too much more about it, but those of you who know what to do... will know what to do. The trick, I'd say, is to stop Them while They still bleed. Things will get considerably more difficult when They're made out of steel, titanium and kevlar.

More: The Robot Air Corps :.

Never send a human to do a droid's job. Unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs, fly hundreds of dull, dirty, or dangerous missions for the US military each year, including surveillance and bombing missions over Afghanistan and Iraq. They don't get tired or scared, and many can stay aloft longer than manned planes. Plus, if the bad guys shoot one down, you've lost a $3 million Predator instead of a $15 million F-16 and its pilots. The Pentagon plans to spend $10 billion over the next seven years on a new fleet of UAVs that will be able to evacuate troops, fly alongside manned jets, even carry out civilian operations.

More: Unmanned Aerial Drones Raise Specter of Big Brother :.

Industry representatives are enthusiastic about the drones' potential.

"I believe we will see Predator and Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) watching over major events, such as the Olympic Games and the Super Bowl, in the not-too-distant future," Brad Brown, then-president of the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International wrote earlier this year.

For some privacy advocates, the talk about civilian use of unmanned aircraft has raised a specter of Big Brother in the skies, and a new privacy debate is brewing.

"The law that governs how the government can use these technologies is back in the stone ages. Our laws say that if you're in a public place, the government can surveil you," said lawyer Barry Steinhardt of the American Civil Liberties Union.

When the law was conceived, Steinhardt said, "No one imagined the extraordinary power that would be given to the government by new technologies. They really are, in many respects, Superman's powers." If the laws aren't updated, he cautioned, "Pretty soon we're going to live in a surveillance society where our every movement, action or utterance is going to be tracked and monitored."

Message to TR, AI Researcher

Have you read about the latest version of the Sony Aibo? The AI in this thing allows it to recognize the owner's face, run around the house in "autonomous" mode and find its charger to charge itself back up! It will also fetch toys. It's not hard to imagine the terminator corollaries to all of these "cute" and innocent behaviors. It sends video from its visual system over 802.11. Nope, this is not something out of a DARPA lab. This is a $1600 toy.

http://www.us.aibo.com/

Again: Revolutionary Technology
posted by Kevin at 10:49 AM

Made in America: Israelis Shoot Australian Activist Through Both Legs :.

The Australian government should hold the U.S. responsible for this:

An Australian activist campaigning against Israel's occupation of the West Bank was shot through both legs during a protest, the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) said.

Perth university student Joshua Taaffe, 24, was shot through both legs by Israeli troops who used a searchlight to spot him, ISM spokesman Michael Shaiq said.

Mr Shaiq said Mr Taaffe arrived in the town of Nablus about four weeks ago to join international protesters opposed to what they say is Israel's illegal occupation of Palestinian territory.

Mr Taaffe is now receiving medical treatment in a Nablus hospital, although Israeli troops had earlier entered the ward where he was lying and allegedly trained a weapon on him, Mr Shaiq claimed.
posted by Kevin at 11:55 AM

Already Down the Memory Hole? Abigail Tapia and Jacqueline Toves

I've been monitoring this one and there has been no new information. Where is the press circus that usually surrounds weird death cases? Isn't it interesting that this case has totally dropped out of sight? Does this sound like a suicide case to you?

As to why the women were found bound with tape and rope, with garbage bags fastened tightly over their heads, and why Toves was wearing a Kabuki-style mask, Kanalakis said, "It's very, very difficult to understand what goes through someone's mind when they are determined to kill themselves. We are at a loss to explain it."
posted by Kevin at 11:38 AM

Bad Mileage: 98 Tons of Plants Per Gallon :.

If I was to pick out the most incredible/shocking articles posted on Cryptogon, this one would be somewhere in the top five.

A staggering 98 tons of prehistoric, buried plant material � that's 196,000 pounds � is required to produce each gallon of gasoline we burn in our cars, SUVs, trucks and other vehicles, according to a study conducted at the University of Utah.

"Can you imagine loading 40 acres worth of wheat � stalks, roots and all � into the tank of your car or SUV every 20 miles?" asks ecologist Jeff Dukes, whose study will be published in the November issue of the journal Climatic Change.

But that's how much ancient plant matter had to be buried millions of years ago and converted by pressure, heat and time into oil to produce one gallon of gas, Dukes concluded.

Dukes also calculated that the amount of fossil fuel burned in a single year � 1997 was used in the study � totals 97 million billion pounds of carbon, which is equivalent to more than 400 times "all the plant matter that grows in the world in a year," including vast amounts of microscopic plant life in the oceans.

"Every day, people are using the fossil fuel equivalent of all the plant matter that grows on land and in the oceans over the course of a whole year," he adds.

In another calcultation, Dukes determined that "the amount of plants that went into the fossil fuels we burned since the Industrial Revolution began [in 1751] is equal to all the plants grown on Earth over 13,300 years."

Explaining why he conducted the study, Dukes wrote: "Fossil fuel consumption is widely recognized as unsustainable. However, there has been no attempt to calculate the amount of energy that was required to generate fossil fuels, (one way to quantify the 'unsustainability' of societal energy use)."
posted by Kevin at 9:01 AM

Flashback: FBI: al-Qaeda Detainee Spoke of Fire Plot :.

Get ready for it. Just about the time when we won't be able to handle watching any more of the sobbing teenage girls, destroyed houses and panic stricken people, They could drop this one on us. I'm not saying that They will do this, but it would certainly fit the problem-reaction-solution paradigm. As the situation in Iraq slides straight down the toilet, al-Qaeda burns down San Diego, a city that is home to strategic naval and marine installations. That sounds about right for a pretty good scam:

The FBI alerted law enforcement agencies last month that an al-Qaeda terrorist now in detention had talked of masterminding a plot to set a series of devastating forest fires around the western United States.

Rose Davis, a spokeswoman for the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, told The Associated Press that officials there took note of the warning but didn't see a need to act further on it.

The contents of the June 25 memo from the FBI's Denver office were reported Friday by The Arizona Republic. Davis declined to share a copy of the memo and an FBI spokeswoman in Denver didn't immediately return a telephone call.

The Republic reported that the detainee, who was not identified, said the plan involved three or four people setting wildfires using timed devices in Colorado, Montana, Utah and Wyoming that would detonate in forests and grasslands after the operatives had left the country.
posted by Kevin at 5:39 PM

Another JFK Enigma: Japanese "Journalist" in Photograph with Jack Ruby :.

John, over at Cryptome, is looking into a possible Japanese thread in the JFK imbroglio. I'd like to offer some context to get us thinking about possible Japanese connections:

Before we focus on Japan, though, let's take a brief look at Post World War II Germany.

Anyone who has looked into the American efforts to de-Nazify Germany after World War II knows that the entire thing amounted to a shell game. Their Nazis became our Nazis, company names were changed, Gestapo personnel shed their black leather and death's head regalia and worked seamlessly with all order of American spooks. The U.S. National Security Agency set up its German HQ in the I.G. Farben building in Berlin, for example.

With American de-Nazification turning into an open joke, what was happening on the other side of the planet in Japan? Quite simply, American efforts to breakup the Japanese keiretsu organizations were as flaccid as those aimed at de-Nazification in Germany. You see, fascism works, until interstate wars breakout among competing powers. But with the U.S. victorious, what was to become of the vanquished? Understanding the primacy of fascism, U.S. geostrategists (Council of Foreign Relations), undertook perception management campaigns in Germany and Japan designed strictly for public consumption. Out with old, in with the new, etc. In reality, what happened was that the U.S. and other elites used a Roman-style, integrative strategy in order to maintain and co-opt the established German and Japanese elites, rather than scatter them to the wind. The ultimate goal, of course, was global fascism.

In Japan, keep in mind that the political, industrial, banking and mafia organizations are integrated in a type of meta keiretsu that is based on ancient familial hierarchies (1). Richard W. Wright notes:

Before World War II several large industrial groups dominated Japanese economic activity. They were centrally owned and controlled with common interlocking directorships. After the war the United States forced Japan to dissolve these groups as they contravened anti- monopoly and anti-combine regulations. Since that time a number of major groups, or keiretsu, have reformed. Today each group is clustered together in voluntary association with a central bank at the core.

If you don't believe this, take a look at Japanese activity in the international currency markets and note the beneficiaries: the largest Japanese corporations and banks via the U.S. consumer. <---This is a gross oversimplification. Literature on the Japanese keiretsu model is particularly interesting and illustrative of fascist organizations generally. I highly recommend that individuals pursue further research on their own in this area.

The U.S. pays great lip service to the rhetoric of "open markets and free trade." However, while I can't say with certainty that U.S. elites were jealous of the imperial Japanese economic model, the political economy of the U.S. in the post World War II era seems to have borrowed heavily from the keiretsu system (2).

Let it suffice to say that Japanese elite are part of the Them. One can safely assume that if the plot to murder JFK was carried out by international banking interests, as I suspect, Japanese would be involved at the highest levels of planning. Also note that one of the three spheres of influence and focus in the Trilateral Commission is Japan. Although the Trilateral Commission did not come into existence until 1973, working relationships between Japanese elite and their counterparts in the West were well underway by the late 1940s. I would assume there were profound Western connections to the Empire of Japan (pre-WW2) but I have not looked into that area of inquiry.

So, if the Japanese man in the photograph is Atsuyuki Sassa, a man with formal national security training from the most prestigious university in Japan, what was he doing at Dallas Police Headquarters, within a few feet of Jack Ruby, all those years ago?

Notes:

1 Keiretsu: A Japanese term describing a loose conglomeration of companies organized around a single bank for their mutual benefit. The companies sometimes, but not always, own equity in each other.

2 That system was cemented in the U.S. with the re-formation of the Military Industrial Complex. I say re-formation because the armaments complex in the U.S. existed long before World War II. The elite in question weren't about to make the same mistakes that were made after World War I by allowing the armaments industries to fade away after the end of hostilities.
posted by Kevin at 5:35 PM

Experience Your Amerika :.

Land of the slaves, home of the dumb.
posted by Kevin at 5:25 PM

Baghdad Blood Bath: Dozens Dead :.

One day after they missed Wolfowitz by that much, total chaos broke out. If this thing isn't the epitome of a shit storm, I don't know what is:

Up to 42 people are feared dead today after five large explosions ripped through the centre of Baghdad in the bloodiest day of terrorism since the end of Saddam Hussein's regime.

The blast blew down a 40ft section of the wall in front of the three-storey Red Cross building, destroying a dozen cars and shattering a water main. Emergency services fought to control the blaze as ambulances swept through the city, ferrying the injured to hospital. Witness Salah Mansour as he said: "When the driver reached near the Red Cross building he got down from the vehicle and a guard went up to ask him why he had stopped there.

"The driver said he was trying to fix the car and then the blast just went off."

In apparently co-ordinated attacks across the city at the height of the morning rush hour, four police stations were also targeted, bringing the total dead to at least 37. At least 225 other people were injured, 160 of them civilians. In north-east Baghdad, eight people died in a blast near a police station.
posted by Kevin at 5:24 PM

Afghanistan: U.S. Mercenaries Killed :.

These stiffs probably belonged to a Dyn Corp (now Computer Sciences Corporation) merc outfit:

Two U.S. civilians were killed in a raid against suspected Taliban and al Qaeda forces, Pentagon sources said.

The civilians, identified as State Department contract workers, died in a gunfight on the weekend, southwest of the Afghan border town of Shkin. The two were working with Afghan army troops.

Ten suspected enemy fighters also died in the fighting, killed by Afghan army troops backed by U.S. helicopters and war planes, the sources added Monday.

While some sources indicated to CNN the dead Americans may have been working for the Central Intelligence Agency, the CIA referred all inquiries to the State Department.

"They are listed as State Department contract security officers," a U.S. official told CNN.

Update: They Were Short Formers :.

They were CIA contractors:

Two Americans killed in a recent ambush in Afghanistan were contract employees of the CIA, the agency said Tuesday.

In a written statement, the CIA said William Carlson of Southern Pines, North Carolina, and Christopher Glenn Mueller of San Diego, California, were civilian contractors for the agency who were tracking terrorists when they died Saturday.
posted by Kevin at 5:21 PM

Another Dumb Idea: Smart Mail :.

Sending a letter may soon require more than a 37-cent stamp. It might also require a valid photo ID.

A small change in labeling requirements for bulk mailings announced Oct. 21 requires bulk mailers to identify themselves on the outside of the envelope with a valid address. This marks the first step in the Postal Service's desire to create "intelligent mail."
posted by Kevin at 5:20 PM

Identify Genetically Modified Food :.

An interesting tidbit, from the July 03 issue of Sunset Magazine, page 140:

Those tiny stickers on the loose fruits and vegetables at the market have a worthy purpose. Besides telling the store's computer database at checkout what the time is and how much it costs, the price lookup code (PLU) tells you how it was grown.

Conventionally grown produce carries a four digit code. On organically grown items, a number 9 precedes that basic code, on genetically modified produce a number 8. The number on a conventionally grown apple might be 4133; on an organic apple, 94133; and on a genetically modified one, 84133."

Research Credit: TR
posted by Kevin at 5:19 PM

robots.txt: Enabling Memory Holes :.

We need open source search NOW! And when that thing crawls, it needs to ignore robots.txt! I include a robots.txt file on Cryptogon as a joke. For those of you who don't speak nerd, it means, "Take it all, copt it all, I don't care." And for you freaks who want to complain to me about bandwidth, etc. I don't want to hear it. My ISP costs $50 per year for unlimited bandwidth! If you don't want your information to be archived, unplug your server from the network and start training homing pigeons.

I thought the WayBack machine might be of assistance, but that thing pays attention to robots.txt. Here's an idea for a software agent that would help us with the emerging memory hole problem: Create a spider that identifies itself as a Windows box running Internet Explorer. Instead of voraciously multithreading links simultaneously, have the thing parse all the URLs on the page and then "crawl" them at random, one at a time. Keep the thread open for some random period of time, close it, and then, on to the next one, at random. Obviously, the thing wouldn't pay any attention to robots.txt. Just let it run. Slow and steady. And by the time the Apache/IIS control freaks figure out how to defeat this type of bot on the server side (bandwidth cap by IP could be a problem), it needs to be peer-2-peer enabled.

Obviously, I just wish the entire Show would come down so we wouldn't have to think about this nonsense anymore:

Via Atrios, we see that the White House has edited its website to keep search engines from archiving pages on Iraq.

First, a bit of technical background. Most major websites include a text file named robots.txt that tells search engines which directories not to include in search results. (Here's an example: the Democrats.org robots.txt file lists folders with content � like images � that search engines can't index.) By adding a directory to robots.txt, you ensure that nothing in that folder will ever show up in a Google search and � more important for this discussion � never be archived by sites like Google.

Sometime between April 2003 and October 2003, someone at the White House added virtually all of the directories with "Iraq" in them to its robots.txt file, meaning that search engines would no longer list those pages in results or archive them.

Why would the White House do this? Those pages are still public, and the White House search engine itself does index those pages, so users can still get to them.

It's easy enough to understand the reasoning if you look at past White House actions. Earlier this year, the White House revised pages on its website claiming that "combat" was over in Iraq, changing them to say "major combat."

One of the reasons some alert readers noticed the change � and were able to prove it � was that Google had archived the pages before the change occurred. Now that all of the White House pages about Iraq are no longer archived by Google, such historical revisionism will be harder to catch.
posted by Kevin at 5:18 PM

Pathtofreedom.com :.

TR writes:

Here's a great site on urban homesteading. These freaks live in Pasadena and grow most of their own food. They fed a family of five on $400 per month during winter. That's $80 per month per person! Their food expenses go down to $40 during summer. They have a home-based business selling herbs and flowers to local restaurants. These people are extremely dangerous.

In case you don't get TR's humor, when he says they're dangerous, he means that they're dangerous to the established order. I love this site. It gives me happy thoughts and hope. Imagine that! While most people medicate themselves with TV, I daydream of yurts, organic vegetables and windpower, etc.
posted by Kevin at 5:08 PM

Interesting Cryptogon Hits Today

Mon Oct 27 03 08:47:12 AM No cryptogon.com/2002_08_11_blogarchive.html Go : www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=gangs+in+the+9th+ward+in+new+orleans&btnG=Google+Search 209.3.152.35 fema.gov

Mon Oct 27 03 08:44:57 AM No cryptogon.com/2002_06_30_blogarchive.html Go : www.google.com/search?q="santacruz+computer"&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&start=10&sa=N 199.196.144.16 tias-gw6.treas.gov

Mon Oct 27 03 08:17:32 AM No main_page Go : search.yahoo.com/search?p="Santa+Claus+machine"&ei=UTF-8&n=20&fl=0&xargs=0&fr=fp-top&b=21 216.163.255.1 rpa.metlife.com

Mon Oct 27 03 02:06:57 PM No main_page Direct Access 198.26.123.36 BU-WCS1-KELLY.NIPR.MIL

Mon Oct 27 03 02:06:48 PM No no entry page detected unable to detect referrer (JavaScript not enabled in visitor's browser) 131.44.121.252 cacheflow.randolph.af.mil
posted by Kevin at 5:04 PM

Massive Update Brewing for This Evening

Rest your eyes, uncork the wine and get ready to read it and weep, laugh, or mumble to yourself like a mental patient...
posted by Kevin at 2:27 PM

Fire Update

I'm in El Cajon, CA at the moment. When I woke up this morning and looked out the window, I thought, "It's finally The End." Nope, not quite yet, although it sure looks and smells like a possible End Day scenario outside my window. Have you ever sat too close to a really smoky camp fire? That's what the air smells like around here and it burns your eyes a little. Darkness at noon:


posted by Kevin at 2:05 PM

Head of Russia's Yukos Oil Company Arrested :.

Try to imagine a scenario in which George W. Bush sends the Delta Force to arrest Warren Buffett or Bill Gates! That's roughly the equivalent of what just happened in Russia. The arrest of Khodorkovsky (Russia's richest man!) is a major development.... but I don't understand the implications just yet. Charging a CEO with tax evasion and fraud is like handing out speeding tickets at the Indy 500.* There has to be much more to it. Let's keep an eye on this one:

Camouflaged special forces arrested Russia's richest man, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, at a Siberian airport on Saturday, and he was ordered jailed on charges of tax evasion and fraud.

The dramatic arrest of the head of Russia's largest oil producer alarmed the country's business and political elite, with many analysts saying the actions against the oil company, Yukos, are a Kremlin-directed campaign to keep him out of politics.

Khodorkovsky, who has openly funded opposition parties, is the latest of Russia's superrich oligarchs to be pursued by President Vladimir Putin's government. Tycoons Boris Berezovsky and Vladimir Gusinsky have gone into self-imposed exile to avoid criminal prosecution.

* From the film Apocalypse Now:

Cpt. Willard v.o.: Charging a man with murder in this place is like handing out speeding tickets at the Indy 500.
posted by Kevin at 2:31 AM

California Fires :.

Any guesses on when this will be called, "The work of al Qaeda"????

A wildfire leaped through dense housing tracts in the foothills of the San Bernardino Mountains on Saturday, destroying more than 200 homes, threatening 1,000 others and forcing thousands of people to flee under a sky thick with smoke and tinged orange-red by flames.
posted by Kevin at 2:08 AM

The End Days Story of the Day: Texas Lake Contains Prozac :.

For this type of story, do you guys prefer, "The End Days Story of the Day," or, "This Is One for the I Shit You Not File?"

Unfortunately, the fish are only ingesting sub therapeutic levels of Prozac, so they're probably still depressed:

What could be more peaceful, more restful or more relaxing than dropping a line into a quiet Texas lake and trying to hook a fish that is on Prozac? According to a study by a Baylor University toxicologist, fluoxetine � the active ingredient in the antidepressant Prozac � is making its way to a lake in the Dallas area and into the tissue of the freshwater blue gill fish.
posted by Kevin at 2:22 AM

The Underground World of Outlaw Vegetable Growers :.

This is practically unbelievable. Isn't it interesting that many activities that are good, true and beautiful are illegal?

The Plant Varieties and Seeds Act (1964) makes these tomatoes forbidden fruit - well, at least the seeds from which they are grown. According to the act, anyone wanting to sell the seeds of a fruit or vegetable must first register the variety on a National List. Before registration, it must be tested to ensure it is "distinct, uniform and stable", and a fee must be paid. Sadly for amateur growers, these fees add up to nearly �1,000, in the case of tomatoes, plus an annual renewal fee of �185. There are no exceptions, no grants for amateur growers, and it is illegal for anyone to sell the seeds of unregistered fruit or, by implication, the fruit itself.

Even if they can pass the tests (and the variety 'My Girl' is many things, but its fruits - anything between cherry and avocado-sized - could never be called "uniform") the only people who can afford to register them are huge companies that sell to supermarket chains (the familiar comedy-villain Monsanto being one example); the result is that only mass-market, supermarket-friendly varieties are registered. Varieties of interest only to amateurs are ignored, and it becomes illegal to sell them; so, with no growing plants providing seeds for the future, they're simply becoming extinct.
posted by Kevin at 6:36 PM

NeoCorks and Orgasmatrons

I just bought a bottle of 2001 Smoking Loon Cabernet Sauvignon. This was an impulse buy caused by the fact that the old woman in front of me at the market (I didn't cross any picket lines) was having coupon difficulties. My eyes started to wander and they fell upon a stack of the richly colored Smoking Loon bottles near the checkout area. Some primitive, reptilian portion of my brain was sufficiently stimulated and I grabbed a bottle.

I was stunned when I proceeded to uncork the thing and saw that the "cork" was actually a NeoCork. In case you don't feel like clicking though, a NeoCork is a synthetic cork that is supposed to be better than the cork technology that has somehow managed to serve humanity well for the previous 8,000 years or so.

In case you're wondering, Smoking Loon isn't a bottom grade wine. At around $9, it's at least a couple of rungs up from the bottom. Hell, even Two Buck Chuck (Charles Shaw from Trader Joe's) uses a real cork.

Now, I'm not pretending to be some sort of snob, but when I sink my corkscrew into the neck of a bottle of wine, I don't want any surprises! I have generally come to expect the stopper to be made out of something resembling cork. I like the cork. I like how the cork smells. I sometimes save corks from bottles of wine I like. Shit, I'll even take the glass of grape juice if there's cork floating in it. (After all, it's The End, and one shouldn't complain about a couple of bits of cork in one's wine.) But bits of cork are a thing of the past, because now we have NeoCork! HAHAHA! That thing was made out of some kind plastic and high density foam rubber.... yet another item made out of petroleum!!!

What's next? What is the next ridiculous technological fix for something that isn't broken?

I wasn't going to even post what you just read above. I figured that I was just starting to get old, crusty and set in my ways. But then I read about the Super Craptastical Female Orgasmatron on Wired....

I guess men no longer have what it takes to satisfy women, or they are just too tired from work, or lazy, to fit together the complex puzzle pieces of the female orgasm. But fear not, just hook electrodes up to her ankles, flip the switch and come back in ten minutes when she's ready to pop! While you're waiting, heat up some Cheez Wiz in the microwave and play a DVD to pacify your spawn for the next several thousand milliseconds that you'll need to light off your woman after she's been wound up by this handy contraption!!! Oh yeah. Batteries not included. Your results may vary.

Call me old fashioned, but I'll appreciate the cork floaters in my wine, and my girlfriend without the electrodes.

More: Interesting Story on Cork :.

If you found what I wrote above interesting, you might also enjoy this article on cork. Nope, I'm not kidding, an article on cork. I never knew how much I didn't know about cork:

Contrary to some propaganda, not a single tree is cut down to get the cork � cork extraction is one of the most environmentally friendly harvesting processes in the world.

Harvesting cork is a highly skilled job: even the axes are specially designed. Cork cutters make precise incisions into the cork bark and then strip it off the trees � like peeling a skin away from a banana. An experienced worker can gather up to 600kg of cork each day, and Miguel is certainly in this league. After harvest, each tree is painted with a big white number to indicate when it was last stripped. The trees are left for nine years to allow the cork bark to grow back and then the whole process starts again.

The cork industry is vital for the Mediterranean, which supplies more than 99 per cent of the world's cork. Portugal, home to a third of the world's cork trees, is the biggest producer, and in some Portuguese villages, such as Luzianes, 80 per cent of people depend on cork for their income.

The most important part of the cork market is the production of cork stoppers.

Research Credit: JH
posted by Kevin at 4:11 PM

RFID to Track High School Students :.

In commentary below, I said that RFID chips will wind up in the bodies of U.S. military personnel. That prediction hasn't come true yet, but it only took a few hours before another frightening RFID story broke. Would you believe they want to track kids in schools using RFID?

Believe it.

I wonder how school principal and chief comandante Stillman would appreciate a crew of 15 year old hackers surveiling his every move, from the morning evacuation maneuver on the can to the awkward moments in bed with his wife after a meal of TV dinners, cheap vodka and Metamucil?

Come on you 15 year old hackers! Get to work:

Stillman has gone whole-hog for radio-frequency technology, which his year-old Enterprise Charter School started using last month to record the time of day students arrive in the morning. In the next months, he plans to use RFID to track library loans, disciplinary records, cafeteria purchases and visits to the nurse's office. Eventually he'd like to expand the system to track students' punctuality (or lack thereof) for every class and to verify the time they get on and off school buses.

"That way, we could confirm that Johnny Jones got off at Oak and Hurtle at 3:22," Stillman said. "All this relates to safety and keeping track of kids.... Eventually it will become a monitoring tool for us."

Man, I wish I was 15 years old again and attending a school that used RFID surveillance. I'd form an insurgency movement and make it my mission in life to drive those idiot administrators into a mental institution!
posted by Kevin at 4:06 PM

U.S. Military Loves RFID, Planning Massive Roll Out :.

Yawn. It will wind up in soldiers. Just wait and see:

The US Department of Defense has announced a sweeping policy to slap an electronic tag on every item in its inventory - well, almost every item.

By January 2005, the DoD will require all suppliers to place RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) tags on their goods. The feds hope this technology will help it keep track of massive inventories and improve transaction speeds. Government officials appear very bullish about the technology, but they do have limits on how far they are willing to take the RFID plan.
posted by Kevin at 11:20 PM

Brill's ID Card :.

More stupid technology to reject and refuse, or better yet, smash and destroy:

Americans hate to wait. But will they pay - and submit to security screenings and even high-technology fingerprinting - to avoid the long lines snaking behind checkpoints in airports, office buildings and sports arenas?

Steven Brill is betting that the answer is yes. Mr. Brill, a journalist and entrepreneur, will announce today a new company, Verified Identity Card Inc., which will offer customers an electronic card containing data showing that they are not on terrorism watch lists and do not have certain felony convictions on their records.

Now here is some high technology that makes sense: EarthBox.
posted by Kevin at 3:48 PM

USS Liberty Investigation a Total Fraud :.

A former US Navy lawyer who helped lead the military investigation of the 1967 Israeli attack on the USS Liberty that killed 34 servicemen says former president Lyndon Johnson and his defence secretary, Robert McNamara, ordered that the inquiry conclude that it was an accident.

In a signed affidavit released at a Capitol Hill news conference, retired Capt Ward Boston said Johnson and McNamara told those heading the Navy�s inquiry to �conclude that the attack was a case of �mistaken identity� despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary�.

Boston was senior legal counsel to the Navy�s original 1967 review of the attack. He said in the sworn statement that he stayed silent for years because he was a military man, and �when orders come ... I follow them�.
posted by Kevin at 3:51 AM

! ! ! Tokyo Stocks Fall 5%, All Eyes on Sony Results ! ! ! :.

Tokyo's Nikkei average fell more than five percent by mid afternoon on Thursday -- on track for its biggest percentage fall since the September 11 attacks -- after Wall Street's biggest drop in a month and a rise in the yen, with jitters ahead of Sony Corp's results also a factor.

More: One Day Loss: 16.6 Trillion Yen, Nikkei Marks Biggest Fall Since Sept 11 Aftermath :.

The Nikkei average closed down 5.09 percent at 10,335.16, after falling as low as 10,304.29 in late trade.

The broad-based TOPIX index fell 5.28 percent to 1,017.03, with losses heavy across a range of sectors.

Both indexes suffered their biggest percentage losses since September 12, 2001.

Thursday's sharp falls wiped out 16.6 trillion yen ($152 billion) from the value of the first section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange, leaving it at 297.76 trillion yen.

More: Sony Profits Drop 25% :.

Sony, the beleaguered Japanese electronics and entertainment company, said net profits in its fiscal second quarter declined 25 per cent because of a significant drop in sales from its game business.

More: Sony to Lay Off 20,000 :.

Sony Corp, the world's second-largest maker of consumer electronics, plans to cut as many as 20,000 jobs, or about 10 percent of its workforce, by March 2006 as it stops making televisions in Japan and reduces administration costs, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun said.
posted by Kevin at 1:45 AM

Dollar vs. Euro :.

This is an excellent article:

If the oil producers turn their backs on the US dollar, the ramifications for the global economy would be immense. At the very least, demand for euros would surge as oil importers would need to buy euros to buy oil. But this would be just the beginning. As things stand, oil exporters keep the billions of dollars they receive from the sale of their oil in their central bank reserves. Similarly, oil importers are obliged to keep large dollar reserves to pay for their oil. The fear is that if oil were priced in euros, both oil exporters and importers would switch a significant proportion of their reserves into euros, thus triggering a stampede out of the dollar into euros.

Many in the mid-1990s warned that if the euro ever did emerge as a rival reserve currency, it would lead to dangerous volatility in the currency markets. But what makes the current situation so serious is that the US currency is already under siege as never before. Since the end of the second world war, the US dollar has been the undisputed reserve currency of the world. It has been universally regarded as the safest and most reliable store of value available. Any country trying to maintain the value of its own currency has had no option but to hold billions of dollars in its central bank reserves. Two thirds of central bank reserves are dollar-denominated.

But global investors are beginning to lose faith in the greenback. Previous reserve currencies were usually backed by a scarce commodity, usually gold. Countries that ran up trade deficits were obliged to settle their debts in gold. This put a limit on how far into debt a country could sink. But that system came to an end in 1971, when the Nixon administration, faced with the spiralling costs of the Vietnam war, left the Gold Standard. Since the 1970s, Americans have been free to spend as much as the world will lend it. And since the rest of the world needs dollars for its reserves, US debts have spiralled to previously unimaginable levels.

The US current account deficit now stands at some $600 billion a year and America now needs to attract more than $1.5 billion every day from foreign investors to fund its debts. Not surprisingly, foreign investors are beginning to doubt the wisdom of lending America any more of their savings. Over the last year, foreign investors have turned away from America in droves. Instead, the US current account deficit is being financed largely by the intervention of Asian central banks determined to shore up the dollar to maintain the competitive advantage of their own manufacturing industries. In the second quarter of this year, Asian central banks financed more than half the current account deficit. Yet despite this unprecedented intervention, the dollar is still sinking.

Research Credit: sunbakedbrains
posted by Kevin at 7:26 PM

The Sound of the End of the World :.

Alright you loopers, dub heads and knob twiddlers, queue up the audio from those Cheney speeches and start mixin':

ATTN: MUSICIANS, VOCALISTS, SOUND DESIGNERS, BOTH PROFESSIONAL AND AMATEUR

Independent Opposition Music Publishing is seeking short entries for an upcoming sound collage compilation based upon what the ending of this world might sound like.

Research Credit: JH
posted by Kevin at 4:08 PM

Bush - Nazi Link Confirmed :.

It's finally hitting the mainstream. Yawn...

After 60 years of inattention and even denial by the U.S. media, newly-uncovered government documents in The National Archives and Library of Congress reveal that Prescott Bush, the grandfather of President George W. Bush, served as a business partner of and U.S. banking operative for the financial architect of the Nazi war machine from 1926 until 1942, when Congress took aggressive action against Bush and his "enemy national" partners.

The documents also show that Bush and his colleagues, according to reports from the U.S. Department of the Treasury and FBI, tried to conceal their financial alliance with German industrialist Fritz Thyssen, a steel and coal baron who, beginning in the mid-1920s, personally funded Adolf Hitler's rise to power by the subversion of democratic principle and German law.

Furthermore, the declassified records demonstrate that Bush and his associates, who included E. Roland Harriman, younger brother of American icon W. Averell Harriman, and George Herbert Walker, President Bush's maternal great-grandfather, continued their dealings with the German industrial baron for nearly eight months after the U.S. entered the war.
posted by Kevin at 2:54 PM

Rare Victory: Monsanto Yields to Pressure on GM Wheat and Barley in Europe :.

Keep burning those GM crops and making life difficult (expensive) for these corporations:

Monsanto, the huge US company which has pioneered GM crops, issued a statement which announced its "intention to exit from its European cereal seed business". Only two companies - Syngenta and BayerLifeScience - are now involved��?GM crops in Britain.

Research Credit: doomhunk
posted by Kevin at 12:56 PM

Made in America: Israeli Jetfighters Slaughter Ten Palestinians, Wound Dozens, Including Children :.

Israeli jetfighters raided Sunday on several parts of Gaza Strip, killing 10 Palestinians and at least one hundred were wounded several of them critically.

At 9:21 PM. Israeli warplanes and helicopters pounded a Palestinian vehicle killing seven Palestinian civilians and wounded dozens, several critically, in the mid-Gaza Strip refugee camp of Nuseirat, Palestinian medical and security sources said.
posted by Kevin at 11:49 PM

Big Sur Double Murder Called Suicide :.

I will continue to monitor this one closely. If you believe this was a double suicide, well, say hello to Santa Clause the next time he slides down your chimney:

At first, it seemed to have the markings of ritualistic murder, but the deaths of two young Long Beach women at a rustic Big Sur resort turned out to be suicide, authorities said Monday.

Long before they drove up the California coast, Abigail Tapia, 27, and Jacqueline Toves, 26, had planned to kill themselves, Monterey County Sheriff-Coroner Mike Kanalakis said.

They wrote goodbye letters to family members and then completed a long-planned suicide pact late last week in a room with a view of the Pacific Ocean, Kanalakis said. "Both young ladies were feeling despair in their lives and were clearly upset," Kanalakis told reporters Monday afternoon outside his office.

As to why the women were found bound with tape and rope, with garbage bags fastened tightly over their heads, and why Toves was wearing a Kabuki-style mask, Kanalakis said, "It's very, very difficult to understand what goes through someone's mind when they are determined to kill themselves. We are at a loss to explain it."
posted by Kevin at 11:09 PM

European Union: Biometric ID Cards :.

The European Union took its first step yesterday towards the creation of an EU-wide health identity card able to store a range of biometric and personal data on a microchip by 2008. Approved by Union ministers in Luxembourg, the plastic disk will slide into the credit-card pouch of a wallet or purse.

The European Health Insurance Card is intended to end the bureaucratic misery of E111 forms currently used by travellers who fall ill in other EU countries. Eventually it will replace a plethora of other complex forms needed for longer stays.

But civil liberties groups said it was the start of a scheme for a harmonised data chip that would quickly evolve into an EU "identity card" containing intrusive information off all kinds that could be read by a computer.
posted by Kevin at 10:44 PM

Israeli Subs Have Nukes Aimed at Iranian Sites :.

It's nearly Miller Time:

American-made Harpoon missiles, armed with nuclear warheads, are now aimed by Israel�s fleet of Dolphin-class submarines against Iran�s nuclear facilities.

Following September�s exclusive report in American Free Press about Israel�s submarine nuclear attack capability, over 100 Harpoon cruise missiles have been secretly airlifted to the remote island of Diego Garcia, a joint UK-U.S. base in the Indian Ocean.

The three Israeli submarines that arrived at the base early this month were each loaded with 24 Harpoon missiles.

They then set sail for the Gulf of Oman�bringing Iran�s nuclear facilities all within range of the submarines� payloads.
posted by Kevin at 9:50 AM

Diebold Internal Documents Banned Under DMCA :.

The ISP will fight:

Defending the right to link to controversial information about flaws in electronic voting systems, EFF announced today it will defend an Internet Service Provider (ISP) and a news website publisher against claims of indirect copyright infringement from the electronic voting machines' manufacturer.

On October 10, 2003, electronic voting company Diebold, Inc., sent a cease-and-desist letter to the nonprofit Online Policy Group (OPG) ISP demanding that OPG remove a page of links published on an Independent Media Center (IndyMedia) website located on a computer server hosted by OPG.

Diebold sent out dozens of similar notices to ISPs hosting IndyMedia and other websites linking to or publishing copies of Diebold internal memos. OPG is the only ISP so far to resist the takedown demand from Diebold.

"What topic could be more important to our democracy than discussions about the mechanics and legitimacy of electronic voting systems now being introduced nationwide?" said EFF Staff Attorney Wendy Seltzer. "EFF won't stand by as corporations like Diebold chill important online debate by churning out legal notices to ISPs that usually just take down legitimate content rather than face the legal risk."

More: Mirrors of Banned Diebold Documents

This is why we mirror early and often!

Cryptogon local

Indymedia

Scifience.net

Here's a mirror of Black Box Voting, by Bev Harris. (If it dies, let me know.) I will mirror the full text myself if it becomes necessary.

I'll add more if these go away. I doubt Diebold can manage to put this genie back in the bottle, but save local copies and prepare to mirror if necessary.
posted by Kevin at 6:36 PM

House Bill for Compulsory Military Service :.

108th CONGRESS, H. R. 163:

To provide for the common defense by requiring that all young persons in the United States, including women, perform a period of military service or a period of civilian service in furtherance of the national defense and homeland security, and for other purposes.
posted by Kevin at 6:25 PM

Thirty Dead After Massacre in El Alto, Bolivia :.

Armed thugs---working for U.S. corporations---were trying to steal Bolivia's fuel for export to the U.S. and Mexico. What would you do? Ask the woman pointing the rifle with the baby on her back:

In the past three days, in the city of El Alto, a prolonged confrontation between security forces and protesters resulted in thirty dead over one hundred wounded, the great majority from bullet wounds. Protesters in El Alto have been maintaining the most intense road blockades in the country for weeks, cutting off the main route to La Paz. As a result, La Paz has been experiencing a severe shortage of gasoline, food and other supplies.

The worst of the confrontations took place on Sunday, October 12, when heavily armed military and police, escorting gasoline tankers tried to pass through the blockades in Alto to get to La Paz, where the shortage of gasoline, paired with blockades, brought transportation to a standstill. The protesters in El Alto would not permit the trucks to pass through the blockades and at 10 am, the confrontation with security forces began.

The security forces, armed with high caliber weapons, indiscriminately fired on the protesters and into homes, as they circled the city in helicopters and shot into the crowds from the ground. Some protesters carried sticks and slingshots, and some of the people killed and injured were children. Of the twenty-eight people killed that day, one was a soldier, from the Charagua Regiment, indicating that army reinforcements had been shipped in from distant regions. Press coverage of the sustained violence included desperate pleas from local hospitals for blood donors and medical supplies, as they were unable to tend to the constantly growing numbers of wounded. Health care professionals begged protestors to let ambulances through the blockades. Security forces frequently transport troops, ammunition and tear gas in ambulances, creating the suspicion of the crowds.
posted by Kevin at 2:19 PM

'Beware Mad Max World of U.S.' :.

United States foreign policy would lead Australia into a "Mad Max world" where the US would shield itself behind missiles, the former prime minister, Paul Keating, said yesterday.

He criticized the US policy of pre-emptive strikes in Iraq and Afghanistan, which he said was giving other countries the signal to walk away from multilateral agreements and treaties.

He said small nations like Australia had a vested interest in a rule-based system around multilateral agreements.

"There is every chance that the American policy will lead us into a Mad Max world, while the US seeks to cocoon itself behind a screen of national missile defence," Mr Keating told the 2003 CPA Australia congress in Melbourne.

He also warned against sole reliance on the US for security and trade. It was not a "smart policy" because China would soon eclipse the US as a superpower.
posted by Kevin at 1:51 PM

Margin: Betting the Farm and Then Some :.

I laugh at people who are long this thing. This rally is so obviously fake. I'm surprised that state and federal pigs haven't shut down the NYSE and various ECNs for racketeering. The most terrifying aspect of this rally is the almost universal belief amongst investors that the corner has been turned and that things are improving. HAHAHAHA! It's 1999 all over again! Get out the putty knife and spackle, we have to patch up the Money Honies on CNBC because NASDAQ 6000 is just around the corner! Yeee HAAA!

Or not...

The shorts will wind up having the last laugh on this swindle:

In the past three months, bullish sentiment among all classes of stock market participants has reached historic extremes.

And, the stronger the public�s confidence in stocks � the more chances they'll be willing to take to catch the surf up.

The latest craze to hit the investment community is margin debt, or borrowing cash to buy stocks.
posted by Kevin at 1:41 PM

Blood Back In Our Tanks :.

Your car could be running on gasoline made from Iraqi oil.

ChevronTexaco and ConocoPhillips both imported Iraqi crude to California in August, according to a filing Tuesday by the Energy Information Administration, the statistical arm of the U.S. Department of Energy.

The shipments mark the first time that Iraqi oil has reached California shores since the United States launched its invasion to unseat Saddam Hussein in March. It also represents a big step toward normalcy for California drivers.

Before the war, Iraq had been California's biggest source of foreign oil. It accounted for 20.1 percent of all the state's imports in 2002, or 6.09 percent of total supplies.
posted by Kevin at 1:34 PM

U.S. General: We're On a Mission from God :.

This is one of the most frightening articles ever posted on Cryptogon:

The Pentagon has given the job of hunting down and eliminating Osama bin Laden, Saddam Hussein and other high-profile targets to a general who believes he is on a mission from God.

Lieutenant-General William "Jerry" Boykin, the new deputy under secretary of defence for intelligence, has made it clear that he sees the war on terrorism as a clash between Judeo-Christian values and Satan.

The much-decorated veteran of covert military operations also believes that radical Muslims who resort to terror are not representative of Islam and compares them to Ku Klux Klan members.

In June, General Boykin told a religious group in Oregon that radical Islamists hated the US "because we're a Christian nation, because our foundation and our roots are Judeo-Christian . . . and the enemy is a guy named Satan".

Of his role in the battle against a Muslim warlord in Somalia, he told another audience: "I knew my God was bigger than his. I knew that my God was a real God and his was an idol."

Last year, he said: "We in the army of God, in the house of God, kingdom of God, have been raised for such a time as this." He has also said of President George Bush: "He's in the White House because God put him there."
posted by Kevin at 1:27 PM

Wi-Fi Shopping Cart :.

For evildoers, the acme of skill is convincing people to imprison themselves. So, in addition to working like a slave for penury and paying 30%-40% of that income to Cheney and his pals, it's desirable to get people to utilize cutting edge technology to surveil their every move and to get them to not only do work for free, but to pay a corporation for that work. Notice how They induce the consumer to adopt this ridiculous technology. Try it, and you'll get $5 to buy more government cheese. Hmmm. I wonder how these Wi-Fi systems will stand up to portable electromagnetic pulse weapons, stun guns, hammers, bats?

The evil supermarket chains want to fire as many employees as possible. The argument goes like this:

"Employees are expensive, if we fire them, we can pass the savings on to you."

What happens is that everything keeps getting more expensive and the CEOs and the PHBs get richer while the rest of us wallow around in the muck. The technology enables the swindle:

Stop & Shop Supermarket Co., a Quincy company owned by Dutch retail giant Ahold, is the first US grocery chain to offer shoppers their own wireless computer terminals for in-store use. Since April, the company has been testing whether consumers who have accepted do-it-yourself checkout lines are ready to take the next step, and total their purchases even before they reach the payment counter.
posted by Kevin at 1:14 PM

Ethernet Network Built Out of Human Beings :.

Researchers from NTT Docomo Multimedia Labs and NTT Microsystem Integration Labs in Japan have demonstrated a 10-megabits-per-second indoor network that uses human bodies as portable ethernet cables.

The network, dubbed ElectAura-Net, is wireless, but instead of using radio waves, infrared light, or microwaves to transmit information it uses a combination of the electric field that emanates from humans and a similar field emanating from special floor tiles.

The network is faster than commercially available personal area networks like the 1-megabit-per-second Bluetooth radio wave system, and tops the 4-megabits-per-second infrared standard set by the Infrared Data Association (IrDA).

The system could eventually provide high-speed wireless communications indoors among portable electronic devices whose positions constantly change.
posted by Kevin at 1:12 PM

Classic Israeli False-Flag Op :.

Three U.S. security men died and a fourth was injured in the roadside bombing just a few kilometres inside the heavily fortified Erez crossing from Israel. The attack prompted universal loathing, and fears the three-year Palestinian intifada has boiled over from more than simply an uprising against Israel, to a war on the Americans as well.
posted by Kevin at 12:34 PM

Halliburton Accused of Overcharging for Oil :.

Imagine my shock:

A US Democratic lawmaker has accused Halliburton, the Texas oil services company once run by Vice President Dick Cheney, of overcharging the government for gasoline the firm imports into Iraq.

Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg Brown & Root (KBR), which defends its pricing as fair, has a contract with the US Army Corps of Engineers to rebuild Iraq's oil sector. This has included importing gasoline products which are in short supply to the oil-rich nation.
posted by Kevin at 12:08 PM

Don't Look Down :.

I wasn't going to update because I have to run out the door, but this one needed to go up:

During the 1990's I spent much of my time focusing on economic crises around the world � in particular, on currency crises like those that struck Southeast Asia in 1997 and Argentina in 2001. The timing of such crises is hard to predict. But there are warning signs, like big trade and budget deficits and rising debt burdens.

And there's one thing I can't help noticing: a third world country with America's recent numbers � its huge budget and trade deficits, its growing reliance on short-term borrowing from the rest of the world � would definitely be on the watch list.

I'm not the only one thinking that. Lehman Brothers has a mathematical model known as Damocles that it calls "an early warning system to identify the likelihood of countries entering into financial crises." Developing nations are looking pretty safe these days. But applying the same model to some advanced countries "would set Damocles' alarm bells ringing." Lehman's press release adds, "Most conspicuous of these threats is the United States."

posted by Kevin at 12:51 PM

The Pharmaceutical "Business with Disease" :.

There is an entire industry with an innate economic interest to obstruct, suppress and discredit any information about the eradication of diseases. The pharmaceutical industry makes over one trillion dollars from selling drugs for ongoing diseases. These drugs may relieve symptoms, but they do not cure. We have to realize that the mission of this industry is to make money from ongoing diseases. The cure or eradication of a disease leads to the collapse of a multi-billion dollar market of pharmaceuticals.
posted by Kevin at 4:35 AM

Interesting Cryptogon Hit From UK Government Site

Someone at the Defense Science and Technology Labortory was reading this page and clicked on the Dead Microbiologists link.

Here's the log info:

Tue Oct 14 03 03:11:34 AM main_page www.contrarianthinker.com/Boxed Sets/CT Dealth.htm 192.5.29.10 warlock.dstl.gov.uk <--- Anyone care to light that thing up with nmap?

Hmm. For some reason, I don't feel like scanning a British Ministry of Defense machine named warlock that was looking at information about murdered microbiologists. Maybe later.
posted by Kevin at 4:15 AM

PHBs Get Secret Help in How to Find the Any Key :.

This story gave me an idea of how you guys can help contriute to Cryptogon. Refer me to PHBs that need computer help. I'll show up anywhere in Orange County or San Diego. $35 per hour, minimum of two hours. You can let your PHB know that they'll be carvin' it up in no time without having to call IT.

Do you know any small business owners who need IT help, but can't afford it? I can help them with Internet access for the entire office, LANs, file servers, firewalls, network printing, VPNs, network security audits, wireless LANs, backup, simple web sites, etc. $35 per hour, minimum of two hours. You can't beat that with a stick, unless someone figures out how to teleport Indian IT workers over here...

�YOU�D BE SURPRISED by what they don�t know,� Shaheen says. �And they�re not comfortable asking the IT person in their company because then they show weakness to their staff.�

Now that the computer revolution is over � and it�s clear the computers won � some senior executives are in the embarrassing position of being perched atop the corporate ladder without knowing their apps from their elbows.

Comments from TR

TR, a long time Cryptogon reader and contributor, comments on the state of the PHB:

I just read that news article and I was blown away. I know she's half-right. These managers don't know shit about computers. But the other half of the equation is that they don't know shit about managing a company either. I mean if you don't have the mental capacity to figure out on your own how to add an email attachment, you sure don't have the mental capacity to run a company. That's just it. Most of these companies are run by boot-licking con artists that have rat-fucked their way to the top of the pyramid. They've bamboozled people with undeserved or faked credentials. They've given snow job power-point presentations; but it's all fiction. It doesn't have to work. It just has to con people. Then they run into a REAL problem, they actually have to add an email attachment. It HAS to work for REAL. You can't fake it. And so they can't do it. But they don't want everyone else to know how grossly incompetent and stupid they are, and how they are unfit for their position of authority. And so, typical of their slimy, deceptive ways, they sneak someone in to show them some tricks so they look like they know what they're doing. These people are the absolute lowest forms of life. I'd say charge them $1000 an hour.
posted by Kevin at 3:56 AM

Pump and Dump: Insiders Selling Into "Strength" :.

Since March, investors have bid up share prices almost consistently, apparently convinced that the economy is improving, corporate earnings are growing again and the market rally is real.

Corporate insiders apparently don't agree.

Stock purchases by insiders was at its lowest level in a decade during the third quarter, according to Thomson Financial, which tracks market trends.

Insider buying totaled $239 million, the lowest quarterly level since the fourth quarter of 1994.

Meanwhile, Thomson said, corporate executives combined to sell $8.7-billion worth of stock during the third quarter, the highest quarterly volume since the second quarter of 2001.

Put simply, executives disposed of $36 worth of their own stock for each $1 in purchases.

posted by Kevin at 3:59 PM

Monkeys Control Robotic Arm With Brain Implants :.

A robotic arm!? What's the big deal? A chimp already runs the Unites States:

Scientists in North Carolina have built a brain implant that lets monkeys control a robotic arm with their thoughts, marking the first time that mental intentions have been harnessed to move a mechanical object.

In the new experiments, monkeys with wires running from their brains to a robotic arm were able to use their thoughts to make the arm perform tasks. But before long, the scientists said, they will upgrade the implants so the monkeys can transmit their mental commands to machines wirelessly.

"It's a major advance," University of Washington neuroscientist Eberhard E. Fetz said of the monkey studies. "This bodes well for the success of brain-machine interfaces."

posted by Kevin at 3:56 PM

Total Information Awareness Flash Animation :.

This is pretty good. If you need Flash, get it here.
posted by Kevin at 3:54 PM

Boneheaded PSYOP: Iraq GIs' Letters to Newspapers Are Identical :.

Incredible:

Letters from hometown soldiers describing their successes rebuilding Iraq have been appearing in newspapers across the country.

And all of the letters are the same.

A Gannett News Service search found identical letters from different soldiers with the 2nd Battalion of the 503rd Airborne Infantry Regiment, also known as "The Rock," in 11 newspapers.

The five-paragraph form letter talks about the soldiers' efforts to re-establish police and fire departments and build water and sewer plants in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk.

It describes people waving at passing troops and children running up to shake their hands and say thank you.
posted by Kevin at 12:35 AM

Grove Says U.S. Is Losing Edge In Tech Sector :.

Good. Maybe we'll get our lives back:

One of the founding fathers of the nation's high-technology industry warned in dire terms yesterday that U.S. dominance in key tech sectors is in jeopardy, threatening the country's economic recovery and growth.
posted by Kevin at 2:15 AM

Putin: Why Not Price Oil in Euros? :.

President Vladimir Putin said Thursday Russia could switch its trade in oil from dollars to euros, a move that could have far-reaching repercussions for the global balance of power -- potentially hurting the U.S. dollar and economy and providing a massive boost to the euro zone.

"We do not rule out that it is possible. That would be interesting for our European partners," Putin said at a joint news conference with German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder in the Urals town of Yekaterinburg, where the two leaders conducted two-day talks.

"But this does not depend solely on us. We do not want to hurt prices on the market," he said.
posted by Kevin at 2:13 AM

Recent Genetic Engineering Experiment Could Have Wiped Out All Plant Life on Continent :.

We got lucky this time. Sometimes, I wonder if Divine Intervention is the reason we're all still here. These geneticists have about the same insights into the nature of life as gorillas have into the nature of a crate full of hand grenades. It seems like the only time humans stop to question their actions is about two seconds after the "Oh shit" moment has passed. This seems to go for all human endeavors. And of course, two seconds after the point of no return is too late.

I'm sure that most "scientists" involved with genetic engineering think that they are in control the entire time and that their precautions and safeguards work. And they will be able to claim success, until the day they can't claim it anymore, because the thing got loose. Then what?

Geneticist David Suzuki understands that what took place was truly ominous 'The genetically engineered Klebsiella,' he says, 'could have ended all plant life on this continent. The implications of this single case are nothing short of terrifying.

Meanwhile Monsanto and the other bio-tech companies are eagerly developing all kinds of genetically modified organisms, hoping to bring them to market. How do we know if they're safe? According to Suzuki: 'We don't, and won't for years after they are being widely used.'

Recent/Related: Insurance Firms Refuse Coverage to Farmers Growing Genetically Modified Crops :.

Research Credit: TR
posted by Kevin at 9:53 PM

Cheney Unfurls: The Day of Horror :.

Well, if anyone knows about horror, it's Cheney. I thought about all of the ways I could have Photoshopped the image of Cheney on the right.... I decided, however, that there was nothing I could possibly do to make it any more frightening than it already is in its original state. Man. Just take a look at that guy:

"the ultimate nightmare...devastation to our country on a scale we have never experienced. Instead of losing thousands of lives, we might lose tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of lives in a single day of horror."

"Some claim we should not have acted because the threat from [deposed Iraqi President] Saddam Hussein was not imminent," Cheney said. "Terrorist enemies of our country hope to strike us with the most lethal weapons known to man, and it would be reckless in the extreme to rule out action and save our worries until the day they strike."

He added, "As long as George W. Bush is president of the United States, this country will not permit gathering threats to become certain tragedies."

Well, there's one problem with that statement. The threats to this country have already gathered and they're sitting in the White House.

Related: Cheney's Secret Organ Bank
posted by Kevin at 5:52 PM

The VeriKid Program :.

A Mexican company has launched a service to implant microchips in children as an anti-kidnapping device.

Solusat, the Mexican distributor of the VeriChip -- a rice-size microchip that is injected beneath the skin and transmits a 125-kilohertz radio frequency signal -- is marketing the device as an emergency ID under its new VeriKid program.
posted by Kevin at 5:47 PM

Germans Criticize Leaders, Admire 'Arnold Effect' :.

Does anyone else find this particularly chilling?

The straight-talking Hollywood action star's election win in California has had an electrifying impact on Germany, leading to calls Friday for top politicians to voice clear ideas in simple language or be swept away at the polls.

"The more confused we are by what they say, the greater our longing for a man or woman with simple words," wrote Bild newspaper columnist Franz Josef Wagner. "The only problem is that it's the wrong ones who usually master simple language."

Schwarzenegger's victory in the California race for governor has led to editorials calling for German politicians to abandon their barely comprehensible speaking style in favor of "Klartext" (straight talk).

Klartext? How about Arbeit Macht Frei? That's pretty clear.
posted by Kevin at 5:45 PM

Iraq: Your Hearts and Minds, or Else :.

Counter insurgency operations make for the ugliest kind of war. The guerilla fighters blend in with the people. THEY ARE THE PEOPLE. When regular military forces are tasked with defeating such an enemy, they are tasked with committing genocide. Look at any of the unconventional wars throughout history and take note of the casualties. Women, children and the elderly represent the largest number of deaths. And so it goes in Iraq:

U.S. troops facing fierce resistance from Saddam loyalists in the so-called Sunni Triangle are taking a page out of an old textbook, rewarding Iraqis who cooperate with them, and punishing those who shoot at them by destroying their houses and crops. It didn't work out very well in Vietnam, and it doesn't look like it's working out in occupied Iraq.
posted by Kevin at 5:42 PM

Enron E-mails Confirm Schwarzenegger-Ken Lay Meeting :.

"You don't meet with America's most well-known corporate crook in the middle of California's biggest financial disaster and not remember," said FTCR's senior consumer advocate Douglas Heller. "Mr. Schwarzenegger should come clean about what happened at that meeting and if he shares Ken Lay's views on energy regulation."
posted by Kevin at 5:40 PM

Pat Robertson: Blow Up the U.S. State Department with a Nuclear Weapon :.

I said things were going to get weird, but I didn't know just how weird:

Introducing Mowbray on his show, Robertson said that a reader of his book could conclude that the State Department needed a nuclear explosion.

"I read your book," Robertson said. "When you get through, you say, 'If I could just get a nuclear device inside Foggy Bottom, I think that's the answer,' and you say, 'We've got to blow that thing up.' I mean, is it as bad as you say?" Robertson said.

"It is," Mowbray said, although his book never suggests that the State Department should be blown up with a nuclear device.

You know, I was looking at pictures of Pat Robertson, and I started thinking.... What if that isn't Pat Robertson.... What if that thing that appears to be Pat Robertson was really something else:


Can you see it? I hope they don't routinely eat apple sauce and pudding at the 700 Club.

If you don't get my twisted humor, type Heaven's Gate Applewhite into Google.
posted by Kevin at 5:37 PM

Limbaugh: Pill Monster :.

It's a shame this imbecile wasn't addicted to any drugs capable of curing acute bloviation:

Conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh, who has spent years campaigning vigorously against drug use, acknowledged Friday that he himself is addicted to painkillers, and that he would immediately check into a treatment center for 30 days to try to break the habit.
posted by Kevin at 5:32 PM

Israeli Tanks Move Into Gaza :.

The rumors proved true:

Israeli tanks rolled into Rafah, in southern Gaza, overnight on a mission to shut down tunnels that Israel says are used for smuggling arms.

Palestinian hospital sources said the fighting killed six Palestinians and wounded at least 40 others.
posted by Kevin at 3:03 AM

Gardner Watts Patented Thermal Energy Cell Process :.

Hot water heater!? Man, I want to strap that thing to my Toyota!

Gardner Watts have patented their TEC process which produces a large surplus of heat energy from a modified electrolysis cell.

We use a tungsten cathode, platinum anode and the electrolyte is distilled water with a catalyst added at low molar concentrations. A high voltage DC or pulsed current input at high frequency is applied. These conditions result in a plasma being formed between electrodes, the release of monatomic hydrogen and further catalytic reactions, which produce excess heat in the form of water heating and steam.

Related: Mizuno Cold Fusion Reactor as Demonstrated by Jean-Louis Naudin :.


posted by Kevin at 2:56 AM

U.S. Gross External Debt More Than $6 Trillion :.

Now, why on earth would countries be considering a move away from taking payments in dollars?

U.S. debt owed to foreign governments, central banks, private banks and other investors topped $6 trillion in the quarter ended June 30, the Treasury Department said on Wednesday.

Of that, about $1.270 trillion in principal and another $53.73 billion in interest is due within the next 3 months, according to a new report on the U.S. external debt position issued by Treasury.

In other words, more than half of the $2 trillion that the U.S. government took from Americans in 2002 is about to paid out as debt service to foreign interests over the next three months. Hmmm. You might be wondering how the U.S. government will pay for debt service in the quarters that follow. Simple: The U.S. Treasury will float more paper. HA! This scam is winding down.

Related: U.S. National Debt Clock :.

To the penny...
posted by Kevin at 4:23 PM

ALMOST CERTAINLY NOT CREDIBLE: Reverse Passover :.

I'd say there's about a 1% chance that this is credible. The source is purely from the lunatic fringe. And coming from me, that ought to tell you something. So, why post it? I'd feel pretty dense if something actually did come down and I left this information sitting unused in my inbox:

"Among the various criminal plans being considered for October is the following plan, which in the parlance of the cabal is called 'a finalist.' The plan -- starting on or just ahead of October 11th -- long-slumbering operatives, or sleepers, will be awakened and then triggered to strike fear into the hearts of all those who are associated with Jewish schools, day care centers, Hebrew schools ( or Schuls ), and those Temples with affiliated schuls, et cetera.

Research Credit: NF
posted by Kevin at 3:28 PM

Rainbow Money Hits the Streets :.

It's a setup for the coming devaluation. It's a lockdown to prevent you from moving your money into some other currency or instrument that hasn't collapsed yet. Yeah, yeah. Like just about everything else on this site, it sounds like bullshit... until it happens:

Patterson calls the new notes "crayola currency" and claims they will circulate domestically while the normal green currency that we've grown accustomed to will circulate offshore all over the globe. According to commentator Terry Savage, "Two-thirds of the U.S. paper currency is circulating in foreign countries." With the coming two-tiered currency system, foreigners will continue to be allowed to use the greenback while U.S. citizens will be stuck with the "crayola currency" which cannot be exchanged.

Patterson forecasts the coming use of foreign exchange controls for the U.S. dollar domestically, which would prohibit Americans from transferring capital to any other world currency.

More: Dollar Battered Again :.

They are letting it slide:

The dollar plumbed three-year lows against the yen and 3-1/2 month lows versus the euro on Thursday on growing views the U.S. and European authorities would let it weaken to correct a ballooning U.S. current account deficit.
posted by Kevin at 2:08 PM

Insurance Firms Refuse Coverage to Farmers Growing Genetically Modified Crops :.

I love the irrational overconfidence of the dabblers, tinkerers and charlatans with PhDs who would like to believe they have attained peer status with God. Keep it up, you idiots. When the smackdown comes, when all of this nonsense finally blows up in your faces, you won't be able to get a job slinging coffee at Starbucks with your PhD in genetics. In fact, one might be able to get rich by selling tar and feathers to the angry mobs that show up to the university campuses and corporate headquarters after they have finished burning all of the GM crops!

Plans for the future of GM crops in Britain suffered a massive blow today as insurance giants issued dire warnings about the unknown dangers posed by the supercrops.

Insurance firms are refusing to offer cover to farmers who want to plant GM crops because they fear a public health disaster and huge compensation payouts.

Such is their concern that they are comparing the use of GM crops to the so-called wonder drug Thalidomide which led to �100 million in payouts to babies born with deformities in the Sixties.

A study on behalf of farmers reveals that none of the top five farming underwriters is prepared to risk insuring farmers against accidental contamination with GM crops.
posted by Kevin at 1:52 PM

Bad Print or Hackers? Dow Jones Industrial Average Shows Massive Loss

I took a screenshot of it. Look to the right. The DJIA shows down -1206.50.
posted by Kevin at 8:46 PM

Russia Might Price Its Oil in Euros :.

Why hold dollars when all they represent is an impossibly huge debt obligation incurred by lots of fat, stupid Americans? Toilet paper has more intrinsic value than U.S. currency. There's one problem with this. The global economic system bought into the dollar myth (the first hit of crack was free) and now some of the largest economies in the world are strapped to the mast of a sinking ship called the American Consumer.

Foreclosures on the rise. Bankruptcies at record levels. Persistent unemployment. Americans are slathered in debt, basted in debt, and, by the way, would you like to take out a home equity loan to pay for your cafe latte? Now that Joe and Jane Sixpack are less able to consume, the smart money players are divesting themselves of dollars and circling the wagons.

One note of caution on this story: It could be a tactic by criminal currency traders who are already short the dollar. Just as more traders start selling dollars, don't be surprised if the entire thing turns out to be bullshit. I doubt it, but it's something to keep in mind:

Russia is increasingly looking at pricing oil sales in euros instead of dollars, reflecting the euro's growing role as a reserve currency, German government sources said Wednesday.

"The question is taking on increasing significance," a person travelling with German Chancellor Gerhard Schr�der on an official visit to Russia said.

A switch into euros by Russia, the second-biggest oil exporter behind Saudi Arabia and holder of the world's largest natural gas reserves, would represent a major shift in the balance of currencies behind the world's most traded commodity.
posted by Kevin at 8:10 PM

Election Math :.

Reader TR uses basic math to demonstrate the nature of "democracy" in the U.S., generally, and California in particular:

Population of eligible voters in CA: roughly 24 million
Number who voted: 7.8 million or 32.5%

Number who voted for Arnold: 3.6 million or 15%

So 15% want Arnold for Governor and we get Arnold for Governor. Welcome to the democracy.
posted by Kevin at 3:33 PM

Argentina: Forclosing on a Country :.

HA! Just wait until this happens to the U.S. Maybe we won't have to pay because we have nuclear weapons:

Argentine Finance Minister Roberto Lavagna used the high-profile forum of the annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, to unveil on Sept. 22 Argentina's long-awaited proposal to restructure some $94.3 billion in public debt, on which the government had defaulted in December 2001. Lavagna's proposed "solution" to the world's longest-running and biggest public debt default, was to write off 75% of the debt's face value, and service the remaining 25% somewhere down the line.

Howls of outraged protest exploded from spokesmen for Argentina's international creditors, especially the speculators widely referred to as "vulture funds," which now hold most of the defaulted bonds. "This is not a serious offer," blustered Christian Stracke, head of emerging market research at CreditSights. "Scandalous, offensive, morally unacceptable," fumed Italian bondholder and lawyer Mauro Sandri, without a trace of irony.

Then came the threats of legal action. "There is no way Argentina will avoid going to court with this offer," warned Stracke. London's Financial Times reported that "frustrated Japanese investors are trying to seize government land in Argentina's Patagonia, and German investors are trying to appropriate Argentine-embassy assets to recoup losses." Rumors even began to swirl that the Argentine Presidential jet would shortly be seized.
posted by Kevin at 5:48 PM

Seige Heil: The Bush-Rove-Schwarzenegger Nazi Nexus and the Destabilization of California :.

I think it's going to get really weird, really fast:

George W. Bush's grandfather helped finance the Nazi Party. Karl Rove's grandfather allegedly helped run the Nazi Party, and helped build the Birkenau Death Camp. Arnold Schwarzenegger's Austrian father volunteered for the infamous Nazi SA and became a ranking officer.

Together, they have destabilized California and are on the brink of bringing it a new Reich. With the Schwarzenegger candidacy they have laid siege to America's largest state, lining it up for the 2004 election.
posted by Kevin at 5:32 PM

Arnold Won, Yawn

The orientation of the American flag in this AP photo basically says it all:


posted by Kevin at 5:23 PM

The Emergence of Bio Warfare Script Kiddies :.

This is how the world ends, not with a bang, but with a gene sequencer:

Automated commercial instrumentation handles an increasing fraction of laboratory tasks that were once the sole province of doctoral level researchers, reducing labor costs and increasing productivity. This technology is gradually moving into the broader marketplace as laboratories upgrade to new equipment. Older, still very powerful instruments are finding their way into wide distribution, as any cursory tour of eBay will reveal. These factors are contributing to a proliferation that will soon put highly capable tools in the hands of both professionals and amateurs worldwide. There are obvious short term risks from increased access to DNA synthesis and sequencing technologies, and the general improvement of technologies used in measuring and manipulating molecules will soon enable a broad and distributed enhancement in the ability to alter biological systems.

Related: GAO: Pentagon Sold Biolab Gear :.
posted by Kevin at 3:49 PM

BREAKING: Hillary Clinton Running for President 2004? :.

Yet another nightmare scenario for 2004....
posted by Kevin at 2:59 PM

Expect Terrorist Attacks on Global Financial System :.

Long ago, when I wrote Cyberwar: How the Terrorists Could Defeat the U.S. and Why They Won't, I said:

If a terrorist group was actually interested in taking down the United States, they wouldn't go for the Lex Luthor style diabolical displays that make for good television. If they were serious, really serious, about delivering a kill-shot to the U.S., they would physically target the computers, and the data communications media, routers and switches that interconnect the networks.

Fedwire and Fednet were two terms that I specifically left out of the essay because I feared that the Fedpigs would accuse me of writing a terrorist manual. Well, now that Phil Williams has said it, I don't see why I can't say it too.

I, however, don't believe terrorists will attack the information infrastructure because the elite are the terrorists, and the elite need to be able to move money around in order to swindle. Now, I suppose we could begin to speculate that if a financial collapse was imminent (which it is), They might decide to crash the thing and make it look like Al Qaeda did it. That might be a cunning plan, given the circumstances, but I would still tend to doubt it. If they take the thing down, how do they bootstrap back up? The ensuing chaos would be unmanageable. Besides, they need the networks to spy on us all:

A successful terrorist attack on America's financial infrastructure could bring the US and global economies to a standstill, and the real surprise is that it hasn't been attempted yet.

"We've gone after al-Qaeda's finances, and it would strike me that in a sense, we can expect retaliation in kind," Dr Phil Williams said during his keynote address at the annual conference of the Centre for Conflict Studies at the University of New Brunswick in Atlantic Canada.

Williams says the attack, when and if it comes, would likely focus on what he calls key nodes in the US financial infrastructure: Fedwire and Fednet. Fedwire is the financial funds transfer system that money exchange among US banks, while Fednet is the electronic network that handles the transactions. The system has one primary installation and three backups.

"You can find out on the Internet where the backups are. If those could be taken out by a mix of cyber and physical activities, the US economy would basically come to a halt," Williams said. If the takedown were to include the international funds transfer networks CHIPS and SWIFT then the entire global economy could be thrown into chaos.
posted by Kevin at 1:58 PM

60 Minutes: First ECHELON Now Skull and Bones :.

I used to think, "If only the TV networks would run a story about ECHELON in primetime....." People would wake up, petards would be manned, the revolution would be on, etc. HA! Then 60 Minutes did a segment on ECHELON. A decent one. And what happened? America closed one eye and farted.

Well, now it's Skull & Bones. This mainstreamification of freak knowledge is disturbing. I'm going to be out of a job here. What's next, for 60 Minutes? Barry Seal, the most notorious narcotics trafficker in the history of the world, and a CIA contractor, getting blown away as he sat in his car with George H.W. Bush's phone number in his trunk? Don't do it, 60 Minutes. I need my chump change, cigarette butts and bottle caps generated from my work on Cryptogon. If all these good people can sit comatose in front of their boob toobs and get the same information, what will become of me!?

What? Nobody cares either way? Oh.
posted by Kevin at 4:41 AM

Vote for Arnold

Nobody I know is voting in this election, including me, and I have voted in every election since I was 18. Two days ago, it hit me like a ton of bricks: We should all vote for Arnold to accelerate the already imminent collapse of this despicable system!

I started out by writing a small essay on why we should all vote for Arnold. The small essay turned into something else. Something I don't know if I can post. Basically, our only hope is that this system collapses before They finish the implementation of the personal surveillance and tracking systems and unleash the next terrorist incident to justify using it all.

It's starting to look like the system will collapse into chaos if simply left alone. But I think we should do everything in our power to speed that along. Electing Arnold will speed up the onset of chaos. And Bush Cheney in 2004! All the way. Let it rip and bring it down!

Give these guys what they want. Let them keep taking it all. In addition to several readers sending emails that say things like, "Game over," and, "We're fucked," TR, it seems, came to the exact conclusion that I did, at the same exact time. He sent me these quotes from the Tao Te Ching:

To reduce someone's influence, first expand it;
To reduce someone's force, first increase it;
To overthrow someone, first exalt them;
To take from someone, first give to them.

This is the subtlety by which the weak overcome the strong:
Fish should not leave their depths,
And swords should not leave their scabbards.
-- Tao Te Ching (verse 36)

Their time is almost up. There is one thing that is truly knowable about these people:

They have no concept of enough.

They will continue to rat fuck us all, and when they can't rat fuck us anymore, they will turn on each other. And that will be our chance. So, to those of you voting in this thing, vote for Arnold and let's stop messing around. Hey, They stripped the nut when They put Bush in the second time. Let's not let Them back it off a quarter turn in 2004! Make them go all the way through with The Plan with Bush for a third time. None of this kinder-gentler fascist Democrat nonsense. Let's get the American Flag Armband brigades fired up, cops in every classroom, Freedom Fries for all, etc.

Hint about what I was writing: When chaos finally does breakout, and it will, you better make damn sure the federal authorities do not manage to implement the Continuity of Government (COG) and the accompanying martial law contingency plans (CABLE SPLICER, REX84 BRAVO, etc). If you know cops, judges, city government people, do anything you can to convince them to refuse the federalization order when it does come down. Stay out of groups that advocate violence. They are honeypots to attract radicals. They will be taken down in lightning strikes and all members will be arrested/killed individually. The feds run the organized insurgencies and never forget that. Resist, refuse, recycle. I'll leave it at that for now.

More: Orwell on Voting for Arnold

Reader NF sends a quote from 1984:

Chapter 4 Part 1
Both of them knew that it was lunacy. It was as though they were intentionally stepping nearer to their graves. As he sat waiting on the edge of the bed he thought again of the cellars of the Ministry of Love. It was curious how that predestined horror moved in and out of one's consciousness. There it lay, fixed in future times, preceding death as surely as 99 precedes 100. One could not avoid it, but one could perhaps postpone it: and yet instead, every now and again, by a conscious, wilful act, one chose to shorten the interval before it happened.

More: Arnold Wearing an American Flag Patch on His Arm

This entire scene is starting to resemble a drug enduced nightmare of the type described by Hunter S. Thompson in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Where are the sausage creatures and the lizard men? When I made that "arm band" comment above, I was being sarcastic in the extreme. Uh, but then I saw this. Oh yeah, the man of the people also wears a $20,000 wrist watch.

From Audemars Piguet:

In 2003, Audemars Piguet is once again accompanying Arnold Schwarzenegger in his latest adventures. After End of Days in 1999, it is in the new film Terminator 3, Rise of the Machines that the actor wears a new interpretation of the famous Royal Oak. Named the Royal Oak Offshore T3 chronograph, it is the largest model in the Offshore line ever made by the master watchmakers of Le Brassus.
posted by Kevin at 3:47 AM

U.S. Alone in Standing by Israel After Attack :.

Only the United States stood behind Israel tonight in the face of international condemnation of the reprisal air raid on Syria that plunged the Mideast into deeper turmoil.
posted by Kevin at 3:01 AM

Microsoft Moving Windows Into BIOS :.

The End:

Microsoft has expanded its relationship with BIOS maker Phoenix Technologies in a deal designed to more closely integrate the basic building blocks of the PC with the Windows operating system.

The relationship, announced this week, is designed to make PCs simpler and more reliable, the companies said. The move is likely to put consumer rights advocates on their guard, however, since both Microsoft and Phoenix are involved in plans to integrate digital rights management (DRM) technology at the operating system and hardware level. DRM is designed to give copyright owners more control over how users make use of software and content, but has been criticized as eroding consumer rights.
posted by Kevin at 8:28 PM

FBI Sent Hamas Money in Late 1990's :.

The governments support the terrorists. The governments control the terrorists. The governments think of the use of terrorism as the continuation of policy by "other" means:

While President Clinton was trying to broker an elusive peace between Israelis and Palestinians, the FBI was secretly funneling money to suspected Hamas figures to see if the militant group would use it for terrorist attacks, according to interviews and court documents.

The counterterrorism operation in 1998 and 1999 was run out of the FBI's Phoenix office in cooperation with Israeli intelligence and was approved by Attorney General Janet Reno, FBI officials told The Associated Press.

Several thousand dollars in U.S. money was sent to suspected terror supporters during the operation as the FBI tried to track the flow of cash through terror organizations, the FBI said in a rare acknowledgment of an undercover sting that never resulted in prosecutions.

"This was done in conjunction with permission from the attorney general for an ongoing operation, and Israeli authorities were aware of it," the bureau said.
posted by Kevin at 8:02 PM

GAO: Pentagon Sold Biolab Gear :.

As pregnant women are fondled at airport security checkpoints:

The Defense Department sold equipment to the public that can be used for making biological warfare agents, according to a draft report by the General Accounting Office.

The Defense Department agency responsible for the sale of excess property to the public, the Defense Reutilization and Marketing Service, halted the sale of such items September 19 while the practice is reviewed.

"Many items needed to establish a laboratory for making biological warfare agents were being sold on the Internet to the public from DoD's excess property inventory for pennies on the dollar, making them both easy and economical to obtain," the GAO draft report said.

"As requested, GAO established a fictitious company and purchased over the Internet key excess DoD biological equipment items and related protective clothing necessary to produce and disseminate biological warfare agents."

A congressional source said the GAO front corporation was able to buy evaporator, incubator and centrifuge equipment that can be used to produce biological warfare agents.

It also bought 300 to 400 protective suits required for the production of biological agents, the source said.

The fictitious GAO company spent "a little over $4,000" for equipment that the Defense Department originally bought for some $46,000, according to the source and the report.

"That's less than 10 cents on the dollar," the source said.
posted by Kevin at 4:24 PM

Coke Plans To Track Contest Winners With Satellites :.

If you think this is simply a dumb gimmick, think again. This is a pure psyop. They are going to associate satellite tracking with "winning it big!" Now what could possibly be so bad about satellite tracking? After all, it's as American as Coca-Cola!

Coca-Cola is working on a new promotional contest where consumers who purchase special cans will be found by satellites.

More: The Dark Side of Coke :.

Early on in their history, The Coca-Cola Company assisted the U.S. in espionage. When the company set up bottling plants and distribution facilities in a new country, sent in were spy operatives.

Research Credit: NF and AL
posted by Kevin at 3:30 AM

Gaze Upon It!

posted by Kevin at 2:51 AM

Spending Our Way to Disaster: The Consumer Debt Bubble in the United States Could Make the Stock Bubble Seem Like Nothing :.

That is the title of a CNN news article! This isn't from some fringe backwater (many of which have been saying this for years). They're coming out and saying it. The Show Is Almost Over:

The American consumer has become deeply addicted to spending, running up ever higher levels of debt in order to live in a fashion that is beyond his means. And the world has become equally addicted to the consumer continuing to burn through cash.

It's a dangerous situation -- potentially a bubble that dwarfs even the U.S. asset bubble that burst in 2000 -- and it will be a challenge for policy-makers to keep it from ending badly.

The perseverance of consumer spending over the past several years is credited with keeping the economy afloat, but it didn't come without consequence. In order to keep on living in the manner they became accustomed to during the boom years, Americans went deeply into hock.

Research Credit: TR
posted by Kevin at 2:43 AM

Israel Attacks Syria :.

The state of Israel is out of control:

Israel bombed a target inside Syria that it claimed was an Islamic Jihad training base, striking deep inside its neighbor's territory Sunday for the first time in three decades and widening its pursuit of Palestinian militants.

The airstrike - a retaliation for a suicide bombing Saturday that killed 19 Israelis - alarmed the Arab world and deepened concerns that three years of Israeli-Palestinian violence could spread through the region.

More: Syrian Terrorists Using Israeli Weapons?!

In the video of the "Syrian terrorist camp" making the rounds on the agitprop TV networks (CNNFOXMSNBCetc), I spotted one IMI (Israeli Military Industries) UZI (sub machine gun) and what I believe were several Galil SARs (assault rifles). Does anyone else find this a bit weird? If not, consider this:

The illegal trade in firearms is run by state intelligence agencies. (No, you weren't absent that day in your university level international security studies classes.) So, where would the gun runners supplying the Syrian terrorists acquire military grade light arms made by Israeli Military Industries, a company run by the Israeli government? Let's pretend for a moment that this "camp" was run by the Syrians. Where did the Syrians get Israeli weapons? I'd ask Ariel Sharon and his chief spook, General Meir Dagan.
posted by Kevin at 4:54 PM

World Oil and Gas 'Running Out' :.

The barriers to viable energy alternatives are political in nature, not technical. How often do I say this? Once per week?

This is just more fodder for the ordo ab chao magicians:

The world's oil reserves are up to 80 percent less than predicted, a team from Sweden's University of Uppsala says. Production levels will peak in about 10 years' time, they say.

"Non-fossil fuels must come in much stronger than it had been hoped," Professor Kjell Alekett told CNN.

Oil production levels will hit their maximum soon after 2010 with gas supplies peaking not long afterwards, the Swedish geologists say.

Related Stat: Eight Minutes in Iraq :.

In eight minutes, the U.S. Government spends more money on running an illegal and unnecessary war than it took for a group of researchers to develop photovoltaic technology that is over 100% more efficient than previous designs.

Related: Eating Fossil Fuels :.

How many burritos per gallon? HAHAHA! Oblivion! It's lovely this time of year!

In the United States, 400 gallons of oil equivalents are expended annually to feed each American (as of data provided in 1994).7 Agricultural energy consumption is broken down as follows:

� 31% for the manufacture of inorganic fertilizer (excluding feedstock)

� 19% for the operation of field machinery

� 16% for transportation

� 13% for irrigation

� 08% for raising livestock (not including livestock feed)

� 05% for crop drying

� 05% for pesticide production

� 08% miscellaneous8

2. To give the reader an idea of the energy intensiveness of modern agriculture, production of one kilogram of nitrogen for fertilizer requires the energy equivalent of from 1.4 to 1.8 liters of diesel fuel. This is not considering the natural gas feedstock.9 According to The Fertilizer Institute (http://www.tfi.org), in the year from June 30 2001 until June 30 2002 the United States used 12,009,300 short tons of nitrogen fertilizer.10 Using the low figure of 1.4 liters diesel equivalent per kilogram of nitrogen, this equates to the energy content of 15.3 billion liters of diesel fuel, or 96.2 million barrels.

3. Between 1945 and 1994, energy input to agriculture increased 4-fold while crop yields only increased 3-fold.11 Since then, energy input has continued to increase without a corresponding increase in crop yield. We have reached the point of marginal returns. Yet, due to soil degradation, increased demands of pest management and increasing energy costs for irrigation (all of which is examined below), modern agriculture must continue increasing its energy expenditures simply to maintain current crop yields.

4. The U.S. food system consumes ten times more energy than it produces in food energy. This disparity is made possible by nonrenewable fossil fuel stocks.

5. Unfortunately, if you remove fossil fuels from the equation, the daily diet will require 111 hours of endosomatic labor per capita; that is, the current U.S. daily diet would require nearly three weeks of labor per capita to produce.
posted by Kevin at 10:02 PM

Israel: Today's Bombing a Justification for October Blitz?

Weeks ago, readers were sending me Jane's and then LaRouche stories about a planned Israeli blitz into Gaza. For some boneheaded reason, I didn't post these stories (or did I?). Anyway, interesting timing of the blast today.... very interesting considering these stories.

From Jane's:

Foreign Report can reveal that the Israeli government is planning an onslaught on the Gaza Strip. This is because, our informant said, its former policy of containing Palestinian violence, including the murder of the Hamas leadership, has failed.

The idea is to launch an intervention in October, once a series of Jewish holidays have finished.

Since the beginning of the intifada, one of the cornerstones of Israeli military policy has been to kill the leaders of Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Fatah-Tanzim. The Israelis believe that these groups are behind Palestinian suicide attacks. In almost three years, more than 100 leading Palestinian militants have been killed by the Israelis.

The Israelis have a reply to the critics of their policy. They claim that the killings have prevented an even greater bloodbath. The Palestinians, on the other hand, claim that the 'assassinations' have only embittered young Palestinians and led to more suicide bombs.

"Hamas is getting professional and financial support from Hizbullah," said our Israeli source. "Hamas is hectically working on increasing the range of its self-made rockets to reach the southern cities of Israel. Their idea is to build the equivalent of south Lebanon in Gaza, and that Israel will never accept."

Israel is planning a huge call-up of at least 50,000 soldiers to cope with the conquering of the Gaza strip. Special Israeli troops will move from house to house to find and kill militants.

The Israelis are well aware of the difficulties of such an operation. Gaza is the most densely populated place on earth. The Israelis assume they will face serious resistance and many casualties. But it seems that the prime minister, Ariel Sharon, is determined to crush Hamas in Gaza.
posted by Kevin at 9:25 PM

WMD: 'You Have Got to Be Kidding' :.

I have no comment on the Kay report. It's not worth the keystrokes. Take your pick of the shrill howls of "bullshit" going out from every corner of the planet. My guess is that They will "uncover" a few canisters of VX and show the rabbit trick* on CNNFOXMSNBC as the election roles around. You'll come to see that Bush saved us all. No more of the vegetable juicer antics at CIAHQ:

Two DIA agents currently serving in Iraq, who also voiced bitterness about other aspects of US Iraq policy, spoke on condition of anonymity to Asia Times Online. The first, a 30-year veteran of the agency, complained that "the fixation on weapons is alienating intelligence staff", calling it an "obsession".

* The VX rabbit trick: one drop of VX nerve agent is placed on the skin of a rabbit. You don't want to know what happens next.
posted by Kevin at 8:50 PM

Idiot Box Spews
Troglodytes Slurp Gleefully
The End Approaches :.

I am considering Haiku titles for all articles:

The more commercial television news you watch, the more wrong you are likely to be about key elements of the Iraq War and its aftermath, according to a major new study released in Washington on Thursday.

And the more you watch the Rupert Murdoch-owned Fox News channel, in particular, the more likely it is that your perceptions about the war are wrong, adds the report by the University of Maryland's Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA).

Based on several nationwide surveys it conducted with California-based Knowledge Networks since June, as well as the results of other polls, PIPA found that 48 percent of the public believe US troops found evidence of close pre-war links between Iraq and the al-Qaeda terrorist group; 22 percent thought troops found weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in Iraq; and 25 percent believed that world public opinion favored Washington's going to war with Iraq. All three are misperceptions.
posted by Kevin at 8:45 PM

Factory Closures Devastate U.S. Towns :.

When Jerry Wilmouth moved to Galesburg, Illinois, five years ago, everyone told him to get a job at Maytag Corp.'s refrigerator plant. Maytag paid the best, they said, and the 50-year-old factory was the lifeblood of the city.

Now, Wilmouth and 379 others are spending their first week of life after Maytag -- the first of 1,600 workers to be laid off between now and the end of 2004, when the plant closes for good and Maytag moves the work to Mexico.

The 46-year-old father of three said he has little hope of finding work in Galesburg to match the $15 an hour he made on the assembly line, and now his 17-year-old daughter is thinking about joining the army to pay for college.

"Every decent-paying job in the area is going, going or already gone and I'm faced with taking a job for $6, $7, $8 an hour," said Wilmouth.
posted by Kevin at 8:41 PM

Arnold Unplugged :.

The day Schwarzenegger announced his run for governor, I told my brother, "He's going to win. You can stop paying attention now. In fact, you'll be voting for him whether you show up to vote, or not." Obviously, as someone who doesn't dabble in the world of the weird, he hadn't heard anything about electronic vote fraud. While I suppose it's possible that Schwarzenegger will not be the next governor of the State of California, I'm sticking with my initial assessment....

It's not what Arnold Schwarzenegger did to the girls a decade back that should raise an eyebrow. According to a series of memoranda our office obtained today, it's his dalliance with the boys in a hotel room just two years ago that's the real scandal.

The wannabe governor has yet to deny that on May 17, 2001, at the Peninsula Hotel in Los Angeles, he had consensual political intercourse with Enron chieftain Kenneth Lay. Also frolicking with Arnold and Ken was convicted stock swindler Mike Milken.

Now, thirty-four pages of internal Enron memoranda have just come through this reporter's fax machine tell all about the tryst between Maria's husband and the corporate con men. It turns out that Schwarzenegger knowingly joined the hush-hush encounter as part of a campaign to sabotage a Davis-Bustamante plan to make Enron and other power pirates then ravaging California pay back the $9 billion in illicit profits they carried off.

Related: Did Shriver Call Buffett, "The Smartest Man in the World"???

I had CNN turned on yesterday (don't ask me why). I wasn't watching it, but I was listening to it as background noise. Did I hear Maria Shriver call Warren Buffett the smartest man in the world? If anyone has a transcript of that thing, let me know. I was so shocked that I just assumed I was hearing things.

Related: Big Plans for Schwarzenegger :.
posted by Kevin at 8:33 PM

18,000 CIA Mind Control Documents Released :.

Mind control is one of those subjects... I'm not talking about the type of perception management and propaganda techniques utilized by the media.

Programmed assassins, sexual compromise operatives, information couriers... To the uninitiated, the entire topic sounds ridiculous, until you spend some time with the subject.

What follows is typical of the antics in the 1950s. The 1960s saw the perfection of pharmacological methods. In the 1970s, electronic and microwave methods were perfected. I haven't been able to glean much about the subject that I can corroborate in terms of developments in the past twenty or so years:

A declassified CIA document dated 7 Jan 1953 describes the experimental creation of multiple personality in two 19-year old girls. "These subjects have clearly demonstrated that they can pass from a fully awake state to a deep H [hypnotic] controlled state by telephone, by receiving written matter, or by the use of code, signal, or words, and that control of those hypnotized can be passed from one individual to another without great difficulty. It has also been shown by experimentation with these girls that they can act as unwilling couriers for information purposes." (CIA Mori ID 190684, 1/7/53)

Another declassified document dated 10 Feb 1954 describes an experiment of relevance to the creation of unsuspecting assassins: "Miss [whited out] was instructed (having previously expressed a fear of firearms) that she would use every method at her disposal to awaken Miss [whited out] (now in a deep hypnotic sleep). Failing this, she would pick up a pistol nearby and fire it at Miss [whited out]. She was instructed that her rage would be so great that she would not hesitate to "kill" [whited out] for failing to awaken. Miss [whited out] carried out these suggestions to the letter including firing the (unloaded) gun at [whited out] and then proceeded to fall into a deep sleep. After proper suggestions were made, both were awakened. Miss [whited out] expressed absolute denial that the foregoing sequence had happened." (CIA Mori ID 190691, 2/10/54)

Research Credit: NF
posted by Kevin at 8:30 PM

Another Solar Power Breakthrough :.

A major European chip maker said this week it had discovered new ways to produce solar cells which will generate electricity twenty times cheaper than today's solar panels.

The new solar cells would even be able to compete with electricity generated by burning fossil fuels such as oil and gas, which costs about $0.40 per watt, said Salvo Coffa, who heads ST's research group that is developing the technology.

"This would revolutionize the field of solar energy generation," he said.

Related: STMicroelectronics Announces Advanced R&D Program Targeting Low Cost Solar Cells :.

Research Credit: TR
posted by Kevin at 8:22 PM

Warren Buffett Weirdness :.

Of all places, Mr. Buffett just happened to be at the U.S. Strategic Command headquarters located at Offutt Air Force Base in Omaha, Nebraska. Offutt AFB is, coincidentally, where President G.W. Bush flew to on Air Force One later on in the day for "safety". What was Buffett doing there? Mr. Buffett was "hosting a charity event" super early in the morning which included a small group of business leaders in which one of them became a very lucky person. This person who became very lucky was Ann Tatlock, the CEO of Fiduciary Trust Co. International. Now what made Mrs. Tatlock such a lucky person for being at this event that morning? Mrs. Tatlock works in the World Trade Center and not only that, but her offices were right where Flight 175 crashed into the WTC 2...

Research Credit: NF
posted by Kevin at 8:19 PM

My Mom Died This Morning

My mom's long struggle with cancer came to an end this morning. There's no need to be sad, or to send condolences. Your kind thoughts are enough. I'll be ok. I just wanted to let you guys know that I'll update again when I feel like it. That could mean later tonight, or never. I just don't know right now.

She got to the point where she didn't want to try the alternative therapies anymore. Obviously, you can't force someone. Her decline was swift and painless.

I tried to give her the choice to turn things around, even up until the very end. I learned about cesium chloride, how to administer it properly, and left a dose of it in liquid form with her yesterday. I told her that if she wanted to try, she could drink it, and I'd bring more. I also told her that I would understand if she was ready to transition to the next phase of existence, and that I loved her. She didn't drink it. She left it sitting there.

I would encourage people to use alternative cancer therapies, but what I have learned from this experience is that the person with the cancer MUST want to live. My mom has been ready to go for a long time, and this morning, she went.

I will miss her, but I know that she will be with me always.
posted by Kevin at 4:09 PM

Italy: Get Paid to Spawn :.

The tax and spend pyramid scam in Italy is crumbling. They are considering paying people to breed in order to create more tax payers:

In Italy, a country with the lowest birth rate and fastest ageing population in Europe, the foundations of the ample state pension scheme have already begun to crumble.

This week the Italian Government announced in its annual budget a cash bonus for the birth of a second child - can this deliver?
posted by Kevin at 12:29 PM

Are You Ready For A Militarized Police Force? :.

The Bush administration is calling for the repeal of the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878, a law passed after the Civil War to prohibit the deployment of federal military forces onto American streets to control civil action - otherwise known as martial law.
posted by Kevin at 12:15 PM

Clark Starts to Break Down in Public :.

Do you think someone is standing nearby with a "kill switch" in case he starts to spin out too much? In any event, they'll have the Super Craptastical Inkjet Fabricator and a time machine. HAHAHA! All you can do is laugh at this point:

"I still believe in e=mc�, but I can't believe that in all of human history, we'll never ever be able to go beyond the speed of light to reach where we want to go," said Clark. "I happen to believe that mankind can do it.

"I've argued with physicists about it, I've argued with best friends about it. I just have to believe it. It's my only faith-based initiative." Clark's comment prompted laughter and applause from the gathering.

Research Credit: TR
posted by Kevin at 1:08 AM

Terrorist Bioweapons that Attack Crops :.

There's one problem with trying to frighten people with this one: Monsanto has already done that with their terminator technology. That frightened the living crap out of me! But why isn't Bush dropping bombs on Monsanto's headquarters?
posted by Kevin at 1:01 AM

Job Losses at Great Depression Levels :.

In the past 22 months just over one million Americans have lost their job. Added to the 1.78 million lost jobs during the seven-month recession, the period represents the largest sustained loss of jobs since the Great Depression.
posted by Kevin at 12:59 AM

Pentagon Investigates Movement of Funds :.

$20 million might sound like a large sum of money to many people, but that is chicken feed compared to the Pentagon's $2.3 trillion boondoggle:

The Pentagon's internal auditor is investigating allegations that Defense Department officials tried to hide $20 million from Congress by temporarily putting the funds in the budget of the Special Operations Command, Defense officials said yesterday.
posted by Kevin at 12:57 AM

Now Here's a Shocker! :.

A company that was created to help clients take advantage of business opportunities in Iraq is made up of businessmen associated with President Bush, his family and his administration.
posted by Kevin at 12:55 AM

Is Your Job Moving to India? :.

This is a chilling article. Safe jobs in the U.S.? HA! Swindling, slaves and cops:

Software giant Oracle said it's moving 2,000 developer jobs from the United States to India, doubling the number of developers it has on payroll there. Then Hewlett-Packard announced plans to close a customer-service operation in Florida and send the operation's 1,200 jobs overseas, again to India.

Though negligible when compared to the sheer numbers of job losses in manufacturing, the shifts by two technology companies are alarming for what they likely foretell: no less than the relocation of millions of high-end technology and service jobs from this country to less expensive foreign venues. In the process, there will be a redefining of what constitutes �safe� employment in America.
posted by Kevin at 12:54 AM

President Bush's "Bring Them On" Picture Album :.

What a waste.
posted by Kevin at 12:50 AM