Ashcroft, Snoops and Gag Orders: The Secrets of Surveillance :.

I've noticed something lately. On occasion, Blogger and Yahoo seem to forget the cookies that allow their systems to immediately recognize me. Specifically, I noticed that this happens when I log into these services from computers other than my home system. When I return home, they require me to login again. I figured that since a login occurred from a different system, the security token is removed from the home system, therefore requiring authentication once I use the home system again.

Well, here's where the tinfoil hat comes in handy. Occasionally, Blogger and Yahoo drop the security tokens from my system without me logging into those services from other computers! And no, I didn't accidentally hit the "Log Out" links. I've had a feeling that something weird was happening, but I've just ignored it because I thought it was paranoia. I'm not so sure after reading this:

Everyone knows by now (or should) that the Patriot Act allows the FBI to conduct surveillance on Internet and email usage. Using so-called National Security Letters (NSLs), the FBI directs Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to provide passwords and identifying information that will allow the government to target people who are plotting terrorism or who are otherwise potentially dangerous to national security. I am sure that many of you reading this (and I, likely) have the government in our computers.
posted by Kevin at 6:44 AM

Rumsfeld Says 'War on Terror' Just Beginning :.

With "liberation" like this, who needs the Apocalypse?

The United States' declared war on terror is closer to the beginning than the end, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld told graduates of the U.S. Military Academy on Saturday.

Rumsfeld told the 2004 graduating class of 935 cadets that in the three years since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on America, the U.S.-led coalition had "overthrown two vicious regimes and liberated 50 million people, disrupted terrorist cells across the globe and thwarted many terrorist attacks."

"Yet despite our successes, we are closer to the beginning of this struggle with global insurgency than to its end," he said.
posted by Kevin at 1:28 AM

Cheney Office Denies Role in Halliburton Deal :.

What? How could anyone suggest that Cheney would be involved in any underhanded dealing!? These are shocking accusations!

Vice President Dick Cheney's office denied Sunday that he was involved in a coordinated effort to secure a multibillion dollar Iraq oil deal for Halliburton, his former employer.

A reference to such an arrangement was made in an internal Pentagon e-mail from an Army Corps of Engineers official to another Pentagon employee, Time magazine reports in its June 7 edition, which is due on newsstands Monday.

The existence of the e-mail was confirmed to CNN by a senior administration official familiar with it.

The e-mail -- dated March 5, 2003 -- says Douglas Feith, undersecretary of defense for policy, approved the arrangement to award the contract to the oil-services company, the administration official said.

According to an e-mail excerpt in Time, the contract was "contingent on informing WH [White House] tomorrow. We anticipate no issues since action has been coordinated w[ith] VP's office."
posted by Kevin at 1:02 AM

60th Anniversary of D-Day: French Town Under Martial Law :.

This article goes on for several paragraphs about all of the military power that will be deployed for this event, and then, in the last paragraph, we read:

The town's residents have been told that they must either stay indoors throughout next Sunday or leave the area. Even Patrick Jardin, the mayor, one of the few local people invited to the international ceremony, will have to travel by bus to Caen, 45 minutes' drive away, and board a special bus to return to Arromanches that afternoon.

Who won World War II again?
posted by Kevin at 12:52 AM

Don't Try to Cheat the Telescreen, Hide Your Books :.

Inside the flat a fruity voice was reading out a list of figures which had something to do with the production of pig-iron. The voice came from an oblong metal plaque like a dulled mirror which formed part of the surface of the right-hand wall. Winston turned a switch and the voice sank somewhat, though the words were still distinguishable. The instrument (the telescreen, it was called) could be dimmed, but there was no way of shutting it off completely.

---George Orwell, 1984

Telescreen viewing mandatory for school kids:

"To Ms. Ehrenfeld: This morning I observed that during the morning news program, you and your students were engaged in activities other than watching television."

So began the official letter of reprimand placed in my personnel folder by the principal at the elementary school in Maryland where I was teaching 3rd grade at the time. Odd as the accusation was, it was made even odder by the fact that my students were reading when the principal caught them not watching television. She had walked in, and there they were, sitting as silently as a group of 3rd graders can, every one of them absorbed in a book.

What they were supposed to be doing was watching our school's morning news show, an exercise in terminal boredom during which students from the upper grades mumbled incoherently into a microphone, reading the weather forecast, the lunch menu, and the daily announcements in a fast monotone. Every day, this list would be supplemented by an "educational lesson," which often consisted of a vocabulary word and its definition. I imagine the expectation was that after hearing the word spoken once, all of the children would retain it in their memories forever.

Because this was an inner-city school with abysmal test scores and a learning day far too short to cover the material necessary to help these students, I hoarded every educational second. For much of the year, my television had been mysteriously out of order, which neatly solved the problem of wasting 20 minutes watching the news. Then, sadly, it was fixed, and I no longer had an excuse for skipping the program. So I did the next best thing: I devoted the time to silent reading and trained the kids to ignore the screen (no small feat with TV-addicted children). This worked beautifully�until we were busted.

Related: New Microsoft System Has no "Off" State
posted by Kevin at 4:00 PM

National Geographic: The End of Cheap Oil :.

Humanity's way of life is on a collision course with geology---with the stark fact that the Earth holds a finite supply of oil. The flood of crude from fields around the world will ultimately top out, then dwindle. It could be 5 years from now or 30: No one knows for sure, and geologists and economists are embroiled in debate about just when the "oil peak" will be upon us. But few doubt that it is coming. "In our lifetime," says economist Robert K. Kaufmann of Boston University, who is 46, "we will have to deal with a peak in the supply of cheap oil."
posted by Kevin at 2:07 PM

Shooting Rampage, Hostage Crisis in Saudi Arabia Leaves 22 Dead :.

Helicopter-borne Saudi commandos drove al-Qaeda militants from an expatriate housing complex in the kingdom's oil hub Sunday, ending a shooting and hostage-taking spree that left 22 dead � most of them foreigners.
posted by Kevin at 2:01 PM

Israeli Movers In Sub Base Security Scare Freed :.

Get out of jail free card, if you're an Israeli spy:

The two Israeli men in a moving van who tried to get past security officials at Kings Bay Naval Submarine Base without proper identification last Friday will soon be released, the MadCowMorningNews has learned, if they haven't been already.

The arrest of the two Israelis, Tamir David Sasson, 24, and Daniel Henry Levy, 23, prompted a security scare that shut down the Kings Bay Naval Submarine Base in Georgia, home port for 10 of the nation's 18 submarines armed with nuclear missiles.

Moreover it marked the second time in two weeks that Israelis in moving vans have been apprehended under suspicious circumstances near U.S. nuclear facilities. The other reported incident also occurred near a U.S. Navy nuclear facility, this time in Mars Hill, NC., which the local Sheriff explained is "the nation's sole provider of fuel for the Navy's nuclear subs."

If authorities discerned a pattern, they weren't saying.

Flashback: Israel Targets... New Zealand? :.

Two of the spies have been caught red-handed, and arrested, while one has fled the country and police are still looking for a fourth Israeli who is believed to be still at large. While not admitting that the four are spies � but not denying it, either � New Zealand's Prime Minister, Helen Clark, is furious, and has vowed "a strong and public response once the court action has concluded."

What in heck is going on in New Zealand?

According to the New Zealand Herald, the police set a trap for the Mossad spooks when officials became suspicious about this particular passport application, and, noting an irregularity, contacted the alleged applicant � who turned out to be not only wheelchair-bound but also in residential care. He wasn't going anywhere.

Flashback: U.S. Jew Pleads Guilty to Handling Missile Money :.

A New York Jewish diamond dealer pleaded guilty on Tuesday to charges that he unwittingly handled a $30,000 payment for smugglers of a shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missile who intended to shoot down U.S. airliners.

Yehuda Abraham, 76, could be fined up to $250,000 and sentenced to up to five years in prison for operating an unlicensed money transmitting business, according to the U.S. Attorney in Newark, New Jersey.

Abraham was arrested last August in an FBI sting operation that also netted a British arms dealer charged with trying to sell the missile to an FBI informant at a hotel near the Newark International Airport.

Abraham told a U.S. District Court judge in Newark, New Jersey, that he had received $30,000 from the informant who had agreed to buy the missile. He said he did not know and did not ask what the $30,000 payment was to be used for when he accepted it at his business office in New York in October 2002, and wired the payment to a bank in Hong Kong.
posted by Kevin at 1:53 PM

San Francisco Gallery Owner Beaten Over Abu Ghraib Display :.

All fascist states devolve into this. The U.S. is no different than any of the others:

After displaying a painting of U.S. soldiers torturing Iraqi prisoners, a San Francisco gallery owner bears a painful reminder of the nation's unresolved anguish over the incidents at Abu Ghraib -- a black eye and bloodied brow delivered by an unknown assailant who apparently objected to the art work.
posted by Kevin at 5:58 AM

Cryptogon Reader Contributes $10

Long time reader JM sent in $10. Thanks!
posted by Kevin at 11:35 AM

Wave Your Flags: Friendly Fire Killed "American Hero" Pat Tillman :.

Former pro football player Pat Tillman was killed by friendly fire as he led Army Rangers up a hill during a firefight in Afghanistan last month, newspapers in California and Arizona reported today.

The U.S. Army Special Operations Command was to release information later today on the death of Tillman, who walked away from a $3.6 million NFL contract to join the Army after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
posted by Kevin at 11:31 AM

Flashback: Pentagon Tells Bush: Climate Change Will Destroy Us :.

Since many of you might see The Day After Tomorrow, I thought I'd re-link to a report that we should actually take seriously. I saw the movie. Blah. For a real thrill, read the report the Pentagon sent to the President.
posted by Kevin at 9:58 PM

NEC America: Guilty of Collusion and Wire Fraud, Will Pay $20.6 Million Criminal Fine :.

Many (if not most) corporations are nothing more than criminal enterprises with a thin patina of legitimacy that helps to maintain appearances:

NEC-Business Network Solutions Inc., a subsidiary of NEC America Inc., has agreed to plead guilty and to pay a total $20.6 million criminal fine, civil settlement and restitution today relating to charges of collusion and wire fraud in the Federal Communication Commission's E-Rate program, the United States Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Califomia and the Department of Justice's Antitrust and Civil Divisions announced.

The E-Rate program, created by Congress in the Telecommunications Act of 1996, provides funding for needy schools and libraries to connect to and utilize the Internet. Under the E-Rate program, which is funded by monies collected from telephone users, schools apply for monies for cabling, Internet backbone equipment (i.e. servers, PBX, and switches), and monthly connectivity service fees.

In court papers filed under seal on May 24, 2003, and unsealed today in U.S. District Court in San Francisco, NEC-Business Network Solutions Inc. (NECBNS), based in Irving, Texas, was charged with allocating contracts and rigging bids for E-Rate projects at five different school districts in Michigan, Wisconsin, Arkansas, and South Carolina, in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act. NEC/BNS is also charged with wire fraud by entering into a scheme to defraud the E-Rate program and the San Francisco Unified School District by inflating bids, agreeing to submit false and fraudulent documents to hide the fact that it planned on installing ineligible items, agreeing to donate "free" items that it planned to bill E-Rate for, and submitting false and fraudulent documents to defeat inquiry into the legitimacy of the funding request.

Related: The Corporation: The Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power by Joel Bakan
posted by Kevin at 3:36 AM

Pending Draft Legislation Targeted for Spring 2005 :.

There is pending legislation in the House and Senate (twin bills: S 89 and HR 163) which will time the program's initiation so the draft can begin at early as Spring 2005 -- just after the 2004 presidential election. The administration is quietly trying to get these bills passed now, while the public's attention is on the elections, so our action on this is needed immediately.
posted by Kevin at 12:54 AM

Terrorists on Ashcroft's 'Wanted List' Already in Jail :.

This will help when arrests/bodies of suspects need to be produced after something happens:

At least two of the terrorists identified by John Ashcroft as part of an 'Al-Qaeda cell' that is waiting to attack America this summer are already in jail.

A respected website that holds databases on terror suspects lists Amer El-Maati as 'incarcerated'.

Likewise, Aafia Siddiqui, a female former MIT student, was arrested in Pakistan over a year ago, according to NBC.

The 'cell' that these individuals are said to belong to doesn't even exist. The Abu Hafs al Masri group was described by the Boston Globe as a 'phantom organization'. Their researchers could find no evidence that the group was real.
posted by Kevin at 6:58 PM

Musings with TR from Yesterday :.

Yesterday, TR and I were talking about how .gov and .mil will eventually classify people living outside of cities in a self sufficient manner as terrorists:

"They'll say that people who are growing and raising their own food are supporting al Qaeda."

* Laughter *

"Sure, why not..." said TR.

"And most people will think, 'Yep, that sounds about right.'"

* Laughter *

Now, I have to admit, this was partially hyperbole... Just a couple of guys making fun of how absurd things are getting.

Today, though, we're hearing that "the terrorists" wanted to set up a training camp in rural Oregon!

Abu Hamza al-Masri, a radical Muslim cleric linked to Zacarias Moussaoui and shoe bomber Richard Reid, was arrested Thursday in London and accused in a U.S. indictment of trying to establish a terrorist training camp in Oregon, U.S. officials said.

The subtle message in all of this BS is: "There are terrorists in the hills." Oregon has a large number of freedom minded people who will refuse to go along with the impending lockdown. It makes sense that the seeds of a PSYOP to manage perceptions about "terrorists in the hills" are being sown now.
posted by Kevin at 6:10 PM

SHOOT TO KILL ORDERED AT G8, DNC, and RNC :.

Fascism in full bloom this Summer:

Pacifica News and the AP have both stated in the last two days that there is potential for the use of Lethal Force at the G8, DNC, and RNC this summer.

Related: Endangered Species- Safe, People in Pink Tutus Waving Signs- Marked for Death :.

HAHAHA! You couldn't even make this stuff up if you tried. This is an AP story!

Military and security forces will be authorized to shoot to kill while policing Sea Island and its surrounding waters during next month's G8 summit. But they'll be careful not to step on turtle eggs or mow down a manatee while they're doing it.

Georgia natural resources officials have trained forces from the military, Secret Service and other agencies on how to keep an eye out for the coastal region's natural inhabitants -- including several endangered species.

The coastal division director with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Susan Shipman, said, "We've tried to make them aware, to show them the sensitive areas. There's really been a sense from the G8 people of wanting to make everything as environmentally friendly as possible."

Since violent protests broke out at the 2001 summit in Genoa, Italy, G8 organizers have looked for meeting sites in remote areas that are easier to secure from protesters than previous urban sites.
posted by Kevin at 5:57 PM

Dublin Supports Home Composting :.

The Irish people are still smart. They haven't been lobotomized by the Myth of the Machine... yet.

Ireland is a weird place. It's got one foot in everything that's ultra modern and the other foot in a way of life that hasn't changed that much in several hundred years. If the Irish refuse to forget the role the land has played in their history, other countries might just be looking to the tiny, green island for ideas on how to solve their own mounting and seemingly intractable problems.

Consider this: Of all the places John Seymour could have picked to build his school of self sufficiency and live out his days, he picked Ireland. Look into Seymour's background. He's a fascinating guy who has mastered the skills that average humanity is going to have to re-learn. I also like his solution to the GM crop issue... Burn them to the ground.

I'm also guessing that innovative energy solutions will emerge, first, on island, energy poor states such as Ireland and Japan. They have everything to gain (and nothing to loose) by having the courage to utilize new and old solutions to the energy problems the world is facing.

A note on this composting guide: It's a great introduction to composting. You can follow what this little guide says and get great compost. If, however, you want to become a compost freak, amaze, amuse and possibly frighten friends and relatives, check out something like, The Rodale Book of Composting by Grace Gershuny and or, Let it Rot by Stu Campbell.

Warning: If you have never made compost before, be prepared to have a religious experience. I'm not kidding. Try it!

Related: Mantis No-Wait Compost Thermometer

Research Credit: DG
posted by Kevin at 4:28 PM

Military Families Mourn Daughters :.

They will be coming for your sons AND your daughters when the draft starts in 2005:

When Sgt. Isela Rubalcava's body arrived at the airport from Iraq, her mother wailed like a child. "I don't want to see her like this," Maria Isela Rubalcava cried out in Spanish, a priest at the scene said. "Why, Isela, why? Get up, get up! Let's go home."

By the time a funeral Mass was celebrated last week at St. Patrick's Church in nearby Canutillo, the Rev. Manny Marrufo said, Maria Rubalcava had accepted the reality that her daughter was gone, dead of shrapnel wounds she suffered when a mortar round exploded during an attack in Mosul on May 8. It was three days before her 26th birthday.

Rubalcava was one of 20 female U.S. service members to die so far in Operation Iraqi Freedom -- the highest number of U.S. military women to die in a combat operation since World War II, military historians said.

In addition, 162 women have been wounded in Iraq, 99 of them too badly to return to duty, according to the Defense Department.

Related: Military Uses Pink T-Shirts to Recruit Girls
posted by Kevin at 4:22 PM

New Home Sales Dive 11.8 Percent :.

I hope you're not going to try to squeeze through the exists with the rest of the sheep, after I've been warning you about this for a year. The frightening thing is, we haven't seen anything yet. Wait until the panic ensues as those adjustable rates start ticking up:

Sales of new U.S. homes sagged well below expectations in April to post their biggest monthly drop in more than ten years as rising mortgage interest rates cooled the busy housing market, a government report showed on Wednesday.

Sales of new homes tumbled 11.8 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.093 million units from an upwardly revised record high of 1.239 million in March, the Commerce Department (news - web sites) said.

Analysts polled by Reuters were expecting sales to ease to a 1.200 million unit pace.

April's rate was the lowest level of new home sales since November in what is normally the peak season for real estate sales. The decline -- the largest monthly drop since January 1994 -- could signal the end of a housing boom fueled by the lowest mortgage interest rates since the early 1960s.
posted by Kevin at 4:10 PM

Total Information Awareness Operational :.

Place this one in the No Shit Sherlock file folder:

Nine months after Congress shut down a controversial Pentagon computer-surveillance program, the U.S. government continues to comb private records to sniff out suspicious activity, according to a congressional report obtained by Reuters.

Privacy concerns prompted Congress to kill the Pentagon's $54 million Total Information Awareness (TIA) program last September, but government computers are still scanning a vast array of databases for clues about criminal or terrorist activity, the General Accounting Office (GAO) has found.

Overall, 36 of the government's 199 data-mining efforts collect personal information from the private sector, a move experts say could violate civil liberties if left unchecked.

Several appear to be patterned after the TIA program, which critics said could have led to an Orwellian surveillance state in which citizens have little privacy.

"I believe that Total Information Awareness is continuing under other names, and the [Defense Department] projects listed here might fit that bill," said Peter Swire, an Ohio State University law professor who served as the Clinton administration's top privacy official.

Defense Department officials didn't respond to a request for comment.

Research Credit: BW
posted by Kevin at 3:52 PM

Van to Photograph Buildings, Link Images to GPS Data :.

An odd-looking van sprouts 13 digital cameras that its builder wants to use to photograph 50 million buildings in the country while driving, taking pictures every 15 feet.

The van's drive-by snaps would be matched against GPS satellite positioning data and aerial photographs in a database. Police, insurance agents and others then could call up overhead and street-level views simply by entering an address.

The setup from Imageos Inc. was one of the security-related exhibits on display at this year's CeBIT America technology trade show, which opened here Tuesday. Other companies were showing software tools to secure wireless networks, monitor employee surfing and protect users from viruses and spyware.

The main market for Imageos' photographs would be insurance appraisals, but the Boulder, Colo., startup is also touting the pictures for "homeland security" applications, law enforcement and emergency services.
posted by Kevin at 11:30 PM

Cryptogon Reader Contributes $11.11

Thanks, Ben! I'm firing up a sunflower grove near my garden.

One packet of Heirloom Russian Mammoth Sunflower seeds from Mother's Market and Kitchen: $2.49

Three bags of Steer Manure Blend from Home Depot: $2.64

Several wheelbarrows full of dead leaves: Free

Seeing 12 foot tall plants with 10-14 inch flowers outside my garden in a few months: Priceless

Note: TR mentioned possible dangers with the Home Depot steer manure. He's right. I just assumed people would realize not to use this on food crops. But I shouldn't assume everyone will realize this. Don't use that stuff on food crops! I just bought it because it was 88 cents per bag and I'll just be using in on flowers.
posted by Kevin at 10:57 PM

U.S. Army Releases VX Nerve Agent into Wildlife Sanctuary :.

The U.S. Army and a contractor were fined nearly $52,000 for releasing a deadly chemical weapon on a wildlife sanctuary in the Pacific Ocean, federal environmental officials announced Wednesday.

An unknown quantity of VX nerve agent was released in August 2002 at a chemical weapons disposal facility on Johnston Atoll when a tray holding remnants of a VX shell was improperly loaded into an incinerator, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's office in San Francisco.
posted by Kevin at 10:44 PM

"Super Size Me" Gets Downsized by MTV :.

Let them eat Freedom Fries:

Film documentary "Super Size Me," a critical look at the health impact of a fast-food only diet, has been downsized at cable network MTV which has refused to air advertisements for the film, its distributors said on Wednesday.

Roadside Attractions and Samuel Goldwyn Films said in a statement the cable TV channel targeted to young audiences has told them the ads are "disparaging to fast food restaurants."
posted by Kevin at 10:40 PM

Israeli "Movers" Who Prompt Kings Bay Lockdown To Be Deported :.

Two Israeli men working for a moving-and-storage company who attempted Kings Bay Submarine Base Friday are being held for deportation.

The two entered the Franklin gate about 10:30 a.m. Friday to pick up some items in base housing, base spokesman Ed Buczek said.

Neither was able to present valid work permits to security personnel, and one had an expired passport. Base personnel and bomb-sniffing dogs inspected the van, prompting a lockdown of the base.

St. Marys police closed access to an area one-half mile surrounding the base and called in a bomb squad, Buczek said.

"The military dogs were alerted to a scent in the cab of the truck," Buczek said. "Guards closed access to the base and notified the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service."

Nothing was found in the van, but both men, Tamir D. Sason, 24 and Daniel Levy, 23, both of Metar, Israel, were turned over to federal immigration officers as undocumented aliens. They are being held for deportation.

Kings Bay is near Sea Island, which will host the G8 Summit next month.

Research Credit: AV
posted by Kevin at 7:35 PM

Handcuffed, 9 Year Old Girl Shot with Taser Gun :.

Mad pig disease:

A veteran South Tucson police sergeant is under investigation for firing his stun gun to subdue a handcuffed 9-year-old girl.

At the request of Chief Sixto Molina, the Pima County Sheriff's Department is trying to determine if the sergeant committed a crime when he sent a jolt through the child's body.

The police officer used a Taser on the girl at about 5:30 p.m. May 8, Molina said. The nonlethal weapon uses a pulsating electrical charge to immobilize a person for several seconds.

"I'll be the first to admit, you've got a veteran sergeant Tasing a 9-year-old girl, it doesn't look good," said Molina.
posted by Kevin at 7:17 PM

California May Require Thumb Print for Ammo Purchases :.

A bill passed by the California Senate that would require ammunition buyers to provide a thumb print at the time of purchase amounts to "an insidious invasion of privacy," the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (CCRKBA) said today.

"California lawmakers are trying to reinvent a broken wheel," said CCRKBA Executive Director Joe Waldron. "Recording ammunition sales has proven to be ineffective in solving crime, and requiring a thumb print moves this idea into the realm of the ludicrous. It's a waste of time and taxpayers' money, but more importantly, this constitutes a serious privacy issue. If this measure dealt with something other than a gun control issue, the ACLU would be screaming about it.

"If this becomes law," he added, "it is just another example of California lawmakers treating honest gun owners like criminals. What comes next? Will citizens be required to submit a fingperprint to buy a car? Will the next dumb idea force gun owners to submit their medical records before they can legally buy firearms and ammunition?"

Research Credit: BW
posted by Kevin at 7:02 PM

Liberation: U.S. Asks Private Sector to Ease Bullet Shortage :.

Even in the age of unmanned aerial vehicles, satellite-guided bombs and night-vision goggles, the US army cannot fight a war without its most basic necessity: bullets.

And with more troops in Iraq, more intense combat than expected and the need for almost every soldier from frontline infantryman to rearguard logistician to be prepared for an ambush, the army suddenly finds itself in a bullet crunch.

According to a requisition last week by the Army Field Support Command, the service will need 300m to 500m more bullets a year for at least five years, or more than 1.5m a year for combat and training. And because the single army-owned, small-calibre ammunition factory in Lake City, Missouri, can produce only 1.2m bullets annually, the army is suddenly scrambling to get private defence contractors to help fill the gap.

The bullet problem has its roots in a Pentagon effort to restock its depleted war materiel reserve. But it has been exacerbated by the ongoing operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, where rearguard and supply units have been thinly-stretched throughout the countryside, occasionally without active duty combat soldiers to protect them.

The army's formal solicitation acknowledges that its current m anufacturing abilities have been all but exhausted. "Increasing military contingencies have created a situation where the capability to produce small calibre ammunition through conventional methods has been fully exercised," it said.

Specifically, the army is looking for 300m more bullets annually, potentially rising to 500m a year.
posted by Kevin at 6:57 PM

NASA Integrating Robot Craft into Nation's Airspace :.

NASA said Thursday it is launching a program that could have robot planes and conventional piloted aircraft routinely and safely sharing civil airspace by 2008.

Unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones, are now limited primarily to restricted test or military airspace.
posted by Kevin at 6:51 PM

Drug Causing GIs Permanent Brain Damage :.

Six U.S. soldiers have been diagnosed by the military with permanent brain damage from an anti-malaria drug used in Iraq and Afghanistan, and health officials must reassess its safety, a U.S. senator said.
posted by Kevin at 3:51 PM

The Jesus Landing Pad :.

It's easy to write off lunatic Christians, Jews, whatever, as raving freaks, cranks and nuts. You think, "These people are insane," and then you go about your day.

All of this nonsense about alleged Christians in the Bush administration could, however, be a cover story to get all of the average idiot Christians to believe Bush is actually a Christian.

There's one problem: Bush is obviously not a Christian.

I don't like using mumbo jumbo from the Bible, but I do this only to get the average Christians to see the error in their emotional attachment to the concept of Bush-the-Christian. READ YOUR OWN BOOK, THAT YOU CLAIM TO VALUE SO MUCH, YOU FILTHY HYPOCRITES!

Matthew 7:15-17

15 Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.

16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?

17 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.

Wake up all ye imbeciles!

It was an e-mail we weren't meant to see. Not for our eyes were the notes that showed White House staffers taking two-hour meetings with Christian fundamentalists, where they passed off bogus social science on gay marriage as if it were holy writ and issued fiery warnings that "the Presidents [sic] Administration and current Government is engaged in cultural, economical, and social struggle on every level"-this to a group whose representative in Israel believed herself to have been attacked by witchcraft unleashed by proximity to a volume of Harry Potter. Most of all, apparently, we're not supposed to know the National Security Council's top Middle East aide consults with apocalyptic Christians eager to ensure American policy on Israel conforms with their sectarian doomsday scenarios.

But now we know.

Related: Hallelujah In Fallujah

Research Credit: TR
posted by Kevin at 4:39 AM

Sources: Major Terror Attack Possible this Summer :.

* Yawn * Yeah, the "sources" should know, since they're the ones who are going to do this thing. It's about time. Let's get it over with. When I started Cryptogon two years ago, I presented a warning in the ABOUT section:

I think it would be wise to bear in mind that the events of 9/11 will probably pale in comparison to the diabolical plots that may be hatched in the near future. I say that because, even as bad as 9/11 was, it wasn't enough to polarize the world. Something else is going to happen that will require a bold move by the G8 states. I don't know what that event will be, but it will be transformational in nature, changing the way we think about freedom of speech and movement, money, surveillance, state sovereignty and many other factors.

The only thing that has surprised me is that "it" hasn't happened yet.... But sometime before the next meaningless presidential election will make for a pretty good show.

I think there are two possible scenarios of how the aftermath will unfold. The first isn't likely, but would make sense. The second, I think, is very possible:

1) There is no election. Bush cancels it. Martial law is declared. Kerry acknowledges that "extreme" circumstances warrant that the country needs to stand behind Bush. Kerry, an obvious stooge, may have been hand picked for this very reason.

2) There is an election and Kerry "wins." I think this is a much more likely scenario because the task of implementing the run of the mill lockdown activities of the unfurled police state will fall on a "Loving Liberal's" watch. Kerry will have a more legitimate appearance, as fascism ramps up, than the retarded Bush. In reality, they are two criminal operators in the same gang. Kerry will simply be continuing the "War on Terror" that started under Bush. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.

Attorney General John Ashcroft and FBI Director Robert Mueller will hold a news conference Wednesday amid intelligence that has increased concern over the possibility of a major terrorist attack on U.S. soil.

The intelligence has indicated that a major terror attack could take place as early as this summer, several U.S. officials said Tuesday.

Such an attack might take place before the November presidential election in an attempt to affect the outcome, the officials said.

Related: FAKE TERROR - THE ROAD TO WAR AND DICTATORSHIP
posted by Kevin at 3:29 AM

U.S. Develops Lethal New Viruses :.

We are at the knife's edge of oblivion. This activity is so insane, it's difficult to even form a coherent response! Have you ever tried to reason with an insane person? That's what these scientists sound like:

A scientist funded by the US government has deliberately created an extremely deadly form of mousepox, a relative of the smallpox virus, through genetic engineering.

The new virus kills all mice even if they have been given antiviral drugs as well as a vaccine that would normally protect them.

The work has not stopped there. The cowpox virus, which infects a range of animals including humans, has been genetically altered in a similar way.

The new virus, which is about to be tested on animals, should be lethal only to mice, Mark Buller of the University of St Louis told New Scientist. He says his work is necessary to explore what bioterrorists might do.
posted by Kevin at 3:10 AM

Nanotech Pipe Dream: Supersoldiers :.

Thanks to their sleek, form-fitting battle suits, ordinary soldiers may someday turn into supermen.

Bullets won't stop them; neither will chemical attacks. Their nanotech-made muscles might let them jump higher and kick more butt than their opponents. And if they do somehow get hurt, the suit could immediately start to heal them and report their injuries back to headquarters.

At least, that's what a collection of industrial, academic and military bigwigs promise, as they gather here this week for the official launch of MIT's Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies.

The reality is, many bugs have to be worked out before the U.S. puts super soldiers on the field. A good start for ISN would be simply keeping their electronics-laden outerwear dry in the rain.

No, actually, the reality is that humanity will be extinguished long before this technology matures to the point where it's usable in any combat capacity.

Related: Why the Future Doesn't Need Us
posted by Kevin at 2:52 AM

Green Cars Strive to End Oil Era :.

Biodiesel won, of course, but I like the idea of unfurling a photovoltaic and wind powerplant each time you park the car. This is similar to my idea for the Aquafuel Toyota Hybrid:

Designers of alternative-fuel vehicles are trying to convince consumers that fossil-fuel cars should go the way of the dinosaur. The 2004 Tour de Sol touted cars powered by cooking oil, corn, the sun and the wind as alternatives to paying record prices for gasoline.

More than 30 vehicles were on display at the Tour de Sol, a combination road rally and green car festival that promotes nonpolluting renewable-energy technologies. Vehicles created by high-school students, college students and auto manufacturers competed in tests that evaluated their fuel-efficiency, handling, braking and emissions.

Students at Trenton Central High School won the Tour de Sol award for Best in Technology in the Hybrid and Alternative category by demonstrating that the school cafeteria is a good source of energy for students and cars alike. The students used cooking oil to power the Vegginator, a converted 1985 VW Golf.

The students used a solar-powered blender to mix the cooking oil with lye, methanol and alcohol to create biodiesel, according to sophomore Danny DeLeon. He said the glycerin byproduct filtered from the biodiesel was turned into soap that was used in the student garage.

DeLeon said the team spent less than $1,000 to buy and fix the car and replace the rubber hoses so that it could run on biodiesel. Because the students had just finished a robotics project, they only had three weeks to ready the car, which gets 43 miles per gallon of biodiesel. "It was a lot of hours after school and a lot of trips to Wendy's to keep us going."
posted by Kevin at 2:43 AM

Your Rights as a Photographer :.

A decent, single page guide, in case you're wondering. Of course, it doesn't matter when cops wield arbitrary arrest power, but that's a different story.
posted by Kevin at 2:19 AM

Recloning :.

A clone of a cloned prized bull thrives today on a Japanese farm, living proof that "serial cloning" can successfully create life beyond mice.

The second generation cloning that created the black bull named Kamitakafuku took place in 2000, but wasn't announced until Sunday because researchers wanted to ensure the bull matured and was healthy. The only other mammal known to have been cloned from a clone are mice.

"We have proven that recloning can be done in higher species," said University of Connecticut researcher Xiangzhong "Jerry" Yang, one of three authors of the study. The results appeared online Sunday in the journal Nature Biotechnology.
posted by Kevin at 2:50 AM

Las Vegas Officials Worried About City's Foul Stench :.

Every mammal on this planet instinctively develops a natural equilibrium with the surrounding environment. But you humans do not. You move to an area and you multiply and multiply until every natural resource is consumed and the only way you can survive is to spread to another area. There is another organism on this planet that follows the same pattern. Do you know what it is? A virus. Human beings are a disease, a cancer of this planet. You are a plague.

-Agent Smith, The Matrix

Viva Las Vegas! Or, Urban Hell. Take your pick:

City officials, fearful that the smells emanating from downtown alleys is hampering the area's economic resurgence, have launched an assault on stench.

"People are walking downtown and holding their noses," said David Semenza, Las Vegas' neighborhood response manager. "What good is redevelopment when you have this stench?"

The stinky problems involve everything from rotting food to people relieving themselves wherever they please.

Since April, crews from the city's Rapid Response Team have spent thousands of dollars a week clearing out debris from alleys and spraying them with an odor-eating, enzyme-producing bacteria.

The enzyme, which the maker claims is nontoxic and biodegradable, has an odor akin to laundry detergent, some say. Others, like Deputy City Manager Betsy Fretwell, whose nose the city relied on in choosing among several deodorizers in tests, describe it as antiseptic.

The deodorizing of downtown is scheduled to end July 1.

"It's very expensive but it's part of what a city has to do," Mayor Oscar Goodman said. "You don't want noxious odors to affect the experience of people who come downtown."
posted by Kevin at 4:28 PM

U.S. Nearing Deal on Way to Track Foreign Visitors :.

It's not The End, but doesn't it feel like we're getting really damn close? Sure, let's leave the real borders wide open, so all the real terrorists, CIA narcotics traffickers and illegal aliens can stroll in and out as they please. Meanwhile, legitimate foreign travelers (and eventually U.S. citizens) will be tracked like pigs in a slaughterhouse using a "virtual border." Oh sure, this will only be used to track foreigners. HAHAHAHA!

The Department of Homeland Security is on the verge of awarding the biggest contract in its young history for an elaborate system that could cost as much as $15 billion and employ a network of databases to track visitors to the United States long before they arrive.

The program, known as US-Visit and rooted partly in a Pentagon concept developed after the terrorist attacks of 2001, seeks to supplant the nation's physical borders with what officials call virtual borders. Such borders employ networks of computer databases and biometric sensors for identification at sites abroad where people seek visas to the United States.

With a virtual border in place, the actual border guard will become the last point of defense, rather than the first, because each visitor will have already been screened using a global web of databases.

Visitors arriving at checkpoints, including those at the Mexican and Canadian borders, will face "real-time identification" � instantaneous authentication to confirm that they are who they say they are. American officials will, at least in theory, be able to track them inside the United States and determine if they leave the country on time.

Officials say they will work to ensure that the privacy of foreigners is protected and that the system will not be used to profile travelers, but civil libertarians say they are nonetheless alarmed that databases could be used to monitor both foreign visitors and American citizens, and they have already challenged it in court.
posted by Kevin at 7:04 AM

Cryptogon Sister Site: Tech-Watch.Org :.

Those of you who have been reading Cryptogon since the beginning have been seeing input from the mysterious TR. I don't want to say too much about him, because I don't know how much he wants you to know....

I will tell you one thing, however: This guy knows what he's talking about. He's been inside the belly of the beast. So, if you don't get enough terminator robot, genetic engineering and nanotech nightmare stories on Cryptogon, just wait until you see Tech-Watch.org.

I'm glad he's taking on the task of dedicating an entire site to exposing the tools of the coming dystopia. To say that he's qualified to do this would be a serious understatement.

I've been able to see the site for the past few days and I've been dying to tell you guys about it.

Earlier today, TR gave the go-ahead to unfurl it, so check it out!
posted by Kevin at 6:59 AM

James Lovelock Goes Off the Rails: More Nuke Power! :.

Senile? Fraud? Frightened? Interesting conclusions, days after Eugene Mallove was found murdered:

Global warming is now advancing so swiftly that only a massive expansion of nuclear power as the world's main energy source can prevent it overwhelming civilisation, the scientist and celebrated Green guru, James Lovelock, says.

Related: Dr. Eugene Mallove on George Noory Radio Show

Related: Alternative Energy Magazine Editor, Cold Fusion Author Murdered
posted by Kevin at 6:46 AM

Berg Beheading: No Way, Say Medical Experts :.

American businessman Nicholas Berg's body was found on May 8 near a Baghdad overpass; a video of his supposed decapitation death by knife appeared on an alleged al-Qaeda-linked website (www.al-ansar.biz) on May 11. But according to what both a leading surgical authority and a noted forensic death expert separately told Asia Times Online, the video depicting the decapitation appears to have been staged.

"I certainly would need to be convinced it [the decapitation video] was authentic," Dr John Simpson, executive director for surgical affairs at the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons, said from New Zealand. Echoing Dr Simpson's criticism, when this journalist asked forensic death expert Jon Nordby, PhD and fellow of the American Board of Medicolegal Death Investigators, whether he believed the Berg decapitation video had been "staged", Nordby replied: "Yes, I think that's the best explanation of it."

Research Credit: AL, KH
posted by Kevin at 6:12 AM

Cryptogon Readers Contribute $25, $20 and $40

$25 EM
$20 MW
$40 JK and a nice stack of Deception Dollars

I am stunned by the level of support you guys are providing! Thank you! Thank you!
posted by Kevin at 5:26 AM

New Israeli Nuclear Incident :.

High weirdness, people. High weirdness. This stinks as bad as anything I've ever posted on this site!

For the second time in the past two weeks Israelis in a moving van have been detained near a U.S. nuclear facility, this time at the Kings Bay Naval Submarine Base near St. Marys, GA., near Sea Island, host of the G-8 Summit next month.

"Security scare shuts Kings Bay" reported the Jacksonville Times-Union on Saturday. "Kings Bay Naval Submarine Base was locked down for security reasons Friday after two Israelis were detained for questioning."

Two Israeli men attempted to enter the base about 10:30 a.m., on the pretext that that had been hired by a moving-and-storage company to pick up household goods at an address on the base, the paper reported.

One occupant of the vehicle was unable to provide base security personnel with proper credentials, a base spokesman told reporters.

"Base personnel then inspected the van."

What the MP's found has no doubt since become highly classified. But before that could happen, a base spokesman had blurted this much of it out...

"A briefcase was removed from the vehicle with a remote control robot, but nothing was found in it."

"Nothing was found in the van, but both men, whose names were not released, were later taken into custody," the AP reported.


Another 'NASCAR Israeli' incident

But wait. There's more...

A bomb squad was called in after the van tested positive for a bomb. Local police were notified and shut down all roads leading to the base.

The Times-Union said, "Military dogs trained to detect bombs were called in. The military dogs were alerted to a scent in the cab of the truck. Guards closed access to the base and notified the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service."

The parallels between today's account and last week's incident (see story below: Israeli Movers Freed, Back in Miami,") are almost too numerous to mention...

"The dogs were called in again for a second pass of the vehicle, and they didn't pick up anything," said a base spokesman.

The two Israelis, whose names were not released, were taken into custody by federal immigration officers in Savannah for possible deportation.

Research Credit: Me. I read this before the 5 of you submitted it to me. Thanks, though, for making sure I didn't miss it. FYI: I see everything Dan Hopsicker puts out.
posted by Kevin at 5:08 AM

Chechens in Iraq? :.

I find this interesting, since the Chechens are still trying to throw the Russians out of Chechnya. Interesting, nonetheless.

Yes, the terrorists are the common enemy of both Russia and the U.S. Put on your best George Bush Senior imitation and say it with me, NEW WORLD ORDER:

According to Russian Intelligence Service Abroad, the units of Chechen terrorists penetrate in Iraq since June 2003 through Syria. Today there are 2-3 thousand Chechen fighters in Iraq. Their command is in the so-called Staff of Iraqi Resistance located in Syria. The Staff controls the main anti-American groups in Iraq: the unit led by Abu al-Valid, the successor of killed "Black Arab" Khattab who was fighting in Chechnya, Army of Mohammed and Wahabees (radical Muslems). Iraqi guerillas from the former Iraqi Army officers look like kids in comparison with these groups being notorious for their atrocities. If Iraqis chose whom to attack, for the newly arrived fighters nationalities do not matter. There is no difference whom to cut throat: to Russian or to American. Both are enemies.

Research Credit: NF
posted by Kevin at 4:59 AM

Ibuprofen and Colon Cancer :.

This is very interesting. Keep this in the back of your head. You probably won't hear much about it ever again:

A cheap headache pill may not only help prevent colon cancer, but may turn out to be an effective therapy, U.S.-based researchers said on Wednesday.

Mice with cancer that were given small daily doses of ibuprofen had smaller tumors and were less likely to die of colon cancer, they told a meeting.

Several studies have shown that people who take aspirin, ibuprofen and related drugs called non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, or NSAIDS, have a lower risk of colon cancer. [Look into the anti inflammatory effects of Vitamins B (the entire complex and, especially, folic acid) C and E.]

But Wolfe said no one had tested NSAIDS as a potential cancer therapy.

Ibuprofen seemed to affect tumor cells in lab dishes, so he tried using laboratory mice that had been infected with colon cancer cells. These mice always develop tumors and die if not treated.

They treated the mice for 21 days with either ibuprofen alone, or with ibuprofen added to the standard colon cancer drugs irinotecan, sold by Pfizer under the brand name Camptosar, or 5-fluororacil.

By day 50, all the untreated mice had died. But 20 percent of the mice treated with ibuprofen alone died, compared to 20 percent given Camptosar and just 10 percent given ibuprofen plus Camptosar. But 70 percent of the mice that got 5-fluororacil alone or with ibuprofen died.

Ibuprofen and 5-fluororacil seem to interfere with one another, Wolfe said. The findings were presented on Wednesday to a meeting in New Orleans of cancer and digestive experts called Digestive Disease Week.

"I'd love to see a study done for the actual treatment of cancers," Wolfe said. But because ibuprofen is cheap, he feared it was "not sexy enough" for any big drug company to sponsor.

This researcher admits what people in the alternative health movement have been saying for decades: Cancer research is a scam. Read it again:

Because ibuprofen is cheap, he feared it was "not sexy enough" for any big drug company to sponsor.

I'm not quite sure if it's premeditated genocide, greed or both, but it's a scam. And your friends and lovedones are dying because of it. FYI: My mom died of colon cancer.

Related: Large Study Backs Use of Ibuprofen Against Alzheimer's :.

Long-term use of ibuprofen, naproxen or other medicines of a type commonly taken for arthritis or pain appears to greatly reduce the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease, according to new findings.

In a seven-year study that monitored the mental capacities of almost 7,000 people, Dutch researchers reported that the likelihood of developing the disabling brain disease was 80 percent lower in people who had taken such a medicine daily for two years or longer than in those who had never taken the drugs.

Research Credit: RB
posted by Kevin at 4:42 AM

Bush Buddies Get $155 Million Worth of Federal Land for $875 :.

Sure, why not?

In April, Bush quietly gave a mining conglomerate larded with his top contributors a little gift: $155 million worth of federal land, the Denver Post reports. Invoking an obscure 1872 law designed to help frontier prospectors gain title to their small mining claims, Bush turned over a swathe of prime Colorado mountaintop property to the firm of Dodge Phelps, whose board is packed with oil men, military contractors and official Bush "Pioneers": corporate fat cats who've strongarmed at least $100,000 from their friends -- and employees -- for Bush campaign coffers.

Because the never-updated 1872 law requires that federal mining land be sold for $5 per acre, Bush's bagmen only had to pony up $875 for the whole spread -- in an area where land is worth a staggering $1 million per acre. The idea is to build an elite ski playground on the looted public property -- even though the law requires that such land sales be used for actual mining.

Research Credit: KB
posted by Kevin at 4:36 AM

Dr. Eugene Mallove on George Noory Radio Show :.

This is one of the best Coast to Coast shows ever. Free to download. I would suggest, in the strongest possible terms, that everyone listen cafefully to all three hours of this program.

Then read what Dr. Santilli has to say about his experience with corporate, government and academic spheres in the U.S. We are existing in a Neo-Dark Age.

In case you don't know, Dr. Mallove was recently murdered.
posted by Kevin at 4:25 AM

Immigration Invasion View from a Border Patrol Officer :.

Make sure you get your body cavity search at the airport as the physical borders of the U.S. are left wide open:

After 30 years in the Border Patrol as a special agent and highly decorated veteran, John W. Slagle wrote an expose� ripping the pants off Tom Ridge�s Homeland Security charade. Slagle exposes Congress� complete assistance of illegal immigration. Finally, he uncovers President Bush�s unending support for this massive invasion that will, in the end, prove more catastrophic to this nation than dozens of 9/11�s.

Research Credit: NF
posted by Kevin at 4:23 AM

Civilians Built Nuclear-Capable Weapon with Off the Shelf Components :.

Yawn. I used to (formally) study nuclear proliferation issues. After a little while, I found it boring, because there can't be any real non-proliferation regime. It's all laughable, as soon as you learn about what's involved.

I don't have the essay in front of me, but I remember reading a good one called, Five Minutes Past Midnight -- And Welcome to the Age of Proliferation by Tom Clancy & Russell Seitz. This piece appeared in National Interest, No.26, Winter 1991-92. Clancy and Seitz list three requirements to build a nuclear weapon (not a hydrogen bomb, mind you, but a little, old egg in the 5-15 kiloton range).

You need:

1) Intellectual know-how. There are plenty of PhDs in places with open sewers who have the know-how. This means that most states on the planet have people with the brains to do it.

2) Mechanical ability measured in terms of being able to build a diesel engine from scratch. Trivial, for most states and organizations with money. Obviously, this assumes that the built-to-order CNC lathe work had to be accomplished by the bomb builder in-house, so to speak, and not purchased on the open market, which could easily be done.

3) Fissile material. Weapons grade fissile material is relatively rare, but it's not that rare. Any states with "peaceful" nuclear power programs could easily produce materials for nuclear bombs. Never mind the former USSR. HA! Fissile material!? Why mess with that dangerous stuff. Assume that finished weapons have been carted off... But forget about all of that for a minute for the sake of this discussion. (Can you see why I couldn't stay involved with International Relations? My face hurt from laughing so much at the absurdity of it all.)

The rest of it, conventional high explosives and the means of setting it all off at once (krytron switch, electronics, etc.) are all trivial matters.

So, if the entire thing is silly, why did I mention this story? There is, actually, one very interesting aspect to all of this. The article states:

A few months later, they returned to the soundproof Senate meeting room with a workable nuclear weapon, missing only the fissile material.

Anyone with a rudimentary knowledge of nuclear weapons knows that this can only mean that the team entered the Senate meeting room with several pounds of high explosives. Now, in the post 9/11 world, how was that little detail worked out with Capitol security personnel?

Did Old Joe Biden ring up Bob, the security guard, and say, "I told a bunch of eggheads to build a nuclear weapon, and they did! Isn't that great? Yeah, well, you see, they want to bring it into the Capitol building to show it to me in my sound proof, Faraday cage meeting room."

"THEY WANT TO BRING A NUKE IN HERE?!" Bob shouts!

"No, Bob, calm down, there's no plutonium or uranium in the bomb, just several pounds of conventional, high explosives that would be used to compress the core into critical mass... if it was a real nuclear bomb," reassures Old Joe.

"Oh, that's ok then," says Bob.

Someone explain to me how that could have happened?

Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. wondered aloud one day in 2002 whether someone could build an atomic weapon from parts available on the open market. His audience, the leaders of the government's nuclear laboratories, said it could be done.

Then do it, the Delaware Democrat, then chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, instructed the scientists in a confidential session. A few months later, they returned to the soundproof Senate meeting room with a workable nuclear weapon, missing only the fissile material.

"It was bigger than a breadbox and smaller than a dump truck, but they were able to get it in," Biden said in a recent speech. The scientists "explained how -- literally off the shelf, without doing anything illegal -- they actually constructed this device."

The relative ease with which U.S. scientists built an explosive nuclear weapon illustrates the need to secure plutonium and highly enriched uranium scattered in armories and research sites around the world, a pair of Harvard University researchers argue in a new study that contends the Bush administration is not doing enough.
posted by Kevin at 3:10 AM

National Guard Are on Target with Pink T-shirt Idea :.

I remember, back in 10th grade biology, learning about the paramecium. This is a simple organism that uses an eye-spot to detect light. They feed on small organisms such as bacteria and even other smaller protozoans using a funnel-shaped gullet into which food is drawn by the action of cilia.

Things are pretty damn simple for these single celled critters.

I'm starting to wonder: Is the world any more complex for average humanity than it is for a paramecium? In general, we behave like single celled organisms, not really aware of what we're doing, or why. We act in a predictable, simple and unconscious manner:

Behind the pink T-shirt - and the pink sheepskin rug, pink picture frames and big, pink shaggy pillow that adorn her office - is a message Sgt. 1st Class Stacey Weston wants young women to hear: The National Guard wants you, too.

"Not many of them think about joining the military because they think they have to be a quote-unquote tomboy," explained Weston, the recruiter/career counselor at the Guard's Company B (MSE) 138th Signal Battalion in Greenfield.

That's not true at all, said Weston, a 12-year Guard member who last year transferred into the office previously filled by her husband.

"You can still have the nails, still have the hair. You can still have your feminine side and your military side, too."

But it's her medium and not her message that's causing a stir throughout the state and beyond: Weston came up with the idea to create a pink T-shirt with the words "Soldier Girl" printed across the front to promote the Guard. Printed on the back is the slogan "Legally Guard," a play off the movie "Legally Blonde."

"So far, the feed-off of these has been unbelievable. It's so far outside the box," said Sgt. 1st Class Rodney Dowling, marketing director for the Indiana Guard. "They are pretty awesome."

Related: "American Hero" Pat Tillman

Research Credit: NF
posted by Kevin at 2:44 AM

Hillary Clinton, Lindsey Graham Call for Larger U.S. Military :.

It's just one big RepubliCrat love fest. The loving liberals are going to take your kids, just like Evil Bush did, but the Berkeley Democrats won't care, because they're loving liberals too! The absurdity of this thing is almost beyond belief:

A unlikely pair of Senate allies called for a larger military Sunday and pledged a thorough investigation of abuse against Iraqi prisoners in Baghdad.

Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-New York, and Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, are both members of the Senate's Armed Services Committee.

"A number of us have been sounding this alarm. We have to face the fact we need a larger active-duty military," Clinton told the television show "Fox News Sunday."
posted by Kevin at 2:31 AM

Nothing New: Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 :.

Don't get me wrong... I'm going to watch the movie, but anyone advocating Democrats as the solution, this late in the game, is part of the problem. Moore is a limousine liberal! What else do you need to know!?

I will probably agree with much of what the film depicts. In fact, I've been reporting that stuff and much more for nearly two years on Cryptogon. I have a problem, though, with anyone who speaks MOSTLY the truth then says, "Vote for Kerry." This concerns me deeply. If you have figured this thing out to the point Moore (and anyone who's willing to take a look at the situation) has, you know damn well that Democrats are part of the problem. THEY ARE IN ON ALL OF IT TOGETHER WITH THE REPUBLICANS. Limousine liberals want the same totalitarian government/corporate system that Bush wants.

Alex Jones nailed all of this to the wall in documentary format two years ago. It's even admitted in the New York Post. If Michael Moore wasn't an egomaniac, with the same old Left Right agenda, he would have simply worked out some agreement with Alex Jones and transferred, "9/11: The Road to Tyranny" to 35mm film and released that to theaters:

MICHAEL Moore's anti-Bush film "Fahrenheit 9/11" isn't even original. Two years ago, "9/11: The Road to Tyranny," a real documentary by Alex Jones, had most of the "facts" Moore uses in his scatter-shot diatribe. Jones, who is less interested in making money than the self-aggrandizing Moore, released his film for free on his Web site www.infowars.com, where it drew legions of new fans, including producer Curt Johnson, who is hiring Jones as a consultant on a political action thriller titled "Wake Up."
posted by Kevin at 1:13 AM

Rumor: Berg Video Smoking Gun? :.

I would say that there is something like an 85% chance that this is BS. Which means there's about a 15% chance that it's not BS. If this is true... well, I don't quite know. Maybe They could just make it go away, maybe not. The only reason I'm posting it is because I'm inviting anyone with knowledge of any potential video device watermarking technologies to write in and set us all straight. I know this is done with color copiers. There isn't any question about that. But video cameras? If you write in, provide links to back up what you're saying. Thanks:

Today new pictures were released of prison torture at Abu Ghraib prison. But not just still pictures. Today video was released showing prisoners being tortured by Americans. Apparently Kodak film experts are Kodak Park in Rochester New York have compared the digital watermarks of the turture video and the beheading video and have determined that one of the cameras used in the Nick Berg beheading is THE SAME CAMERA that took the prison torture video. [sic]
posted by Kevin at 5:50 AM

Deranged Maniacs Create Blue Franken-Rose :.

Never mind the swindling of public money for private profit, these people should be locked up because of their "work." There's nothing like being a failure in one branch of quackery and then finding a freakish and profitable "discovery" in another:

Roses come in many colours - from pink to yellow, peach and red - but, until now, no one has found a way to create a natural blue rose and the quest has acquired an almost mystical significance among breeders.

The discovery was made by chance by two biochemists conducting research into drugs for cancer and Alzheimer's in a medical laboratory at Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee.

Professor Peter Guengerich and Dr Elizabeth Gillam were trying to find out how the human liver breaks down drugs when they came across a liver enzyme that had a startling effect.

"When we moved a liver enzyme into a bacterium, the bacterium turned blue," Dr Guengerich said. "We were aware that there were people in the world who had been interested in making coloured flowers, especially a blue rose, for a number of years.

"Dr Gillam had the bright idea that we could capitalise on our discovery by moving the gene into plants - and produce a blue rose."

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

Related: Genetically Engineered Pet: GloFish

Related: Bald Chicken 'Needs no Plucking'
posted by Kevin at 2:57 AM

Volta: Toyota's 32-Miles-Per-Gallon, Hybrid Supercar :.

Holy !*&#^!&@^)!:

This second generation Hybrid Synergy Drive system uses the 3.3-liter V6 common to a variety of Toyota/Lexus products, plus two powerful electric motors to produce a phenomenal 408 horsepower (300 kW). Needless to say the lightweight sports car is quick, shooting forward from standstill to 100 km/h (62 mph) in a sizzling 4.03 seconds before reaching a terminal velocity of 250 km/h (155 mph).

Now, what's the most interesting aspect of this story? Read the second to last sentence carefully:

Ironic, but the one company that would have no financial challenges building a car this daring, probably won't.

So it goes...

Related: Toyota Unveils Highlander Hybrid SUV :.

After further research, I found out that Toyota IS releasing the Highlander SUV as a hybrid. Let's not kid ourselves, folks, hybrid SUVs are way too little, way too late. BUT... The hybrid platform could allow us to actually eliminate the use of gasoline---RIGHT NOW!

If you don't know anything about Aquafuel, none of what follows will make any sense to you, so, start with Blaze Labs and J.L. Naudin. Then return to this story.

I don't think hybrids are a big deal, on their own, since they still require petroleum based gasoline. The hybrid platform, though, is very close to being something revolutionary! The power recovery system that's integrated into the braking system is the big deal. We just need to eliminate the requirement of having to burn petroleum based gas in the damn thing!!!

Until the multiple issues with fuel cells are sorted out, the thing to do would be to build an Aquafuel generator into these hybrids. Integrate something like three 185watt solar panels into the top facing surfaces of this SUV and guess what! THE VEHICLE COULD BE MAKING IT'S OWN FUEL THE ENTIRE TIME IT'S SITTING IN THE SUN.


Obviously, any integrated solar power system isn't, on its own, going to make enough Aquafuel to accommodate most drivers' needs. (In sunny areas, where the vehicle isn't used everyday, it might.) Therefore, when larger amounts of Aquafuel are required, say, to fill up the vehicle for a long trip, high current electricity from clean or dirty sources may be utilized to top off the vehicle's Aquafuel tank. At that point, you just need to make sure the Aquafuel generator has a sufficient water supply.

In the early stages, this idea could be implemented as a duel fuel system. Aquafuel runs fine in unmodified, internal combustion engines that call for 87 octane, unleaded gasoline. In the event that high current electricity isn't available to produce Aquafuel in large quantities, the internal combustion engine could burn regular gasoline.

Now, if only the companies would make hybrids with diesel engines... Well, you would be done right there. Can you imagine? Being able to drive for about 600 miles on one tank of biodiesel, straight vegetable oil (SVO), or petroleum based diesel? The biodiesel and SVO freaks would snap up every last diesel hybrid vehicle.

Question/Answer

Q: Can Aquafuel systems be added to existing vehicles as well?

A: As long as they burn 87 octane, unleaded gasoline.

Q: Where can I buy an Aquafuel system?

A: Uh, you can't.

Q: Why not?

A: I don't know, exactly. Ask the good people at Santilli Magnegas. They say the U.S. government has hindered the development of this technology. They also own all the patents on this. You can see a Ferrari running on Aquafuel and some other vehicles converted to use it on this site as well.

These ideas are merely stopgap measures that would buy us some time. These are not solutions. The agricultural sector's dependence on petroleum products is far more frightening than automobile related consumption. I would say to get the gas out of our cars first, because that is actually possible. Getting the gas out of our food, on the other hand, will require much more time and effort. The nightmare scenario is that humanity will find itself in a situation where petroleum supplies have dwindled to the point where alternative solutions can't be bootstrapped into operation because the energy isn't available.

Hint: Nothing is being done about any of this (to any degree that matters) and our so-called leaders are allowing the energy situation to go off the rails, one can only assume, on purpose. I suppose it's possible that greed and criminal incompetence are involved, but in the final analysis, it doesn't matter. So, what's the moral of the story? Learn how to grow and raise your own food before you get hungry.

And dream about the world we could have had if untold trillions of dollars worth of our tax money hadn't been used for purely evil purposes.

Related: Alternative Energy Magazine Editor, Cold Fusion Author Murdered

Related: Wind, Solar, Hydro, Ethanol, Biodiesel, Aquafuel and Fuel Cell Technologies
posted by Kevin at 4:58 PM

Snooping Robot Going to Iraq :.

These primitive remote controlled units will soon be replaced by much more autonomous versions. The rise of the machines is virtually unstoppable:

A robot designed for urban warfare will soon be on its way to assist U.S. Marines in Iraq, where the scrappy machine can peer around corners and snoop in areas too dangerous or inaccessible for human soldiers.

Called Dragon Runner, the four-wheeled device is small and light enough to be carried in a soldier's backpack and rugged enough to be tossed over fences and up or down stairwells.

"We've thrown it out of second- and third-story windows," said Capt. Dave Moreau, project officer for Dragon Runner at the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory in Quantico, Va. "We've thrown it off the back of a moving vehicle at 45 miles an hour."

If Dragon Runner performs well, the Pentagon conceivably would be interested in buying hundreds of the robots. Hagen Schempf, a senior systems scientist at the Robotics Institute who was principal investigator for Dragon Runner, said he thinks applications in civilian law enforcement and firefighting might eventually outnumber those in the military.

"We might soon face a different problem here ---- how fast can we make how many?" said Schempf, who is co-founder and chairman of Automatika, which has licensed the Dragon Runner technology from CMU.
posted by Kevin at 4:22 PM

Monsanto: The Epitome of Evil :.

I have no formal training in agriculture, farming, gardening, etc. Now, if I can grow a wide variety of food crops using nothing but dirt, dead leaves, chicken shit, open pollinated, organic seeds and water, why would anyone use the frightening, toxic and dangerous pHarming products manufactured by Monsanto?

Monsanto wants to go after everyone, including people who opt out of their stupid, genitically engineered paradigm. Even if their crap blows into your field, they can sue you for damages! Well, I hope that doesn't happen to my crops once I'm finally out in the middle of nowhere. I won't be settling the matter in a courtroom:

In a 5-4 decision, the court sided with the biotech giant, which sued Percy Schmeiser in 1997 after Monsanto agents found the company's patented gene in canola plants on his farm near Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. The court agreed that he stole Monsanto's seed, even though Schmeiser maintained that he inadvertently used seed that had blown into his field.

Schmeiser said he had no interest in planting genetically modified seed. The seed blew into his fields from a neighbor's crop, he said, and rather than profiting from Monsanto's technology, it actually contaminated and ruined a seed Schmeiser had cultivated for 50 years.
posted by Kevin at 3:49 AM

Cryptogon Garden Update

Ahhh, the garden. It's really starting to unfurl. I eat a few handfuls of veggies out of it every day now. Blue lake bush beans, peas and lettuce are good to go. Everything else is growing well. The corn is over my head, the carrots are about three inches long, watermelon, honey dew, and cucumbers are all in progress, as are cabbage, broccoli, onion, and okra. The tomato plants are off the rails. They are fat and lush. I can't wait until they start producing fruit. Here are a few snaps:

The sweet corn is preparing to spawn!

The dreaded, but beautiful, cabbage looper. I wish I had a couple of hens. Bock!

These peas taste like candy; incredibly sweet. The problem I have with them is that I usually gobble them up before they get this big. This one had escaped my glance, and I'm glad it did. Yum.

The cuke vines are out of hand. One has latched on to a corn stalk. Another is sticking up through my cabbage. A few are trying to creep out of the raised bed.

posted by Kevin at 2:47 AM

Summer 2004: The Summer of Terror! :.

* Yawn * Just do it already. Everyone knows it's going to happen. Get on with it:

The FBI is warning law enforcement agencies to be on the alert for the possibility that suicide bombers may attempt to strike inside the United States. A lightly classified intelligence bulletin circulated Thursday to 18,000 U.S. law enforcement bodies is headlined "Possible suicide bomber indicators," and was distributed via the Bureau's secure Law Enforcement Online (LEO) Intranet. It warns local badge-carriers to look for obvious signs of trouble � people wearing heavy, bulky jackets on warm days, smelling of chemicals, trailing wires from their jackets � as well, more subtle ones, such as tightly clenched fists. Someone who never shows his palms could be gripping a detonator rigged to go off when a button is released. "If you shoot him, you're still not safe because his hands relax and the bomb explodes," says a counter-terrorism official.

We're just never going to hear the end of it. It will be surreal, watching the fat, lazy imbeciles brimming with fear and rage. Get your Big Gulp and your Freedom Fries, the homeland is under attack! Film at 11. Maybe the reporters will wear body armor when they broadcast from WalMart. Fantastic.

It may or may not be The End, but at least it will be entertaining.

* Shaking head, stumbling to bed. *
posted by Kevin at 4:14 AM

Email Has Been Heavy

I'll get back to you guys soon. Lots of people writing in lately.
posted by Kevin at 3:50 AM

'In the Mouth of Madness' :.

Drink more:

A lot of you have been asking why I haven't written anything lately.

My jaw dropped about three weeks ago and damn few words have come out of my mouth ever since. Mostly I've been asking for food, lots of food. And watching a lot of movies, the black and white ones, film noir, trying to pretend I don't live in this world of 2004. I think this is what many people do when they reach a certain age, when current events overtake them and they can't cope with it, and try to take refuge in the past.

But let's face it. I can't cope with this reality. It's more than I can handle. The best phrase to describe it? Incredulous stupefaction. My head just wags back and forth involuntarily these days.

Some of my friends say I simply read too much bad news. Since the 9/11 deception, there's been anthrax, Afghanistan, Patriot Act, and Iraq, to list the major chapters that go along with perhaps the worst of all the atrocities, that neverending story about the mass murder of the Palestinians that the world seems so good at ignoring. And I've been writing about all this ceaselessly for the past couple of years. And I don't mean to demean all those wonderful people who have written to me in appreciative support, but hell, there are six billion people in the world, and most of them are not listening, or doing anything constructive to stop this juggernaut of carnage that is really the world's dominant moneymaking operation.

Strife makes money for the rich losers who foment it. And it's getting me down to the point of speechlessness.

What hope exists if people who profess to adhere to the principles of the good life remain silent?
posted by Kevin at 3:46 AM

Material Given to Congress in 2002 Is Now Classified :.

The Justice Department has taken the unusual step of retroactively classifying information it gave to Congress nearly two years ago regarding a former F.B.I. translator who charged that the bureau had missed critical terrorist warnings, officials said Wednesday.

Law enforcement officials say the secrecy surrounding the translator, Sibel Edmonds, is essential to protecting information that could reveal intelligence-gathering operations. But some members of Congress and Congressional aides said they were troubled by the move, which comes as critics have accused the Bush administration of excessive secrecy.

"What the F.B.I. is up to here is ludicrous," Senator Charles E. Grassley, Republican of Iowa, said in an interview. "To classify something that's already been out in the public domain, what do you accomplish? It does harm to transparency in government, and it looks like an attempt to cover up the F.B.I.'s problems in translating intelligence."

F.B.I. officials gave Senate staff members two briefings in June and July of 2002 concerning Ms. Edmonds, who said the F.B.I.'s system for translating intelligence was so flawed that the bureau missed chances to spot terrorist warnings.
posted by Kevin at 3:40 AM

'U.S. Soldiers Started to Shoot Us, One by One' :.

I feel sick:

It was 10.30pm in the remote village of Mukaradeeb by the Syrian border and the guests hurried back to their homes as the party ended. As sister-in-law of the groom, Mrs Shihab, 30, was to sleep with her husband and children in the house of the wedding party, the Rakat family villa. She was one of the few in the house who survived the night.

"The bombing started at 3am," she said yesterday from her bed in the emergency ward at Ramadi general hospital, 60 miles west of Baghdad. "We went out of the house and the American soldiers started to shoot us. They were shooting low on the ground and targeting us one by one," she said. She ran with her youngest child in her arms and her two young boys, Ali and Hamza, close behind. As she crossed the fields a shell exploded close to her, fracturing her legs and knocking her to the ground.

She lay there and a second round hit her on the right arm. By then her two boys lay dead. "I left them because they were dead," she said. One, she saw, had been decapitated by a shell.

"I fell into the mud and an American soldier came and kicked me. I pretended to be dead so he wouldn't kill me. My youngest child was alive next to me."

Mrs Shibab's description, backed by other witnesses, of an attack on a sleeping village is at odds with the American claim that they came under fire while targeting a suspected foreign fighter safe house.

She described how in the hours before dawn she watched as American troops destroyed the Rakat villa and the house next door, reducing the buildings to rubble.

Another relative carried Mrs Shihab and her surviving child to hospital. There she was told her husband Mohammed, the eldest of the Rakat sons, had also died.

As Mrs Shihab spoke she gestured with hands still daubed red-brown with the henna the women had used to decorate themselves for the wedding. Alongside her in the ward yesterday were three badly injured girls from the Rakat family: Khalood Mohammed, aged just a year and struggling for breath, Moaza Rakat, 12, and Iqbal Rakat, 15, whose right foot doctors had already amputated.

By the time the sun rose on Wednesday over the Rakat family house, the raid had claimed 42 lives, according to Hamdi Noor al-Alusi, manager of the al-Qaim general hospital, the nearest to the village.

Among the dead were 27 members of the extended Rakat family, their wedding guests and even the band of musicians hired to play at the ceremony, among them Hussein al-Ali from Ramadi, one of the most popular singers in western Iraq.

Dr Alusi said 11 of the dead were women and 14 were children. "I want to know why the Americans targeted this small village," he said by telephone. "These people are my patients. I know each one of them. What has caused this disaster?"

"I saw something that nobody ever saw in this world," said Mr Nawaf. "There were children's bodies cut into pieces, women cut into pieces, men cut into pieces."

Among the dead was his daughter Fatima Ma'athi, 25, and her two young boys, Raad, four, and Raed, six. "I found Raad dead in her arms. The other boy was lying beside her. I found only his head," he said. His sister Simoya, the wife of Haji Rakat, was also killed with her two daughters. "The Americans call these people foreign fighters. It is a lie. I just want one piece of evidence of what they are saying."

There lay 27 graves: mounds of dirt each marked with a single square of crudely cut marble, a name scribbled in black paint. Some gave more than one name, and one, belonging to a woman Hamda Suleman, the briefest of explanations: "The American bombing."
posted by Kevin at 3:20 AM

Giuliani Hears 'Your Government Trained and Funded Al-Qaeda' at End of Commission Hearing :.

Eleventh public hearing of the 9/11 Commission, with testimony by Fmr. Mayor Rudy Giuliani. Wind the video on to three minutes before the end to hear the family members of the victims chastise the whitewash commission, where a family member of a victim says, "remmeber this, your government trained and funded Al-Qaeda" - as the rest of the 9/11 families applause.
posted by Kevin at 3:05 AM

Smaller Blockquotes

You will notice formatting changes on today's posts. I was experimenting with the BLOCKQUOTE tag and I CSSed the size of the font down a bit. Do you guys like this style of quoting materials better than the old way (italics)?

Would you like to see the quoted passages in italics, as well? Like so:

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consetetur sadipscing elitr, sed diam nonumy eirmod tempor invidunt ut labore et dolore magna aliquyam erat, sed diam voluptua. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consetetur sadipscing elitr, sed diam nonumy eirmod tempor invidunt ut labore et dolore magna aliquyam erat, sed diam voluptua.

Let me know your preference.

QUESTION FOR CSS HEADS: My BLOCKQUOTE is causing the equivalent of like three BRs between the end of the BLOCKQUOTE and the next line. Is there an attribute in CSS that I can mod to make it stop doing this? I've become used to Blogger converting carriage returns in the edit mode to BRs in the code it generates. For me to make BLOCKQUOTEs look right, I have to back up the line that follows right next to the closed BLOCKQUOTE tag. This is a minor pain in the hole. Thanks for any assistance.
posted by Kevin at 7:15 AM

Robotics to Play Major Role in Future Warfighting