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3/1/2003
NSA Spooks Target U.N. Members :.Maybe, but this leak may not be real. Read on. What the article doesn't mention is that this type of thing is standard operating procedure. The goal is to determine how to compromise individuals so that when told to jump, they ask, "How high?" Pictures/video/evidence of diplomats snorting cocaine, diddling little boys/girls, or accepting bribes, for example, allows CIA case officers to make VERY compelling arguments for these folks to see a situation a particular way. The email message describing the operation appears to be real, but the usual caveats apply. Since this message could only have been leaked after being decrypted into plain text, this would indicate someone inside NSA is outing details of current intelligence operations; not exactly a trivial matter. If this is the case, the person is putting their life on the line to bring this information out. You might want to save the page from the Observer locally. If this story is real, the British government may invoke the Official Secrets Act. This means that when British media goes to far, the government simply makes a phone call and the story disappears. *poof* This should only apply to British secrets, but since the US and UK are joined at the hip, the NSA operation in question almost certainly involves British GCHQ/MI6 officers. Or, this entire story could be bullshit. Take your pick: The United States is conducting a secret 'dirty tricks' campaign against UN Security Council delegations in New York as part of its battle to win votes in favour of war against Iraq.
Details of the aggressive surveillance operation, which involves interception of the home and office telephones and the emails of UN delegates in New York, are revealed in a document leaked to The Observer.
The disclosures were made in a memorandum written by a top official at the National Security Agency - the US body which intercepts communications around the world - and circulated to both senior agents in his organisation and to a friendly foreign intelligence agency asking for its input.
The memo describes orders to staff at the agency, whose work is clouded in secrecy, to step up its surveillance operations 'particularly directed at... UN Security Council Members (minus US and GBR, of course)' to provide up-to-the-minute intelligence for Bush officials on the voting intentions of UN members regarding the issue of Iraq.
posted by Kevin at 6:44 PM
U.S. Plan: Threat Level for Every Flier :.Civil liberties groups are objecting to a government plan for a new system that would check background information and assign a threat level to everyone who buys a ticket for a commercial flight.
Activists see the potential for unconstitutional invasions of privacy and for database mix-ups that could lead to innocent people being branded security risks.
"This system threatens to create a permanent blacklisted underclass of Americans who cannot travel freely," said Katie Corrigan, a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union.
There also is concern that the government is developing the system without revealing how information will be gathered and how long it will be kept.
posted by Kevin at 5:58 PM
Flashback 9/15/02: Bush Planned Iraq 'Regime Change' Before Becoming President :.As the rockets and bombs begin to fly, try to remember that this thing was planned before Bush was president: A SECRET blueprint for US global domination reveals that President Bush and his cabinet were planning a premeditated attack on Iraq to secure 'regime change' even before he took power in January 2001.
The blueprint, uncovered by the Sunday Herald, for the creation of a 'global Pax Americana' was drawn up for Dick Cheney (now vice- president), Donald Rumsfeld (defence secretary), Paul Wolfowitz (Rumsfeld's deputy), George W Bush's younger brother Jeb and Lewis Libby (Cheney's chief of staff). The document, entitled Rebuilding America's Defences: Strategies, Forces And Resources For A New Century, was written in September 2000 by the neo-conservative think-tank Project for the New American Century (PNAC).
The plan shows Bush's cabinet intended to take military control of the Gulf region whether or not Saddam Hussein was in power. It says: 'The United States has for decades sought to play a more permanent role in Gulf regional security. While the unresolved conflict with Iraq provides the immediate justification, the need for a substantial American force presence in the Gulf transcends the issue of the regime of Saddam Hussein.'Original Cryptogon coverage on this story is here.
posted by Kevin at 5:57 PM
Updated Daisy Cutter = Tactical Nuke :.When and if the United States does go to war, military sources say the United States is preparing a monster new weapon to be used during the first nights.
It's called MOAB, short for "massive ordnance air burst" bomb. It is a modern, bigger version of the 15,000-pound "Daisy Cutter" used in Vietnam, the Persian Gulf War and Afghanistan.
Sources say MOAB � still experimental � is a 21,000-pound bomb that will be pushed out the back of a C-130 transport and guided by satellite. Because it is not dropped by parachute, as was the old Daisy Cutter, the aircraft can let it go from far higher altitudes, making it safer for U.S. pilots.
The MOAB's massive explosive punch, sources say, is similar to a small nuclear weapon.
posted by Kevin at 5:55 PM
eBay Rolls Over, Compromises Its Users :.Who needs a subpoena? "We don't make you show a subpoena, except in exceptional cases," Sullivan told his listeners. "When someone uses our site and clicks on the `I Agree' button, it is as if he agrees to let us submit all of his data to the legal authorities. Which means that if you are a law-enforcement officer, all you have to do is send us a fax with a request for information, and ask about the person behind the seller's identity number, and we will provide you with his name, address, sales history and other details - all without having to produce a court order. We want law enforcement people to spend time on our site," he adds. He says he receives about 200 such requests a month, most of them unofficial requests in the form of an email or fax.
The meaning is clear. One fax to eBay from a lawman - police investigator, NSA, FBI or CIA employee, National Park ranger - and eBay sends back the user's full name, email address, home address, mailing address, home telephone number, name of company where seller is employed and user nickname. What's more, eBay will send the history of items he has browsed, feedbacks received, bids he has made, prices he has paid, and even messages sent in the site's various discussion groups.
posted by Kevin at 5:52 PM
When Pigs Fly: FBI Surveillance Plane Circles Town :.BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) - A small airplane is circling this college town several times a day, raising fears of terrorism, but aviation officials say it is conducting law enforcement surveillance and no one should be alarmed.
Local and state police and the FBI, however, said they knew nothing about the aircraft.
The white, single-engine propeller airplane has been spotted at least since Feb. 19 making passes overhead about noon, in the late evening and after midnight.
posted by Kevin at 5:50 PM
2/27/2003
Back from Road TripI've just returned from a mind bending---roughly 3,000 mile---road trip. I'll try to post updates tomorrow. Thanks to the two guys who donated a total of nine bucks while I was away. Several hundred dollars in gas and motel fees just went up in smoke, so that will come in handy. ;) Hopefully, the effort will be worth it. Oh, what was I up to? I'll tell you all if it works out.
posted by Kevin at 9:53 PM
2/24/2003
Nightmare: Patriot Act II :.Oh man, this thing is really ugly. The article states that Patriot II will be rammed through during the next crisis: Section 201 would empower the Justice Department to conduct secret arrests when investigating international terrorism. Those arrests would remain secret until criminal charges are filed.
According to prominent constitutional attorney David Cole of Georgetown University Law Center, "Never before in our history have we permitted secret arrests. This expressly authorizes the practice of secret arrests."
And, of course, a person under secret arrest might never have charges filed against him. In which case the person is either quietly let out of prison or languishes there.
Section 501 would allow the federal government to strip the citizenship of an American citizen, if that person provided "material support" to a group the United States has designated as a terrorist organization. If you gave money to an overseas religious charity -- later classified as a front organization for a terrorist group -- you could lose your citizenship.
Section 503 gives the U.S. attorney general unchecked authority to deport any person, including lawful, permanent residents -- whenever he determines their presence is inconsistent with our national security.
This could happen even if the noncitizen were law abiding and had not violated any immigration laws.
National security can be interpreted to mean, according to Cole, "national defense, foreign policy, or economic interests." Basically, the U.S. attorney general can conclude that the presence of a lawful permanent resident is "inconsistent with our economic interests and he can deport the person," Cole said. The deportation would not be reviewable by the courts.
posted by Kevin at 11:07 PM
When Kafka Aligns with Orwell: Noncooperation and Resistance :.I'm still on the road, but dialup works in Motel 6! In recent days, police state plans have gone into overdrive. On the other hand, signs of resistance are also visible. By this I don't mean marches and rallies and putting soft pressure on elected representatives. These seem to me mostly a waste of time and even counterproductive to the extent that the illusion is created that some opposing force is being exerted when all that is happening is participation in the overall legitimacy of regime aims. Rather, I mean the first stirrings of organized resistance by some professionals and functionaries who have a say in whether or not the government's totalitarian plans, in any number of areas of ordinary life, can be implemented. Organized resistance to smallpox vaccinations could become a leading front in the model of nonviolent noncooperation that I have in mind, but leaders of professional bodies will have to show far more spine in standing up to the onslaught on privacy and freedom to make larger things possible. I don't think for a moment that noncooperation of the sort I have in mind can become a reality, in the hands of coddled liberal leaders who surely don't want to rock the boat beyond the mild complaining their followers expect of them, but I propose this as an approach that might have a chance of working. And even the window of opportunity for noncooperation is rapidly shutting down: after the next terror attack, when the military will be on the streets, and the population brutally terrorized into abject submission, we can say goodbye to even this fond last hope.
posted by Kevin at 10:56 PM
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:. Reading
 Fatal
Harvest: The Tragedy of Industrial Agriculture by Andrew Kimbrell
Readers will come to see
that industrial food production is indeed a "fatal harvest"
- fatal to consumers, as pesticide residues and new disease vectors
such as E. coli and "mad cow disease" find their way
into our food supply; fatal to our landscapes, as chemical runoff
from factory farms poison our rivers and groundwater; fatal to
genetic diversity, as farmers rely increasingly on high-yield
monocultures and genetically engineered crops; and fatal to our
farm communities, which are wiped out by huge corporate
farms.
 Friendly
Fascism: The New Face of Power in America by Bertram Myron Gross
This is a relatively
short but extremely cogent and well-argued treatise on the rise
of a form of fascistic thought and social politics in late 20th
century America. Author Bertram Gross' thesis is quite straightforward;
the power elite that comprises the corporate, governmental and
military superstructure of the country is increasingly inclined
to employ every element in their formidable arsenal of 'friendly
persuasion' to win the hearts and minds of ordinary Americans
through what Gross refers to as friendly fascism.
 The
Good Life
by Scott and Helen Nearing Helen
and Scott Nearing are the great-grandparents of the back-to-the-land
movement, having abandoned the city in 1932 for a rural life based
on self-reliance, good health, and a minimum of cash...Fascinating,
timely, and wholly useful, a mix of the Nearings' challenging
philosophy and expert counsel on practical skills.
 Silent
Theft: The Private Plunder of Our Common Wealth by David Bollierd
In Silent Theft, David Bollier
argues that a great untold story of our time is the staggering
privatization and abuse of our common wealth. Corporations are
engaged in a relentless plunder of dozens of resources that we
collectively own—publicly funded medical breakthroughs,
software innovation, the airwaves, the public domain of creative
works, and even the DNA of plants, animals and humans. Too often,
however, our government turns a blind eye—or sometimes helps
give away our assets. Amazingly,
the silent theft of our shared wealth has gone largely unnoticed
because we have lost our ability to see the commons.
 The
Self-Sufficient Life and How to Live It: The Complete Back-To-Basics
Guide by John Seymour The
Self Sufficient Life and How to Live It is the only book that
teaches all the skills needed to live independently in harmony
with the land harnessing natural forms of energy, raising crops
and keeping livestock, preserving foodstuffs, making beer and
wine, basketry, carpentry, weaving, and much more.
 When
Corporations Rule the World by David C. Korten
When Corporations
Rule the World explains how economic globalization has concentrated
the power to govern in global corporations and financial markets
and detached them from accountability to the human interest. It
documents the devastating human and environmental consequences
of the successful efforts of these corporations to reconstruct
values and institutions everywhere on the planet to serve their
own narrow ends.
 The
New Organic Grower: A Master's Manual of Tools and Techniques
for the Home and Market Gardener
This expansion
of a now-classic guide originally published in 1989 is intended
for the serious gardener or small-scale market farmer. It describes
practical and sustainable ways of growing superb organic vegetables,
with detailed coverage of scale and capital, marketing, livestock,
the winter garden, soil fertility, weeds, and many other
topics.
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