Foundations Are in Place for Martial Law in the U.S. :.

This stuff will be very familiar to old school conspiracy freaks. Well, gentlemen, maybe we weren't crazy after all...just early with our warnings:

Recent pronouncements from the Bush Administration and national security initiatives put in place in the Reagan era could see internment camps and martial law in the United States.

When president Ronald Reagan was considering invading Nicaragua he issued a series of executive orders that provided the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) with broad powers in the event of a "crisis" such as "violent and widespread internal dissent or national opposition against a US military invasion abroad". They were never used.

But with the looming possibility of a US invasion of Iraq, recent pronouncements by President George Bush's domestic security chief, Tom Ridge, and an official with the US Civil Rights Commission should fire concerns that these powers could be employed or a de facto drift into their deployment could occur.

On July 20 the Detroit Free Press ran a story entitled "Arabs in US could be held, official warns". The story referred to a member of the US Civil Rights Commission who foresaw the possibility of internment camps for Arab Americans. FEMA has practiced for such an occasion.

FEMA, whose main role is disaster response, is also responsible for handling US domestic unrest.

Research credit: BW
posted by Kevin at 9:34 PM

Circumventing DRM a Crime :.

Everyone, including Intel and AMD, is going along with Microsoft's evil Digital Rights Management (DRM) plan. We are a few short years away from the end of open computing. They are saying the purpose of all of this is to prevent piracy and to "protect your information." The real purpose is to have positive ID on every computer user. Positive ID on every email, news group post, web site, even every image. All servers will have to be running DRM compliant operating systems. In order to view a web site, browsers will have to be DRM compliant or the server will refuse the connection. This is a nightmare made real, and right now, it doesn't look like there's anything anyone can do about it.

Computers are about to be regulated like firearms. And if you somehow modify your hardware and/or software to defeat DRM mechanisms, you will be committing a serious FEDERAL crime. The Internet is too dangerous. The free expression of ideas is too dangerous. As the global situation continues to slide, and people become increasingly vocal and active, the THEM will need a way to keep things under control. Microsoft's DRM strategy will play a major part in that.

Of course, you can argue, "This will create a market for non DRM hardware to run GNU type OSes like Linux." HA! Those individuals and companies would immediately be charged with trafficking in illegal information technology. You would provoke a similar response from law enforcement if you decided to start manufacturing machine guns in your garage and selling them on the street. Try that and see how long you stay out of jail.

This is an especially hopeless situation because normal users have literally no idea what an operating system even is, much less how DRM will impact them. Anyway, this is only the tip of a very big iceberg:

Biden's new bill would make it a federal felony to try and trick certain types of devices into playing your music or running your computer program. Breaking this law--even if it's to share music by your own garage band--could land you in prison for up to five years. And that's not counting the civil penalties of up to $25,000 per offense.

Research credit: TR
posted by Kevin at 9:20 PM

Microsoft Getting Increasingly Out of Control :.

I have a private home network that has a Windows XP system on it (I know, the horrors, but it allows my wife to do some of her work at home). With recent discussions about DRM and the Microsoft EULA (which allows Microsoft to autodownload software), I decided to block all traffic on my Linux firewall from Microsoft systems (207.46.0.0/16) to the Windows XP box. This morning there was trapped traffic from Microsoft, after my wife was doing some work on the XP system the day before.
posted by Kevin at 9:17 PM

Hearing Voices :.

Those of you who have looked at various mind control issues will find this one very interesting. The first un-classified successful transmission of sound directly into the skull of a living person was performed by Dr. Joseph C. Sharp, of Walter Reed Army Institute of Research in 1974. Indeed, the U.S. government has had a variety of mind control capabilities for about 30 years. Imagine if you started hearing voices that told you to kill yourself or someone else. Imagine if those voices persisted 24 hours per day:

The Hyper-Sonic Sound System (HSS), as he calls it, can take an audio signal from virtually any source�home stereo, TV, computer, microphone, etc.�and convert it to an ultrasonic frequency that can be directed like a beam of light toward a target up to 100 yards away.
posted by Kevin at 9:11 PM

Tax Dollars Hard at Work :.

BOSTON (AP) - For more than 20 years, FBI headquarters in Washington knew that its Boston agents were using hit men and mob leaders as informants and shielding them from prosecution for serious crimes including murder, the Associated Press has learned.

Research credit: TR
posted by Kevin at 8:55 PM

What Was It? :.

Military officials confirm that two F-16 jets from Andrews Air Force Base were scrambled early yesterday after radar detected an unknown aircraft in area airspace. But they scoff at the idea that the jets were chasing a strange and speedy, blue unidentified flying object.
posted by Kevin at 8:53 PM

Shoot the Messenger: Whitehats Beware :.

Hey netstumblers, you're not going to believe this one:

A Houston computer security analyst has been charged with hacking after demonstrating the insecurity of a county courts wireless LAN.

Stefan Puffer, 33, was indicted by a Grand Jury on Wednesday with two counts of fraud for allegedly breaking into Harris County district clerk's wireless computer system. It's believed to be the first case of its kind in the US.

Puffer, who was employed briefly by the county's technology department in 1999, could get five years in jail and faces a $250,000 fine on each count if convicted, the Houston Chronicle reports.
posted by Kevin at 6:09 PM

Bizzarro: Four Fort Bragg Soldiers Kill Wives :.

I don't have any idea what to make of this one:

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The killings of four military wives in the past six weeks -- allegedly by their husbands who are based at Fort Bragg, North Carolina -- have led commanders to take a new look at whether combat deployments may be causing undue stress.

Sources at Fort Bragg, home to the Army Special Operations Command, say there's no common thread among the cases, and suggest it may simply be an "anomaly" that so many incidents have occurred so close together.

Benjamin Abel, an Army Special Operations Command spokesmen, gave these details on the four incidents:

On June 11, Sgt. 1st Class Rigoberto Nieves, 32, and his wife, Teresa, were found shot to death at their residence in a suspected murder-suicide. Nieves was assigned to the 3rd Special Forces Group. He was deployed to Afghanistan in early January and returned in mid-March.

On June 29, Jennifer Wright, the wife of Master Sgt. William Wright, 36, was found strangled. Wright was charged with first degree murder. He was assigned to the 96th Civil Affairs Battalion. He was deployed to Afghanistan in mid-March and returned in mid-May.

On July 9, Marilyn Griffin, wife of Sgt. Cedric Griffin, 28, was stabbed to death. Griffin is charged with first degree murder. He was assigned to the 37th Engineer Battalion, 20th Engineer Brigade. He had not been deployed to Afghanistan and no such deployment was planned.

On July 19, Sgt. 1st Class Brandon S. Floyd, 30, and his wife, Andrea, were shot at their home in an apparent murder-suicide. Floyd was assigned to Headquarters Company, U.S. Army Special Operations Command. He was deployed to Afghanistan in November and returned in January.
posted by Kevin at 5:49 PM

Congress Calls for Independent 9/11 Investigation :.

The "blue ribbon" commission can start by trying to get explanations for some of these items, if it ever actually comes into existence.

July 25, 2002, 8 PM, PDT � (FTW) In a session lasting until 2 A.M., the House of Representatives today passed an amendment to the 2002 Intelligence Authorization Bill (HR 2883) that would require the establishment of a �blue ribbon� independent commission to investigate the attacks of last September 11th. The amendment, introduced by Indiana Democrat Tim Roemer, passed by a vote of 219 to 188. 25 of those voting in favor were Republicans.
posted by Kevin at 12:51 AM

Homeland Security Youth Camps :.

All fascist regimes seek to indoctrinate children with, "the truth." It helps when those children come from broken and impoverished family settings. Indeed, this camp focuses on recruiting poor and even mentally challenged kids, i.e. the easiest to dupe and control. Before September 11, corporations needed armies of professionally educated imbeciles to keep the wheels of commerce turning. Now that we have the War to Save the Homeland, etc. we're going to need armies of destitute non-thinkers to make the trains run on time:

The entire program is designed for teens who may be teenage parents, juvenile delinquents, low income, or coping with a learning or other disability. Eighty percent are male, and 30 percent live in group foster homes.

"These aren't the kids whose parents are going to give them $20 to sit by the pool all day," said camp director Danielle Bursk, who oversees activities at several sites from a tiny office at Bucks County Community College.

The job training they receive, Bursk says, can start a career in the homeland security business, which is booming.

Check out the words of another big believer in youth camps:

"My program for educating youth is hard. Weakness must be hammered away. In my castles of the Teutonic Order a youth will grow up before which the world will tremble. I want a brutal, domineering, fearless, cruel youth. Youth must be all that. It must bear pain. There must be nothing weak and gentle about it. The free, splendid beast of prey must once again flash from its eyes...That is how I will eradicate thousands of years of human domestication...That is how I will create the New Order." -- Adolf Hitler, 1933.

More essential skills for children.
posted by Kevin at 10:42 PM

3 Former Adelphia Execs Arrested :.

Why is there something intrinsically beautiful about corporate executives being led away in hand cuffs?

NEW YORK (AP) - The founder of bankrupt Adelphia Communications Corp. and two of his sons were charged Wednesday with conspiracy for allegedly looting the cable TV provider and using it as their "personal piggy bank" as they hid more than $2 billion in debt from investors.

Related: Dick Cheney Hides During Corporate Crime Investigation :.

Sources told the Daily News yesterday that with the urging of his lawyers, Cheney has scaled back his crucial public cheerleading role until a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation of Halliburton's accounting practices while Cheney was chairman and CEO has been resolved.

Also: SEC Investigating AOL :.
posted by Kevin at 2:00 PM

The Incredible Corn Con :. (NY Times, requires free registration)

Sometimes, the biggest frauds occur in open view. I strongly encourage you to take a few minutes to read about a swindle so vast that it touches just about everyone in the U.S. And if you ever wanted more of an incentive to support your local organic food growers and retailers, I don't know if you will ever find it. This is truly incredible:

Our entire food supply has undergone a process of "cornification" in recent years, without our even noticing it. That's because, unlike in Mexico, where a corn-based diet has been the norm for centuries, in the United States most of the corn we consume is invisible, having been heavily processed or passed through food animals before it reaches us. Most of the animals we eat (chickens, pigs and cows) today subsist on a diet of corn, regardless of whether it is good for them. In the case of beef cattle, which evolved to eat grass, a corn diet wreaks havoc on their digestive system, making it necessary to feed them antibiotics to stave off illness and infection. Even farm-raised salmon are being bred to tolerate corn � not a food their evolution has prepared them for. Why feed fish corn? Because it's the cheapest thing you can feed any animal, thanks to federal subsidies. But even with more than half of the 10 billion bushels of corn produced annually being fed to animals, there is plenty left over. So companies like A.D.M., Cargill and ConAgra have figured ingenious new ways to dispose of it, turning it into everything from ethanol to Vitamin C and biodegradable plastics.

. . .

Modern corn hybrids are the greediest of plants, demanding more nitrogen fertilizer than any other crop. Corn requires more pesticide than any other food crop. Runoff from these chemicals finds its way into the groundwater and, in the Midwestern corn belt, into the Mississippi River, which carries it to the Gulf of Mexico, where it has already killed off marine life in a 12,000 square mile area.

To produce the chemicals we apply to our cornfields takes vast amounts of oil and natural gas. (Nitrogen fertilizer is made from natural gas, pesticides from oil.) America's corn crop might look like a sustainable, solar-powered system for producing food, but it is actually a huge, inefficient, polluting machine that guzzles fossil fuel � a half a gallon of it for every bushel.

Research credit: JH
posted by Kevin at 5:55 PM

Widening Financial Crisis :.

Yes, Citigroup and J.P. Morgan did Enron type scams for several other corporations, none of which have been named as of yet. But instead of harping on the details of these latest revelations, I thought I'd share with all of you a letter I recently sent to my own sister. She has watched the value of her mutual fund investments drop over the past two years, along with a lot of other people. Not knowing much about investing, she just had faith in the "buy and hold" BS that is marketed to retail investors. Last Friday's Dow collapse finally got her attention. She went to her investment advisor and said she wanted to make changes; something between getting out and getting much more conservative. What does the criminal advisor suggest she do with her money? Read on:

(Sister's name deleted),

Honestly, I have to wonder if the person assisting you with your money has been smoking crack.

These funds are MUCH more aggressive and risky than your current allocation. One is 95% in stocks. The other is 90% in stocks. If you had been in these funds over the past two years, you would have lost A LOT of money.

Forget what anyone says about these funds and look at the charts.

First, (fund name 1 deleted). This piece of sh*t would cost you 5.75% of your money JUST to buy in. THAT IS INSANE! The funds core holding (Verisign) has lost 82% this year!

The fund has gone from about $16 to $5.50.

(Fund name 2 deleted) is another loser which also costs you 5.75% of your money just to buy into it!!!

That fund's largest holding is Citigroup. Look at the headline from today's New York Times:

"Senior credit officers of Citigroup misrepresented the full nature of a 1999 transaction with Enron in the records of the deal so that the energy company could ignore accounting requirements and hide its true financial condition, according to internal bank documents and government investigators.

The records and interviews with investigators demonstrate for the first time that bankers intentionally manipulated the written record of their dealings with Enron to allow the company to improperly avoid the requirements of accounting rules and the law, thus keeping $125 million in debt off its books."

I seriously think you should pull your money from this institution immediately. These people are obviously criminals and don't have your best interests in mind. Even if they believe we're at a bottom, why place you in such ridiculously high front loaded funds? To get a fat sales commission, that's why. I suspect they have some kind of deal with (fund company deleted) to share some of the load fees. The fact that these funds were recommended to you stood my arm hairs on end.

(My recommendations deleted.)

Anyway, based on what they recommended, I would not even discuss anything further with those criminals, and I would get your money out ASAP.

-Kevin

The point of me posting this is simply to demonstrate to people that they shouldn't blindly believe the recommendations of Certified Financial Planners and/or *gasp* brokers. Investors need to get more hands on, learn more and trust less. This post is neither a solicitation nor recommendation to buy, sell or use any financial instruments, services or companies.
posted by Kevin at 5:53 PM

Google Refuses to Run Paid Ads for Cryptogon.com Due to Content

This is to be expected, I suppose. It means I'm doing something right. I could use any assistance from readers, however, in helping me to get the google bot to crawl my site. I've submitted cryptogon.com to be added to the google crawl list, but the site still hasn't been indexed. I doubt I've been put on some permanent sh*t list, but nothing would surprise me. You can help out by adding a link to my site on any web pages under your control that are being crawled by google.

Date: Tue, 23 Jul 2002 11:45:16 -0700
From: adwords-support@google.com
Subject: Changes to your Google Adwords campaign

Hello Kevin,

We need your help optimizing your AdWords Select campaign. To make sure every AdWords Select ad we run is successful for the advertiser and relevant for our users, our AdWords Specialists review each ad submitted and check that they comply with the Editorial Guidelines and that they are designed for optimal performance.

When we find an ad that falls outside the Editorial Guidelines, we request that you change that ad in order to meet those criteria and enable your ad to run. If you meet the guidelines but we have a suggestion designed to enhance your ad's performance, we will specify that this is a recommended change. Toward the end of this message, you'll find a more detailed description of the issues involved.

The report below explains what changes are needed for your ad to be fully optimized.

Once you've made these changes, please save your ads. This will automatically resubmit them to us for review. To log in to your account, please go to:

https://adwords.google.com/select/

Our goal is to make your advertising on Google more successful, and we apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. Thanks for your help and your understanding.

----------------------------------------------
Campaign: 'Campaign #1,' Ad Group: 'Ad Group #1'
----------------------------------------------

AD TEXT:

The Cryptogon
Unreported News, Conspiracies,
Alternative Research
www.cryptogon.com

Action taken: Suspended - Pending Revision
Issue(s): Unacceptable Product
~~~~~~~~~

SUGGESTIONS:
-> Content: At this time, Google policy does not permit the advertisement of "sites that advocate against any individual, group, or organization" on our website. We also do not permit sites that sell these products to advertise on Google. As noted in our advertising terms and conditions, we reserve the right to exercise editorial discretion when it comes to the advertising we accept on our site.

---------------------
Read below for definitions of the issues we discovered:

Unacceptable Product: Google believes strongly in freedom of expression and therefore offers broad access to content across the web without censoring search results. Please note that the decisions we make concerning advertising in no way affect the search results we deliver.

---------------------

Please feel free to email us at adwords-support@google.com if you have any further questions or concerns.

Sincerely,
The Google AdWords Team
posted by Kevin at 5:51 PM

U.S. Congressman Alludes to ECHELON Surveillance Network

Keep in mind the story I wrote below, where I indicated that part of IAO's role will be to create analytical tools to deal with the flood of data being gathered by NSA collection efforts. U.S. Congressman Mark Kirk had some interesting comments in an NPR interview.

From Cryptome.org:

On National Public Radio a US Senator[sic] basically confirmed the existence of the Echelon communications surveillance network. U.S. Senator Mark Kirk (Republican, member of the House Intelligence Committee, worked for Naval Intel and the CIA, assigned to the Pentagon War Room in the 1990s) said: "I used to stand as a watch officer in the War Room at the Pentagon and I would get about one message every second. An analyst, for example, working on Latin America would get 1400 messages a day. There are huge - what I would call - vacuum cleaners in the sky sucking in information for the foreign intelligence agencies ..." Here's the audio link -- the interesting part is from the 6th minute onwards:

http://www.npr.org/ramfiles/me/20020718.me.06.ram
posted by Kevin at 5:54 AM

U.S. May Debate Giving Military Law Enforcement Power :.

Further down the rabbit hole:

The government should consider reversing more than a century of tradition and law to give the U.S. military a bigger law enforcement role in the event of a terrorist attack, Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge and some lawmakers said.
posted by Kevin at 10:15 PM

Internment Camps for Arab Americans? :.

A member of the U.S. Civil Rights Commission said in Detroit on Friday he could foresee a scenario in which the public would demand internment camps for Arab Americans if Arab terrorists strike again in this country.

If there's a future terrorist attack in America "and they come from the same ethnic group that attacked the World Trade Center, you can forget about civil rights," commission member Peter Kirsanow said.

The reason, he said, is that "the public would be less concerned about any perceived erosion of civil liberties than they are about protecting their own lives."

Research credit: TR
posted by Kevin at 10:14 PM

High Priests of the Technocracy: The Information Awareness Office :.

Since the end of the Cold War, governments around the world have been increasingly viewing their own states' populations as threats to national security. What we are now witnessing is a struggle for control of ideas. The battlespace is the Internet.

In current national security parlance, terrorists, individuals, non-governmental organizations and other actors are considered asymmetric threats. When compared to state actors, asymmetric actors exhibit a marked lack of congruence in terms of military power. What the non-state actors lack in military muscle, they make up in speed, agility, intelligence and personal conviction. In the story of David and Goliath, David was an asymmetric threat to Goliath. Today, lots of individuals armed with information technology and brain power pose a similar threat to the established order.

Clearly, the U.S. government is frightened.

They're not just scared of terrorists. Think back to the circumstances that touched off the American Revolution. Now start thinking about the endless string of trillion dollar swindles that have been accelerating over the past twenty years. The degree of corruption and high level criminality under way today makes the circumstances of, "Taxation without representation" seem desirable in comparison. The fraudsters running the show realize this, and they also know that people are waking up, discussing issues, sending email, creating websites and reading websites, etc.

In order to keep such a large genie in the bottle, the U.S. government needs a new way to view the threat. Over the last twenty years or so, several states, lead by the U.S., implemented the ECHELON surveillance system. Today, those efforts have resulted in an overabundance of raw data; much more data than can be analyzed effectively. The government wants to be able to spot definite patterns in what looks like noise on top of noise. They want to unravel the structure of loosely organized networks of individuals. In other words, they want to use the Internet---the tool which has the potential to set us all free---to track some of us down and silence us when we become too much of a threat.

The Information Awareness Office is brand new and is lead by John Poindexter. Remember him? His CV states that, "He was directly involved in implementing The President's policies on a strong defense, freedom and democracy around the world, human rights, world hunger, economic and military assistance." However, it fails to mention his multiple felony convictions. Woops. I think Wired sums the situation up pretty well:

John Poindexter, head of the Pentagon's new data mining service, the Information Awareness Office.

Master of Delete: After serving as Reagan's national security adviser during the Iran-Contra scandal, Poindexter was found guilty of five felony counts (later overturned on a technicality), including obstructing Congress by erasing more than 5,000 incriminating emails.

Data Hunter: In January, Poindexter, 66, was tapped to lead the IAO. The office, funded by Darpa, works to counter "asymmetric threats" (such as terrorist cells) with IT solutions. It's building a prototype system for collating billions of previously unconnected data points - everything from the classified files of lone-wolf agencies like the FBI, CIA, and DEA to personal Internet communications and credit records.

Now, last, but definitely not least, if you thought the logo for the Babylon project was good (used to be here, but it has been removed, see google cache), wait until you see the logo for the Information Awareness Office. Yes, friends, that's the, "All Seeing Eye" of Illuminated Free Masonry's fame. Yes, the same one that's on the back of your one dollar bills. These guys are out of the closet now. They're in control, they know it and they're not afraid to show it. The Latin phrase below the symbol, "Scientia Est Potentia," means, "Knowledge is Power." Also, notice the part of the world that's indicated in the symbol, Central Asia, the region which has been targeted for imperial occupation because of its rich oil and natural gas deposits.

TR submitted this very interesting information:

Subject: Scientia est potentia

These guys at the Information Awareness Office either don't know their Latin very well, or they are being blantantly evil.

Potentia means power but it has the connotation of unconstitutional private power. Power attained by private means and used for personal ends. What they should say is "Potestas." This is power attained by and for the public good. As in this famous quote by Francis Bacon: Ipsa scientia potestas est. Knowledge itself is power.

In my copy of the "New College Latin and English Dictionary" potentia is defined as: "force, power; political power (esp. unconstitutional power)". Whereas potestas is defined as: "power, abililty, capacity; public authority, rule, magisterial power; possibility, opportunity, permission..."

So by saying "Scientia est potentia" they're just coming out and saying, "Knowledge is unconstitutional political power for a few private individuals." Sounds about right to me. Maybe they do know their Latin after all.
posted by Kevin at 7:28 PM

Calling All Southern California Area Freaks: Dave Emory in Santa Monica

I'll see ya there!

DAVE EMORY SPEAKS, SATURDAY, JULY 20, 7:30PM,
UNITARIAN CHURCH, 1260 18TH ST., SANTA MONICA (CORNER 18TH & ARIZONA)
�BINLADENGATE: FASCISM, ISLAMISM AND THE GOP� ($10)
posted by Kevin at 3:54 PM

.Gov has Definitely Gone Insane :.

If I told you the government expected you to run an NSA program on your computer to make it "secure," you would probably think I was joking. Well, it's no joke. And anyone who thinks I'm going to run an NSA executable on my system has totally lost their marbles. Relying on Uncle to provide information systems security is like asking a wolf to watch your chickens. Windows is a disaster. Unless you know how to lock it down, you're asking for trouble. If you want to do your part, in terms of computer security, run BSD, or, if you're not insane, MacOSX:

Clarke said the recommendations -- which currently number 77 but could change before the official announcement -- will include government-provided software and other tools to make them easier to implement.

Collectively called the "Gold Standard," the package is a small program that probes computers for known security flaws and makes suggestions on how to eliminate holes used by hackers.
posted by Kevin at 3:26 PM

FEMA Preparing for Mass Destruction Attacks on Cities :.

Read this:

RESETTLEMENT TO EASTERN EUROPE A Nazi euphemism for deportation. The forced relocation of Jews and Gypsies as well as Slavic native populations from their homes to other localities, usually to ghettos or concentration camps, labor camps and killing centers. Nazis referred to deportations as "evacuations" or "resettlements" to disguise this component of mass murder. :.

Now read this:

FEMA, the federal agency charged with disaster preparedness, is engaged in a crash effort to prepare for multiple mass destruction attacks on U.S. cities - including the creation of sprawling temporary cities to handle millions of displaced persons, NewsMax has learned.

FEMA is readying for nuclear, biological and chemical attacks against U.S. cities, including the possibility of multiple attacks with mass destruction weapons.

The agency has already notified vendors, contractors and consultants that it needs to be prepared to handle the logistics of aiding millions of displaced Americans who will flee from urban areas that may be attacked.

The agency plans to create emergency, makeshift cities that could house hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of Americans who may have to flee their urban homes if their cities are attacked.

Ominously, FEMA has been given a deadline of having the cities ready to go by January 2003 � in about six months.

Research credit: TR
posted by Kevin at 1:58 AM

Selected Passages from The National Strategy for Homeland Security :.

Terrorists Here, Terrorists There, Terrorists Everywhere

They're calling on Joe and Jane Six Pack to spy on their neighbors.

Terrorists may live and travel among us and attack our homes and our places of business, governance, and recreation. In order to defeat an enemy who uses our very way of life as a weapon�who takes advantage of our freedoms and liberties�every American must be willing to do his or her part to protect our homeland.

Corporations = Security

Was this written by Third Reich Alumni? Since when have corporations served the interests of the public!?

Private companies are a key source of new ideas and innovative technologies that will enable us to triumph over the terrorist threat. There are, for example, pharmaceutical companies producing new vaccines against dangerous biological agents and information technology firms investing in new communications technology for first responders. The President has sought to tap into this creative genius establishing a national Homeland Security Advisory Council and calling on private citizens to serve on similar boards at the state and local level.

Establish a Department of Pre-Crime

I thought Minority Report pretty much sucked, but hey... This is about as disturbing as it gets:

Develop systems for detecting hostile intent. Terrorism ultimately requires individual human beings to carry out murderous actions. These individuals, whether they intend to commandeer an aircraft, detonate a suicide bomb, or sneak illicit material through customs, may behave in a manner that reveals their criminal intent. The Department of Homeland Security would work with private and public entities to develop a variety of systems that highlight such behavior and can trigger further investigation and analysis of suspected individuals.

Wet Identification

The point of all of this nonsense it to ensure that you pay ALL federal, state and local taxes. The primary purpose of your existence is to transfer wealth and resources away from you and your community to the people who run the show. This can only be accomplished once the subject population is tethered with biometric IDs. Surveillance of increasing numbers of dissidents also becomes manageable with a unified ID system. People who refuse to get their biometric IDs? Well, they're terrorists. Also, pay attention to how they equate Afghanistan to the U.S.:

Apply biometric technology to identification devices. As our military, intelligence, and law enforcement efforts in Afghanistan and other countries have demonstrated, bringing justice to terrorists and their supporters is complicated by the fact that they hide among innocent civilians and in remote places. Finding terrorists and preventing terrorist attacks here in the United States is difficult for the same reason�for example, a terrorist on the FBI�s Watch List may sneak past security personnel at an airport thanks to false documents and a simple disguise. These challenges require new technologies and systems to identify and find individual terrorists. The Department of Homeland Security would support research and development efforts in biometric technology, which shows great promise. The Department would focus on improving accuracy, consistency, and efficiency in biometric systems. Furthermore, the Department would explore biomolecular and other new techniques, as well as enhancements to current techniques such as noise suppression methods for voice authentication.
posted by Kevin at 1:47 AM

U.S. Planning to Recruit One in 24 Americans as Citizen Spies :.

It's over. Game over. But I'll continue to report this nonsense.

The Terrorism Information and Prevention System, or TIPS, means the US will have a higher percentage of citizen informants than the former East Germany through the infamous Stasi secret police. The program would use a minimum of 4 per cent of Americans to report "suspicious activity".

Civil liberties groups have already warned that, with the passage earlier this year of the Patriot Act, there is potential for abusive, large-scale investigations of US citizens.

Related: "Security" Stasi Style, Get Ready America :.

To ensure that the people would become and remain submissive, East German communist leaders saturated their realm with more spies than had any other totalitarian government in recent history. The Soviet Union's KGB employed about 480,000 full-time agents to oversee a nation of 280 million, which means there was one agent per 5,830 citizens. Using Wiesenthal's figures for the Nazi Gestapo, there was one officer for 2,000 people. The ratio for the Stasi was one secret policeman per 166 East Germans. When the regular informers are added, these ratios become much higher: In the Stasi's case, there would have been at least one spy watching every 66 citizens! When one adds in the estimated numbers of part-time snoops, the result is nothing short of monstrous: one informer per 6.5 citizens. It would not have been unreasonable to assume that at least one Stasi informer was present in any party of ten or twelve dinner guests.

Operation TIPS website

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

.mil Takes a Sniff

Does anyone out there know if there's a way to determine more about where this visitor originated, i.e. what agency? NIPRNet is a gateway to the public Internet for clients on classified DoD networks. The center in Virginia is operated by the massive CIA cutout known as Scientific Applications International Corporation, SAIC. Spell SAIC backwards for the open joke. Get it? This is the first obvious visit from .mil/.gov. I wonder why they don't cloak themselves as AOL or Earthlink, etc. clients?! Maybe they do...

My log entry:
Jul 14 at 02:32:08 (JavaScript not enabled in visitor's browser) 198.26.132.99 WCS3.NORFOLK.NIPR.MIL

Whois backtrace:
Norfolk NIPRNet Connectivity (NORFOLK1-DOM)
7990 Science Applications Ct.
MS CV 50
Vienna, VA 22183


Domain Name: NORFOLK.NIPR.MIL
PLA: NONE NONE

Technical Contact:
System, Administrator (AS3)
(800) 365-3642 (FAX)(703) 676-1749
ACTION@NIC.MIL
Administrative Contact:
DoD, Hostmaster (HOSTMASTER)
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posted by Kevin at 6:25 PM

Attempted Political Assassination in Washington DC? :.

This looks like someone attempted to take out the president of a prominent Washington DC financial services company, and almost got his son instead. If anyone has access to/feels like hunting down the Wolf & Cohen Financial Services client list, I'd be interested in seeing it. Perhaps this was an attempt to keep another Enron/GlobalCrossing/WorldCom debacle from making headlines. Maybe it was just intended to send a message.

The 21-year-old son of a prominent Washington businessman was critically injured yesterday when an apparent pipe bomb blew up as he tried to start his father's vehicle in the basement garage of a commercial building in upper Northwest Washington.
posted by Kevin at 1:56 PM

Dick's Criminal Enterprises :.

Current events are looking, more and more, like scenes from a mob movie. Assassination, rackets, protection money. I'd feel better if Don Corleone and his crew were sitting in the White House.

The Halliburton Company, the Dallas oil services company bedeviled lately by an array of accounting and business issues, is benefiting very directly from the United States efforts to combat terrorism.

From building cells for detainees at Guant�namo Bay in Cuba to feeding American troops in Uzbekistan, the Pentagon is increasingly relying on a unit of Halliburton called KBR, sometimes referred to as Kellogg Brown & Root.

Although the unit has been building projects all over the world for the federal government for decades, the attacks of Sept. 11 have led to significant additional business. KBR is the exclusive logistics supplier for both the Navy and the Army, providing services like cooking, construction, power generation and fuel transportation. The contract recently won from the Army is for 10 years and has no lid on costs, the only logistical arrangement by the Army without an estimated cost.

Research credit: TR
posted by Kevin at 1:33 PM

Terror: It's Good for Business :.

Well, it looks like the Terror Industrial Complex is gathering momentum. I have to wonder, are the lengths of the swindles getting shorter? The Cold War lasted for about 45 years. The .com scam only lasted for about five years. And just when things were going to hell again, with the S&P 500 on its way to declining for three years in a row: lights, camera, "Cue bin Laden and other associated spooks and boogiemen." Troubling times call for lots of panis et circenses.

WASHINGTON -- As government workers browse the booths at a high-tech expo here, a large placard declares, ''Homeland Security and Defense is SERIOUS BUSINESS.''

Unstated is another truth: It's also serious money. The Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States have created a wave of government spending reminiscent of the space program in the 1960s or the savings and loan bailout of the 1980s. New federal outlays for homeland defense are expected to hit $57.2 billion by next year, and President Bush has made it clear the investment will continue for years to come. In a faltering economy, it's one of the few things growing.
posted by Kevin at 12:49 PM

Feds Recruit Imbeciles for Airport Security Circus :.

Hundreds of recruitment fliers for screener jobs lay scattered on the ground outside the stadium after a recent Yankee game during which police were called to break up scuffles and fistfights, the crowd yelled obscenities and boisterous fans drank alcohol heavily. In one incident, two combatants traded wild punches before one crashed into an American flag draped over a railing and a fan yelled, "Save the flag."
posted by Kevin at 11:44 AM

The Stunning Criminal Enterprises of the Catholic Church :.

This material is unbelievable. I won't include the most gruesome details, but I encourage you to educate yourself on the terrifying organization known as the Catholic Church:

ACTIVITY
Since approximately 1960 through to the present, persons controlling or directing the affairs of Enterprise I, II, and/or III engaged in or joined in a conspiracy to intentionally, recklessly and/or negligently conceal criminal conduct of its agents, aid and abet the concealment of criminal conduct, aid and abet criminal sexual conduct, fail to report criminal conduct of its agents, obstruct justice, obstruct criminal investigations, obstruct state and/or local law enforcement, evade criminal and/or civil prosecution and liability, bribe and/or pay money to victims in order to keep its criminal conduct secret, violate the civil rights of children and families, engage in mail and/or wire fraud, and commit fraud and/or fraudulent inducement of its parishioners in furtherance of its scheme to protect predatory priests and other clergy from criminal and civil prosecution, to maintain or increase charitable contributions and/or avoid public scandal in the Roman Catholic Church.

more...

As evidence of this fraudulent practice and its widespread use, in 1990, in an address by Bishop A. James Quinn to the National Conference of Catholic Bishops titled �NCCB Guidelines, and other Considerations in Pedophilia Cases,� Bishop Quinn stated:

Nevertheless, personnel files should be carefully examined to determine their content. Unsigned letters alleging misconduct should be expunged.

Standard personnel files should contain no documentation relating to possible criminal behavior. Serious moral questions, signed allegations, those should be a part of the secret file anyhow. But they still subpoena them. But comb through your files.

Now what files have been subpoenaed, they cannot be tampered with; destroyed, removed; that constitutes obstruction of justice and contempt of court. Prior, however, thought and study ought to be given if you think its going to be necessary; if there�s something there you really don�t want people to see you might send it off to the Apostolic Delegate, because they have immunity to protect something that is potentially dangerous, or that you consider to be dangerous, you might send it there.

The Apostolic Delegate is the delegate from the Vatican and Holy See who the church believes enjoys sovereign immunity from lawsuits and subpoenas.

In furtherance of its scheme, persons controlling or directing the affairs of Enterprises I, II, and/or III have routinely entered into secret settlement agreements with confidentiality provisions that required victims of sexual abuse to preserve the Bishop�s secrets from scrutiny by the public and law enforcement authorities.

In furtherance of the scheme, persons controlling or directing the affairs of Enterprises I, II, and/or III, illegally bribed victims of sexual exploitation and abuse in order to influence them to not report the sexual exploitation and abuse to law enforcement authorities and ultimately to influence the victims to not testify, in court, against members of Enterprise I, II, and/or III. As an example, Anthony J. O�Connell, former Bishop of the Diocese of Knoxville and former Bishop of the Diocese of Palm Beach made cash payments to victims he had sexually abused in order to keep them from reporting Bishop O�Connell�s criminal activity and to ultimately influence the victims to not testify against him or other coconspirators in Court. These cash payments began after Bishop O�Connell�s abuse of a child seminarian was reported to Bishop Raymond Boland, Bishop of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph.
posted by Kevin at 3:15 AM

Bill of Rights: Security Edition :.

I'm sure the shiny, happy security people you encounter at the airport will find these interesting:

The First Ten Amendments to the constitution of the United States printed on sturdy, pocket-sized, pieces of metal. The next time you travel by air, take the Security Edition of the Bill of Rights along with you. When asked to empty your pockets, proudly toss the Bill of Rights in the plastic bin. You need to get used to offering up the bill of rights for inspection and government workers need to get used to deciding if you'll be allowed to keep the Bill of Rights with you when you travel.
posted by Kevin at 1:47 PM

Corporate from Cradle to Grave: Child Born in Walmart :.

Allow your mind the fill in the images of the white trash dystopia described in this article. It could be a scene out of a David Lynch movie. Lots of fat, ignorant consumers snapping photos of a newborn baby...in a Walmart checkout aisle. Mom is smiling, perhaps with some lovely palletized dog food or beer visible in the background.

Shenna said she managed to stay calm. "I just thought, 'I'm fixin' to be a mama now, I can't be scared,'" she said.

Michael Jerrod Williams was born at 6:15 a.m. Saturday and greeted by shoppers and store employees. Several recorded the event with disposable cameras.
posted by Kevin at 1:40 PM

Vice President Dick Cheney Sued for Stock Fraud :.

Judicial Watch, the group that investigates and prosecutes corruption by government officials, announced today that it is filing a shareholders suit in Dallas, Texas, against Vice President Dick Cheney and the other involved directors of Halliburton, as well as Halliburton itself, for alleged fraudulent accounting practices which resulted in the overvaluation of the company�s shares, thereby deceiving investors and others.
posted by Kevin at 7:39 AM

Gnutella Developer Gene Kan, 25, Commits Suicide :.

Nobody, as far as I know, is saying anything about a conspiracy. And he did have a history of depression. But I'm a student of political assassination, and I can't help thinking along these lines: We should keep in mind that this guy was partially responsible for the software that cost the recording industry billions of dollars. Also, peer-to-peer (P2P) software is being developed for secure (anonymous) web browsing applications that may be used by dissident groups to mask their activities from law enforcement in repressive states. Just things to keep in mind. Also, why wasn't Kan's death mentioned on Slashdot? I submitted it, probably along with thousands of other people, and they didn't post it. Odd.

Kan, who came to be known as the unofficial spokesman for Gnutella, often said the technology differed from Napster because it had no company to sue or central computer to shut down.

Unlike Napster, which allowed people to trade songs through centralized computer servers, Gnutella simply transfers files from one personal computer to another -- making it much more difficult to monitor.
posted by Kevin at 5:21 AM

Bush Family Values: War Crimes and Genocide :.

Keep some of these images in mind as the U.S. prepares to launch another blitzkrieg against Iraq.

Related: More War = More Peace :.

President Bush said Monday his administration would use "all the tools at our disposal" to oust Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

"I do firmly believe that the world will be safer and more peaceful if there's a regime change in that government," Bush said during a wide-ranging news conference at the White House.
posted by Kevin at 6:54 PM

Corporate Criminal Talks Tough on Corporate Crime :.

Bush will present his plan on Tuesday in a Wall Street speech aimed at restoring investor confidence shaken by accounting scandals at telecoms giant WorldCom Inc. and other once high flying firms, which have laid off thousands of workers and seen their stock values plummet.

The speech will come amid new revelations that drug company Merck & Co. recorded revenues of $12.4 billion from its pharmacy benefits subsidiary in the past three years that the unit never actually collected.

posted by Kevin at 4:01 PM

Murky: Merck Floats a $12 Billion Bomb :.

Merck & Co. recorded more than $12 billion in revenue over the past three years from its pharmacy benefits unit even though the subsidiary never collected the money.
posted by Kevin at 2:07 PM

Interesting Visualization Tool :.

I love this thing! Visualizing data as clusters of related nodes seems very natural to me. (Requires Java.)
posted by Kevin at 1:43 PM

The Routers Are Listening :.

CALEA requires that carriers provision network elements for the intercept event, intercept the call content and data, deliver it directly to one or more law enforcement monitoring facilities in a standard format, and provide secure records storage.

I wonder if PGP cryptext counts as a standard data format? *grin* So, here's my public key, in case any of you freaks want to make sure you get on the requisite .gov shit lists. Hey, we might as well force these goons to send the intercepts to the NSA to break:

-----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----
Version: PGPfreeware 6.5.8 for non-commercial use
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=3z/d
-----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----

posted by Kevin at 1:09 PM

Security May Depend on Luck of the Draw :.

Bad cop, no doughnut:

A police dispatcher at Spokane International Airport may face disciplinary action after someone took photographs of her apparently playing computer solitaire on the job.

The photos were taken Thursday, when the FBI and other federal agencies were on a heightened state of alert because of reports that terrorists could strike Independence Day celebrations.
posted by Kevin at 2:05 PM

Scalia: Ravings of a Madman :.

Scalia cited the New Testament to claim that government �derives its moral authority from God ... to execute wrath, including even wrath by the sword, which is unmistakably a reference to the death penalty.� He then made the following remarkable declaration:

�Indeed, it seems to me that the more Christian a country is, the less likely it is to regard the death penalty as immoral. Abolition has taken its firmest hold in post-Christian Europe and has least support in the church-going United States. I attribute that to the fact that for the believing Christian, death is no big deal.�

See also, "Let the Eagles Soar" for more terrifying antics.

Research credit: TR.
posted by Kevin at 8:42 AM

Unraveling Sham: Are Bush and Cheney Criminals or Clowns? :.

This is getting so beyond the pale, how is anyone still taking this show seriously? Times like this are actually quite dangerous, because the leadership needs to seem like they are useful for something, like, uh, saving us from the boogieman, etc. Without the boogieman, even Joe and Jane Six Pack might start to wake up. Why? Because they're losing their retirement savings due to criminal activity that goes all the way up! The last thing Bush et al. would want to do is kill bin Laden:

But even Pitt couldn't choke off the investigation into Halliburton, one of the largest oil service companies in the world, headed until July 2000 by Cheney, who was the company�s CEO. The SEC is probing whether Halliburton reported more than $100 million of disputed costs on big oil contracts as revenues so that it could prop up its profits while negotiating a merger with a rival. These accounting shenanigans took place in 1998 on Cheney�s watch, and yes, the accounting firm was Arthur Andersen. Noting Bush�s promise that CEOs who have mismanaged their companies in some fraudulent way will "have to pay," Donaldson asked Pitt, "Will that be the case in Halliburton if you find wrongdoing under Mr. Cheney�s reign?" Quivering with integrity, Pitt bravely declared, "I head an independent regulatory agency. We don�t give anyone a pass."
posted by Kevin at 5:52 AM

Oil and Smack

What is happening with drug trafficking lately? Are The Them firing up the smuggling ops again in Afghanistan? Rupert just reported that billions of dollars worth of heroin is moving back into the system as a result of the U.S. activities in Afghanistan. And now the story below appears, buried on some backwater of foxnews.com. The State Department is going to be directing combat drug interdiction operations!?

Always keep in mind, CIA controls/has a hand in/is complicit with the LARGEST volume trafficking operations, and goes to war against/dismantles the upstart entrepreneurs. The seizures you hear about are to maintain appearances that the BS War on Drugs Inc. is accomplishing something. Every so often, however, you catch a glimpse of the real deal in operation. Note that Arrow Air is a CIA cutout. Also note the region of the country, Florida. Now read this. So, what is this nonsense below really about?

Thursday, July 04, 2002

WASHINGTON � President Bush is expected to allow resumption of a program to force down � or shoot down � airplanes suspected of carrying drugs in Latin America, a senior administration official said Thursday.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the timing of the president's decision remained uncertain.

The program was stopped after an American missionary and her infant daughter were killed in Peru last year when their plane was shot down by mistake.

White House press secretary Ari Fleischer confirmed that administration officials have formally recommended that Bush ``resume this program with new safeguards.''

``He's pleased to receive the recommendation. This is something the president is very interested in,'' Fleischer said.

Cautioning that Bush ``has not yet made a formal decision on this matter,'' Fleischer added:

``The president very much wants to take strong actions to fight drug narcotics trafficking in South America. We will work closely with our allies there who share the American concern.''

The program permits the United States to identify and locate suspected drug planes and for Colombian and Peruvian military aircraft to down the planes if they ignore requests to land.

The New York Times reported in its Thursday editions that the State Department would take over the program from the Central Intelligence Agency. The story said CIA Director George Tenet made it clear his agency no longer wanted to participate.

Another article on this.
posted by Kevin at 5:00 AM

Are the Spooks Trying to Clean Up? Flight School Instructor Survives Crash :.

Does anyone out there remember what happened to Emile Camp, Barry Seal's partner and good friend? Camp, an expert pilot, crashed into the side of a mountain in 1985. Sometimes, when too many investigators start sniffing around cutouts, bodies start dropping. Maybe this is what's happening down in Florida:

The owner of one of the two Venice, FL. flight schools at which Mohamed Atta and his terrorist cadre learned to fly barely survived the crash of a private plane last Wednesday when it nose-dived to earth after taking off from the Venice Airport.

The MadCowMorningNews has learned that subsequent events have left local aviation experts wondering if Arne Kruithof's near brush with death was just accident, or something more sinister.
posted by Kevin at 11:52 AM

Excellent Pilger Article: The Rogue State :.

Potential vast energy sources in Central Asia have become critical for the deeply troubled US economy, and for the Bush administration, which is dominated by oil industry interests, notably the Bush family itself. An investigation by the Hong Kong-based Asia Times in January found that the US was frantically developing "a network of multiple Caspian pipelines".

THE disgraced Enron Corporation, one of Bush's biggest campaign backers, conducted a feasibility study for a $2.5billion oil pipeline being built across the Caspian Sea. Top current and former American officials, including Vice President Cheney, "have all closed major deals directly and indirectly on behalf of the oil companies", says the Asia Times.

If there was a map of American military bases established in the region to fight "the war on terrorism" what would be immediately striking is that it would follow almost exactly the route of the projected oil pipeline to the Indian Ocean.
posted by Kevin at 4:00 AM

Is U.S. Intelligence Working with Colombian Drug Cartels? :.

Elements of U.S. intelligence and military special operations were used to execute Pablo Escobar and dismantle the Medellin cocaine cartel. Escobar's main competition in the drug trade was the George Bush connected Cali cartel. The Cali cartel behaved more like a Fortune 500 corporation than a street gang and brought an incredible level of sophistication to the narcotics trade. Remnants of the these old cartels have regrouped and formed the North Valley Cartel. And guess what: They are moving more blow than ever.

Anyone who has looked into intelligence community cutouts will be very interested in a recent article by Paul Kaihla entitled, "The Technology Secrets of Cocaine Inc." I'm going to parse this article for items which may point to intelligence connections. I don't think the Colombian organizations are wholly owned subsidiaries of, "The Enterprise," with headquarters in Virginia, but it almost definitely looks like these guys got substantial help from Uncle.

>Colombia's attorney general secretly granted permission for U.S. agents to fly the mainframe immediately back to the United States, where it was subjected to an exhaustive analysis by experts from the Drug Enforcement Administration and [various intelligence agencies.] The so-called Santacruz computer was never returned to Colombian authorities, and the DEA's report about it is highly classified. emphasis added

Comments: Did DEA get a "National Security" call from CIA?

>According to former and current DEA, military, and State Department officials, the cartel had assembled a database that contained both the office and residential telephone numbers of U.S. diplomats and agents based in Colombia, along with the entire call log for the phone company in Cali, which was leaked by employees of the utility.

Comments: CIA cutouts routinely work under the noses of other diplomatic, law enforcement and military personnel. Did the phone company, on its own, draw up a list of undercover DEA agents and diplomats? This is BS. The CIA would have all of this information, and would provide it to their contractors in order to keep them out of the spotlight. See, "Spider's Web," by Alan Friedman.

>The mainframe was loaded with custom-written data-mining software. It cross-referenced the Cali phone exchange's traffic with the phone numbers of American personnel and Colombian intelligence and law enforcement officials. The computer was essentially conducting a perpetual internal mole-hunt of the cartel's organizational chart.

Comments: It sounds to me like they may have gotten the NSA in on the act.

>A top Colombian narcotics security adviser says the system fingered at least a dozen informants -- and that they were swiftly assassinated by the cartel. A high-level DEA official would go only this far: "It is very reasonable to assume that people were killed as a result of this capability. Potential sources of information were compromised by the system."

Comments: For the cutout to continue to survive, the local (Colombian) and, in this case, International (DEA) "fuzz" have to be kept at bay. Read, "Compromised," by Terry Reed to get the full effect.

>Most of the cartels' technology is American-made; many of the experts who run it are American-trained.

Comments: ! ! !

>Archangel Henao is the man whom authorities credit with much of the drug runners' recent technological progress. According to Colombian and U.S. narcotics officials, Henao heads the North Valley Cartel, the largest and most feared criminal organization to emerge from the chaos that gripped Colombia's underworld after the old Medell�n and Cali cartels were broken up in the 1990s by the country's military -- with extensive U.S. help. Officials say that Henao, a heavyset 47-year-old born with a withered left arm, controls Buenaventura, the principal port on a stretch of the Pacific coast that is the launching point for most of the cocaine and heroin smuggled into North America from Colombia. His North Valley Cartel foot soldiers are known for dismembering the bodies of their enemies with chain saws and dumping them into the Cauca River. The U.S. Treasury Department has banned Henao from doing business with U.S. companies because he is a "drug kingpin," and the DEA publicly calls him one of Colombia's biggest traffickers. He has never been convicted of a drug-related offense, although a DEA official says the agency is "trying to build an indictment" against him.

Comments: Anyone who knows the story of Barry Seal probably has a few hairs standing on end. Is it possible that Henao is contracting for Uncle?

>For instance, to scrub his profits, he and fellow money launderers use a private, password-protected website that daily updates an inventory of U.S. currency available from cartel distributors across North America, says a veteran Treasury Department investigator.

Comments: Researchers hit a wall when it comes to what the spooks do with the money, besides funding other black ops. There is no way that the drug profits are just being used to fund operations. No way. They are generating billions of dollars!!! These massive volumes of money need to move and get laundered. Activities that are orders of magnitude smaller than this would set off red flags at several levels. This can only mean that the money operations require VERY high level complicity in the largest banks and regulatory bodies. Conviently, the story below just came out... *grin*

>Henao and other cartel leaders recruit IT talent from many sources, intelligence officials say. The traffickers lure some specialists from legitimate local businesses, offering scads of cash. [They also contract with Israeli, U.S., and other mercenaries who are former electronic warfare experts from military special ops units.] emphasis added

Comments: Well, the author managed to get the word, "contract" in the same sentence as, "former electronic warfare experts from military special ops units." Are you getting the picture yet? The term, "sheep-dipped" is used to describe active duty military personnel who go over to the spooks. A veteran of the military, or anyone else who works for CIA in an unofficial capacity, is called a, "contractor."

>Most of the high-end gear the cartels deploy comes from household-name multinational companies, many of them American; typically, front companies purchase equipment from sales offices in Colombia or through a series of [intermediaries] operating in the United States. emphasis added

Comments: Often times, cutouts are serviced by other cutouts. Only the executive level Intelligence Officer/s can see the big picture. Contractors working for individual cutouts generally have no idea what the other cutouts are doing.

>The talent and tools are among the best that money can buy, and it shows. For instance, [Henao's communications have become so advanced that they have never been intercepted], Colombian intelligence sources say. The last clear view inside the organization's technical operations was provided in 1998, when a small army of Colombian police arrested Henao's top IT consultant, Nelson Urrego. That bust soon led to the discovery of an elaborate communications network that allowed Urrego to coordinate fleets of North Valley Cartel planes and ships that were smuggling 10 to 15 tons of cocaine each month.

Comments: The more I read, the more I think NSA was involved with this. Also, see the account of the Barry Seal's SEASPRAY "package" in Terry Reed's, "Compromised." Here's a description of the SEASPRAY operation. It's pretty easy to move plane loads of drugs and/or cash when you have the resources of Uncle on your side!

>According to one intelligence official who analyzed Urrego's network, it was transmitting 1,000 messages a day -- and not one of them was intercepted, even by U.S. spy planes.

Comments: Who would be able to set up a communications system like this? Again, Uncle. NSA.

>The cartel's fleets still had to dodge surveillance aircraft like the dozen or so P3 Orions that U.S. Customs flies over Colombia. But by bribing officials and drawing on an elaborate counterintelligence database maintained by the cartels, Urrego learned the operations schedule of the planes. According to a former narcotics operative in the U.S. Army's Southern Command, cartel pilots routinely map the radar coverage of U.S. spy planes by putting FuzzBuster radar detectors in their drug plane cockpits and logging the hits. "They'd use every piece of data to build a picture, just like a jigsaw puzzle," the retired officer explains. "A piece of data could be 'One of our airplanes was flying on this azimuth at this altitude, and his FuzzBuster went off,' which means he was being painted by the radar. So they put that piece of data in the computer. Then another airplane was flying on that azimuth at that altitude, and his FuzzBuster did not go off. As they put that data together, they'd build a picture of the radar signature."

Comments: It's not easy to keep up appearances. Cutout operations are like a big huge circus. The clowns have to show up at the right moment, and the tigers and lions are dangerous wild animals! What would happen if, by accident, a clown stumbled into the ring with those big cats? The cats may act on instinct and eat the clown. Well, the situation is similar for contractors flying blow for Uncle. If the DEA finds a guy with a ton of cocaine on his aircraft, chances are, the DEA guys will arrest him. Then Uncle has to decide what to do about the mess.

Barry Seal managed to obtain CIA get-out-of-jail-free cards for decades, but don't think he got to ride off into the sunset. He was executed because he tried to keep himself out of jail by black mailing the Bush's when CIA was no longer able to save him from other federal law enforcement agencies. Big mistake. Maybe Noriega was thinking about Seal's bullet ridden body when the Prince of Darkness, George Bush, invaded Panama to arrest him. The fact that Noriega kept quiet on the Bush/Blow situation may be why he was allowed to live. The General could easily bring the entire house of cards down if he spoke about his dealings with Bush. But hey, maybe he found God in the Catholic church he fled to as the SEAL/Delta/Ranger operators mingled around outside.

>Many of the targets in the power struggle, the commander says, were located by signals intelligence -- things like pager and e-mail intercepts, transmitters planted on vehicles, or bugs hidden in homes and offices. "This is a technological war," he says.

Comments: *Rolling Eyes* Uncle provides this type of Command, Communications, Control and Intelligence (3CI) for all kinds of clients.

>...one of the principal IT gurus behind the system was Jorge Salcedo Cabrera, a former army intelligence operative and electrical engineer who crossed over to the underworld.

Comments: Are people in the military self-starters, who go out on their own and run their own show? No. They take orders. They do as they're told. When they get busted, they're sometimes cut loose and portrayed as rogue elements. Hey, nobody said being a contractor is easy. Especially when asshole, suit wearing bean counters from Yale are prepared to let you swing by your nuts.

>He is unaware, for instance, of one of the biggest reasons U.S. officials want details of the system and the murders of U.S. intelligence sources it triggered kept top secret.

Comments: Hey, you have to break a few eggs to make an omelet. One thing is for sure, an operation like narcotics trafficking goes all the way to the top. There is no way these types of assets could be put into play otherwise. That mainframe probably reeks of deep black stuff that NOBODY in .gov wants to get loose.

>Jorge Salcedo Cabrera, the main IT whiz who set up the Santacruz computer, eventually became an informant against cartel bosses. The DEA declined to comment on Salcedo. But according to several intelligence officials, he is now living in America at taxpayer expense, under the witness protection program.

Comments: This guy may have a chance in the witness protection program. Barry Seal never got that far...
posted by Kevin at 8:22 AM

Spook University in Northern Virginia and Heroin :.

July 3, 2002 � 5 P.M., PDT (FTW) � The CIA is now operating a university somewhere in northern Virginia. According to an entry in a June 24 newsletter published by an association of former intelligence officers, some of the courses taught at the university are �economic trends, international banking, the world oil market, and how the International Monetary Fund, World Bank, World Trade Organization, etc. and other non-governmental organizations work.�

and...

Since the U.S.-led conquest of Afghanistan was completed last November, a fresh opium crop has been planted that has currently put between 3,000 and 4,500 metric tons of opium back on the market after being harvested last month. That equates to an estimated $150 and $200 billion in liquid cash revenues that will enter the world�s banking system and financial markets, mostly in the U.S. In January of 2000 the Taliban destroyed some 96% of the country�s opium crop; an act of economic warfare that took an estimated $200 billion out of the world�s banking system.

posted by Kevin at 1:12 AM

Uhh, Bush Calling for More Corporate Responsibility? :.

At issue is Bush's sale on June 22, 1990 of 66 percent of his holdings, 212,140 shares of Harken at $4 per share, a sale netting Bush nearly $850,000, at a time when Bush served on the company's board of directors.

About two months later, the stock fell to $2.37 per share after the company disclosed it was carrying a larger debt and announced losses for its results in the second quarter of 1990. The stock eventually was trading at only $1 by the end of 1990, according to the Dallas Morning News.

Ari Fleischer, White House press secretary, said that on the date of the sale, Bush filed a Form 144, also known as a Notice of Intent to Sell. However, he did not file the Form 4, the form reporting the sale, until March 1991, more than eight months later, which was a violation of federal law.
posted by Kevin at 11:03 PM

U.S. Hypocrisy Reaches Fever Pitch: International Criminal Court :.

"International law is the law which the wicked do not obey and which the righteous do not enforce." ---Abba Eban

Hypocrisy is the primary component of U.S. rhetoric and policy. The Bush Administration says that the International Criminal Court (ICC) would disrupt America's "peace keeping" efforts and threaten U.S. sovereignty. Bush's objections have absolutely nothing to do with legitimate peacekeeping operations or U.S. sovereignty and everything to do with the fact that the U.S. routinely violates international law. If international treaties threaten U.S. sovereignty, why doesn't the U.S. pull out of the World Trade Organization? Is anyone else laughing at how ridiculous this is? The corporations need binding laws to be able to move goods and capital with impunity, but, when it comes time to bring war criminals to justice, the U.S. is opting out.

Ari Fleischer said, "We are involved, deeply, globally, and the United States has a lot at risk." What he means to say is that the U.S. perpetrates war crimes, commits genocide and violates countless customary and conventional provisions of international law.
posted by Kevin at 7:26 AM

You Better Get A Bigger Fly Swatter: Tiny, Airborne Surveillance Bots :.

Upon completion of the robotic insect, scheduled for next year, the faux fly likely will become the lightest weight autonomous robot in existence, weighing in at a mere tenth of a gram, or less than the weight of an average-sized paper clip.

The robofly is part of an overall study, funded by the U.S. government's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and the Office of Naval Research, called Controlled Biological and Biomimetic Systems.
posted by Kevin at 3:32 PM

Ted Turner Has a Moment of Clarity :.

Israel is one of the most flagrant violators of human rights on the planet. That fact is actively suppressed in U.S. media circles. While I've never had anything positive to say about Ted Turner, I'd have to say he's 100% correct with his comments below. There is no protagonist in the Israel/Palestinian catastrophe:

"Aren't the Israelis and the Palestinians both terrorising each other?" says Turner, who is vice-chairman of AOL Time Warner, which owns CNN, in an exclusive interview with the Guardian.

"The Palestinians are fighting with human suicide bombers, that's all they have. The Israelis ... they've got one of the most powerful military machines in the world. The Palestinians have nothing. So who are the terrorists? I would make a case that both sides are involved in terrorism."
posted by Kevin at 4:59 AM

Winning Hearts and Minds: U.S. Bombs Wedding, Kills Dozens :.

BAGRAM, Afghanistan (AP) - U.S. aircraft attacked a village Monday while a wedding was under way, killing and injuring scores, witnesses and officials said. U.S. officials said an AC-130 gunship and a B-52 launched an attack after American forces came under fire.
posted by Kevin at 4:37 AM