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12/28/2002
Camping: No Updates for a Few DaysIf something MAJOR happens, I ask that the usual suspects attempt to reach me on my mobile phone (which probably won't be working).
posted by Kevin at 3:16 AM
AC130 Gunship Combat Video with Sound :."I fragged him good."I tried to come up with commentary for this, but I couldn't. Perhaps if more people saw how their tax money is used, they might wake up. Or, it might cause a "patriotic" fit requiring a trip to Walmart to buy more American flags made by slave labor in China. Seriously, does this video make anyone out there proud to be an American? I don't know whether or not this video was authorized for public release by the U.S. Department of Defense. Please save local copies of this and mirror it on the web.
posted by Kevin at 2:50 AM
U.S. Tortures POWs, Hands Some Off to Experience "Brutal Methods" :.This article is lengthy, but keep in mind: this is just what they're admitting to publicly. Your worst nightmares wouldn't begin to approximate what is actually happening: At a Sept. 26 joint hearing of the House and Senate intelligence committees, Cofer Black, then head of the CIA Counterterrorist Center, spoke cryptically about the agency's new forms of "operational flexibility" in dealing with suspected terrorists. "This is a very highly classified area, but I have to say that all you need to know: There was a before 9/11, and there was an after 9/11," Black said. "After 9/11 the gloves come off."The gloves came off? Why did CIA fly al Qaeda out of Afghanistan and then release a captured Taliban General? Hmmm. Curious. Also: Guardian Covers U.S. Torture TacticsRelated: Prisoners Shot Inside Storage ContainersWave your flags.
posted by Kevin at 2:43 AM
Shoot First, Look in the Mirror Later :.This article is great: If the apparatchiks couldn't stop a massive attack in broad daylight by 19 marked men -- we now know that most of them had been rumbled by various intelligence services, and two were even roommates of an FBI informant -- how can we possibly expect them to prevent some far more obscure but equally deadly threat: say, a disaffected player in the depths of America's gargantuan military complex shuffling some atrocious whizbangery to a well-heeled foreign terrorist? Or to a shifty middleman willing to buy -- and sell -- with no questions asked?
No, the genie is long gone from the bottle in regard to "shortcut technologies." They are out there, in endlessly mutable forms, with an almost infinite range of possibilities for their sale, transfer and deadly application in the "war against civilization." Of course, it was "civilization" that developed these technologies and loosed them on the world in the first place. They were expressly designed -- by the "civilized" world -- to kill large numbers of people as quickly and indiscriminately as possible: the precise strategy followed by the Sept. 11 hijackers.Research Credit: MS
posted by Kevin at 2:40 AM
Best Satire Page Yet :.All of these are suitable for framing! World affairs today can sure be confusing!
President Bush tried his bestest to simplify the picture as Good vs. Evil, but it's still a jumble! Who knew all those crazy Dorkistan countries even existed?! Now The Infinite Jest rides to the rescue with a set of educational trading cards.Research Credit: MS
posted by Kevin at 2:39 AM
Smile: Military Filming Protestors :.Military Filming Protesters at D.C. Demonstrations (27-29 Sept 2002).
posted by Kevin at 2:38 AM
Smallpox Vaccination: New England Journal of Medicine Says Think Twice :.A terrorist introduction of smallpox could produce a short outbreak of cases and deaths, but the current vaccination policy will provide little protection, and the cost in deaths from vaccine complications will outweigh any benefit.Research Credit: JH
posted by Kevin at 2:26 AM
12/26/2002
Russia: Spawn and Get a Free House :.The deal Natasha was offered was simple: prove she was fertile, that her husband was not an alcoholic and agree to having three children in five years.
In exchange the local council would buy her a house of her own. Providing she fulfilled her child-bearing obligations there would be no repayments to make, and, after five years, nothing owing.
The babies-for-houses scheme was introduced this year in Ahtubinsk, a poverty-stricken region of southern Russia. It is a desperate attempt to reverse the falling birthrate, that, if it is not checked, will depopulate swathes of the area.
posted by Kevin at 11:07 PM
Kid A: It's a Girl :.Stand by for confirmation: The human cloning cult Clonaid says a human cloned baby has been born.
Clonaid says the birth by Caesarean went well but there is no independent scientific confirmation the baby is a clone.
posted by Kevin at 8:29 PM
Not Even the Propellerheads Are Safe :.One of the primary characteristics of our current suicide economy is the commoditization of labor and lack of anything resembling job security. You are subject to the whims of a system that doesn't care whether you and your family lives or dies. The goal is to extract as much productive output from your hide as possible, at the lowest possible cost, and then toss you aside and lower the pay scale even more. For your trouble, .gov steals 40% of what you manage to eek out, and in many cases, repatriates much of that to the richest 1% of people on the planet. The balance is used to pay for death squads in places most Americans have never heard of and military campaigns to steal natural resources from poor people. This deadly cycle is called Sound Business Practice. Never mind the fact that more prisons and cops are necessary every year to maintain appearances. (Hey, nobody said it was easy to maintain a system that allows billionaires to buy and sell politicians like cattle.) So, who's safe in such a system? A large number of smart people thought they would escape the jaws of the meat grinder by becoming engineers. They thought that, by spending several years cloistered away inside universities, learning arcane and difficult science and mathematics, they would be able to lead secure and prosperous lives. HA! To you unemployed/almost unemployed/barely employed/miserably employed engineers out there: Welcome to the Sucker Club. Don't worry, this club has hundreds of millions of members, so you won't be alone. But engineers may not need to think about making any drastic changes just yet. The multiple SUVs, endless trips to the mall and empty, vapid lifestyles may be secured, at least for the next few months or years, by serving The Beast. All fascist regimes need people to create weapons, surveillance systems and other resource wasting boondoggles in order to imprison their populations. You guys may have to wear an arm band or submit to body cavity searches, but hey, you gotta break a few eggs to make an omelet. My friend, a senior wireless communications engineer, works for an electronics company that is on the brink of bankruptcy. He recently told me, "Everyone in the office knows we're headed for .mil and .gov as soon as the bottom falls out." Yep. Makes sense. That's an artificial system, run by a crime syndicate, so it may offer some relief for a time. Anyone who has read Darkness at Noon, however, knows that fascist regimes, like organized crime families, wind up turning on their own eventually. (Rubashov thought he was safe because of his service to the regime.) So, to those of you with your "safe" government and government subsidized jobs, don't be surprised when that knock on your door wakes you up in the middle of the night. Dissatisfaction with the field is growing rapidly. Layoffs, the influx of foreign workers, and offshore outsourcing of jobs have caused the pocket-protector set to either leave the profession in large numbers or seek new careers after being laid off.
Even Dilbert creator Scott Adams, himself a former engineer, has an eye on the trend. "The general balance of power has swung. Engineers had it for a while, now the bosses have it back," says Mr. Adams, whose comic-strip boss has hair shaped like a pair of horns on either side of his balding head.
posted by Kevin at 3:49 PM
12/24/2002
Attack Date: February 1, 2003 :.I've been monitoring traffic from all over the infoverse and the Beginning-of-February time frame for the war in Iraq seems to be holding. Recall, Cryptogon sources revealed this information well in advance of other media. Whether or not the attack will actually come during this time frame is, of course, speculation. But for those of us preparing for possible repercussions, this is the best guess available at this time. If you have any information with regard to the timetable of the attack, please let me know. Apparently, the holiday retail sales are shaping up to be the worst in 30 years. Look for the voices of economic doom and gloom to ring in the new year. Surely, Joe and Jane Six Pack will be dazzled by the war and the rockets and bombs will make Iraq safe for economic rape by the United States and Britain. Will Bush and the gang be able to pull this thing off without starting World War III? Maybe. Maybe not. But then again, with North Korea and Iran beginning to fire up their nuclear reactors... Well, folks, I'm sick of thinking about it for the moment, so I'm going to commence a Heineken induced drunk and watch a couple of DVDs. Merry Apocalypse and Happy End Days. Israel's Military Intelligence chief Major General Aharon Ze'evi told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee �Tuesday� that �he expects the United States to attack Iraq at the beginning of February, shortly after the U.S. government reviews the U.N. inspectors' weapons report expected to be presented by January 27.
posted by Kevin at 9:41 PM
What is Iraq?Greetings MTV viewers! Here are several Cryptogon stories on Iraq that may interest you. Note to regular Cryptogon readers: I was flipping channels and I can across MTV. They were running a piece called "What is Iraq?" They were mentioning some basic facts about the previous U.S. relationships with Saddam Hussein, etc. I thought I'd try to attract 1 or 2 of those viewers when they go to Google to search for more information. Google will index my site again soon, so... that's the logic behind this post.
posted by Kevin at 12:59 PM
Iraq's Dealers :.Is the U.S. military going to rain fire and death down on any of these companies as part of the campaign to disarm Iraq? Honeywell, Spectra Physics, Semetex, TI Coating, Unisys Sperry Corp., Tektronix, Rockwell, Leybold Vacuum Systems, Finnigan-MAT-US, Hewlett-Packard, Dupont, Eastman Kodak, American Type Culture Collection, Alcolac International, etc.Research Credit: TR
posted by Kevin at 3:58 AM
Does Israel Have Plans for a "Final Solution" in Palestine? :.Earlier this year, 187 Israeli professors signed an "Urgent Warning" letter titled "The Israeli government may be contemplating crimes against humanity." As of today, 800 American professors have signed a similar document, warning of coming Israeli ethnic cleansing.
Released on 29 September 2002, the original Israeli letter began by stating, "We, members and friends of Israeli academe, are horrified by US buildup of aggression towards Iraq and by the Israeli political leadership's enthusiastic support for it. We are deeply worried by indications that the 'fog of war' could be exploited by the Israeli government to commit further crimes against the Palestinian people, up to full-fledged ethnic cleansing."Related: www.professorsofconscience.orgResearch Credit: TR
posted by Kevin at 3:23 AM
New Jersey Passes "Smart" Guns Law :.Under the New Jersey law, smart-gun technology will be required in all new handguns sold three years after the state attorney general determines a smart gun prototype is safe and commercially available.
The New Jersey Institute of Technology is developing a smart gun prototype that would use sensors on the pistol grip to identify a user.
The owner would have his or her grip programed at a gun shop or police range by practice-firing the weapon.
A microchip in the weapon would remember the grip and determine in an instant whether the authorised user was holding the weapon. If not, the gun would not fire.
posted by Kevin at 2:15 AM
12/22/2002
New Monkey Trap Technology: Bay Area Signs Listen to Car Radios :.TR recently told me about the monkey trap parable. This is a good one: When one wishes to capture a monkey, there is a very simple way of going about it. Place a banana inside a jar or vase (a coconut is also commonly used) with an opening just big enough for the monkey�s hand to fit through. Affix the container to a sturdy object such as a large rock or tree. When the monkey sees the delectable fruit inside the container, he will reach inside and grab it. Caught! With his hand wrapped around the banana, he can�t pull himself free of the trap. Monkeys will howl and jump around for hours attempting to get free from the container with the fruit. Now, here�s the interesting part. All the monkey has to do to get free is let go of the banana, pull his hand out of the container and walk away. The overwhelming majority of monkeys will not let go of the banana, even to avoid capture as humans approach. You now have more of an understanding of global political and economic affairs than you will ever get from any university or collection of eloquent, well researched texts. Our societies are nothing more than complex matrices of monkey traps. At every turn, and at all levels, you are bombarded by things that look good, but, in reality, collectively form the four walls of your prison cell. The banana is a metaphor for anything that can trap you, especially ideas. Most of us are hopelessly ensnared and incapable of realizing that all we need to do to get free is LET GO. So, with the story of the monkey trap as a foundation, let us now turn to a commentary on the current article: Our suicide economy is near end game. The global financial system, especially since about the mid 1980s, has been based on people going deep into debt to buy things they didn�t actually want, or need. This shortsighted and destructive behavior succeeded in little more than accelerating the transfer of wealth from the lower tiers of the pyramid up to the top. No scam works forever, and companies are finding this out the hard way. Rather than realizing the system itself is flawed, and trying to determine alternative courses of action, companies are turning to increasingly desperate methods to capture and maintain market share. Like the monkeys, they are unwilling to let go of their previous programming and remain trapped in a pattern of behavior that serves their short sighted interests and ultimately dooms them. You have a decision to make. Are you going to continue to let the monkey part of your brain determine your behavior? Or, are you going to transcend your basic programming and find another course of action? Admittedly, doing the right thing is not going to be easy. There are more monkey traps than ever, and they are scientifically engineered to change, morph and adapt based on your most primitive, hardwired programming (genetics), and your unconscious environmental conditioning (world view). There is hope, though. A very small number of monkeys realize they can walk away from the trap if they just let go. The trick is to get more than a couple of us monkeys to do this. Hey, nobody said it would be easy, but securing freedom never is: The billboard is listening.
In an advertising ploy right out of Steven Spielberg's "Minority Report," electronic billboards in the Bay Area and Sacramento are being equipped to profile commuters as they whiz by -- and then instantly personalize freeway ads based on the wealth and habits of those drivers.
For example, if the freeway were packed with country music listeners, the billboards might make a pitch for casinos. If National Public Radio were on, the billboards could change to ads for a high-quality car or a gourmet grocery.
The billboards -- in Palo Alto, Daly City and Fremont -- will pick up which radio stations are being played and then instantly access a vast databank of information about the people who typically listen to those stations. The electronic ads will then change to fit listener profiles.
posted by Kevin at 1:26 PM
12/19/2002
Web Activists Target Poindexter with Jihad :.Every move you make, every breath you take... Internet activists have a message for John Poindexter, the head of a controversial Pentagon research project to find terrorists by searching the everyday transactions of Americans: Threaten to invade our privacy, we'll invade yours.
They've plastered Poindexter's e-mail address and home phone number on dozens of Web sites, forcing him to block all incoming calls. They've posted satellite images of his suburban Washington house and maps showing how to get there. And they've created online forms to collect even more personal data on him.
"If you are a store clerk, study the photos above. Learn this face. If you are a shipping clerk, study this name," reads a site titled "The John Poindexter Awareness Office," a play on Poindexter's Information Awareness Office at the Pentagon. "When and if you see Mr. Poindexter purchase something, travel somewhere or do, well, anything -- send us a tip describing your observations. We will display the information received right here on this Web site."
posted by Kevin at 10:08 PM
Patriot Act: Just Say No :.Fearing that the Patriot Act will curtail Americans' civil rights, municipalities across the country are passing resolutions to repudiate the legislation and protect their residents from a perceived abuse of authority by the federal government.
On Tuesday, Oakland became the 20th municipality to pass a resolution barring its employees -- from police officer to librarian -- from collaborating with federal officials who may try to use their new power to investigate city residents.
posted by Kevin at 9:56 PM
Slave Race?It may sound pretty far out, but I think the ultimate goal of the Elite is the creation of a slave race. They pretty much already have that right now, but there's a bit of a problem: We require constant supervision to make sure we don't get out of line. I think They would much rather dispense with the inconvience of strikes, revolutions, etc. Clones will probably be a viable alternative at some stage in the not too distant future. Slave wages? Think again. No wages: - Genesis: Hacked by ChineseChina's primacy in the critical areas of stemcell research and cloning is virtually guaranteed because there are no moral, ethical or legal constraints to anything related to the development of the new wetware.- Productivity: Our friends at DARPA never sleep"Eliminating the need for sleep during an operation � will create a fundamental change in war fighting and force employment," says a recent statement by the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.- Kill switch: Remote control bacteriaRemote-controlled bacteria could be just around the corner. Researchers have found a way to switch cell processes on and off with radio waves.- Related: First clone due in weeksIn a telephone interview, Boisselier said the cloned baby will be delivered by Caesarean section from an American woman in her 30s. She declined to say where or when the birth will take place, but ruled out Christmas Day. She also said four more clone births are due by the end of February.
posted by Kevin at 9:47 PM
The No-Doze Soldier :.What would we do without DARPA? "Eliminating the need for sleep during an operation � will create a fundamental change in war fighting and force employment," says a recent statement by the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.
To strive toward creating the no-sleep soldier, DARPA has funded a multi-tiered program from tinkering with a soldier's brain using magnetic resonance to analyzing the neural circuits of birds that stay awake for days during migration. The hope is to stump the body's need for sleep � at least temporarily.
"This program is really out of the box," says John Carney, director of DARPA's Continuous Assisted Performance program. "We want to look at capabilities in nature and leverage it so we can apply it in ways that no one thought possible."
posted by Kevin at 9:43 PM
12/18/2002
Hundreds of Muslim Immigrants Rounded Up and Jailed :."The system itself could not have intended this in the beginning, but in order to sustain itself it was compelled to go all the way."---Milton Mayer, They Thought They Were FreeTake a good long look at what we have become. Who will be next? Me? You? All of America is in jail tonight: LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Hundreds of Iranian and other Middle East citizens were in southern California jails on Wednesday after coming forward to comply with a new rule to register with immigration authorities only to wind up handcuffed and behind bars.
Shocked and frustrated Islamic and immigrant groups estimate that more than 500 people have been arrested in Los Angeles, neighboring Orange County and San Diego in the past three days under a new nationwide anti-terrorism program. Some unconfirmed reports put the figure as high as 1,000.
The arrests sparked a demonstration by hundreds of Iranians outside a Los Angeles immigration office. The protesters carried banners saying "What's next? Concentration camps?" and "What happened to liberty and justice?."
A spokesman for the Immigration and Naturalization Service said no numbers of people arrested would be made public. A Justice Department spokesman could not be reached for comment.
The head of the southern California chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union compared the arrests to the internment of Japanese Americans in camps during the Second World War.
"I think it is shocking what is happening. It is reminiscent of what happened in the past with the internment of Japanese Americans. We are getting a lot of telephone calls from people. We are hearing that people went down wanting to cooperate and then they were detained," said Ramona Ripston, the ACLU's executive director.
posted by Kevin at 8:31 PM
Look for Iraq War: End of January/Beginning of FebruaryA source provided me with some information indicating that the war will begin at the end of January or the beginning of February. I believe the information to be credible. Knowing that the U.S. military prefers to begin attacks at night, under a new moon, I checked the moon phases for this period of time. Indeed, the new moon falls on February 1, 2003. I would say to look for the initial air strikes to begin on or about February 1, 2003. Special forces activity (surveillance and target selection) inside Iraq is probably already underway. Why on the new moon? Iraqi nightvision equipment will be least effective when the moon is new. UPDATE: Confirmation from Today's Washington Post :....more signs point toward forces being ready to launch a wide-ranging, highly synchronized ground and air attack in six to eight weeks. Psychological operations, such as leafleting and broadcasting into Iraq, have been stepped up lately, and there is talk at the Pentagon of large-scale troop movements or mobilizations being announced soon after the holidays.Enjoy the calm before the storm, folks.
posted by Kevin at 8:12 AM
Two Hospitals Refuse Call To Vaccinate Workers :.Two prominent teaching hospitals are refusing to vaccinate their employees against smallpox, rejecting President Bush's call for mass inoculation of front-line medical workers who would be the first to confront a biological attack.
Officials at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta and Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond said yesterday that the risk of dangerous side effects of the vaccine and inadvertent transmission to patients outweigh the remote threat of an attack with a virus that has not been seen since the 1970s. Three other large medical centers, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Emory Medical Center in Atlanta and the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics are leaning against inoculating their staffs.Research Credit: JH
posted by Kevin at 7:37 AM
U.S. Let Taliban General Go :.U.S. troops say that the military mistakenly released one of the most-wanted Taliban leaders in Afghanistan in the summer based on faulty intelligence.
U.S. Special Forces soldiers said that in late July, a Green Beret A-Team, backed by about 20 local Afghan fighters, apprehended Mullah Akhter Mohammed Osmani as he left his compound at daybreak in a town west of Kandahar. Soldiers identified him as Osmani, handcuffed him and brought him by truck to Kandahar.
Osmani, among the top six most-wanted Taliban, was flown to a detention center at Bagram air base, north of Kabul, for interrogation, the Special Forces soldiers said. He was one of the Taliban's top generals, leading thousands of troops as coalition forces ousted the hard-line regime.
But, according to these soldiers, Task Force 180 � the overall command in Afghanistan � released Osmani a few weeks later.If anyone has information on the separate allegation that U.S. Special Forces aided Al Qaeda with escape from Afghanistan, please email me. Alex Jones had it posted. Thanks Alex: The Getaway by Seymour M. Hersh
posted by Kevin at 7:07 AM
12/17/2002
Somewhat Off Topic: Surgical Tool Left in Woman's Stomach :.I think most conventional medicine is useless quackery, at best. I don't want to get too far into it, but I could start an entirely different web site on the shocking frauds associated with conventional medicine. This article was so incredible, so totally off the rails, I couldn't resist posting it. I know this story is about a mishap that took place in Canada, but don't breathe any sighs of relief if you're an American or European. While the economic structures are different, the procedures, training and drugs are virtually the same throughout the West. To make a long story very short: There are alternative cures for lots of conditions, and diet is probably the main factor in health, but quacks will seldom admit it. For example, I got rid of my own skin cancers with this stuff. I've also had eczema on my cheeks for years. I tried lots of things and nothing really worked. It would come and go. The same dermatologist that diagnosed my basal cell carcinoma, gave me some stuff (Dermatop) for the eczema after telling me there was no cure for eczema and there was nothing I could do but cover up the symptoms with a [carcinogenic] steroid cream. I read the fine print on the insert that was in the box, recall the eczema was on my cheeks: "Do not put this medicine on the face." HAHAHA! He also said I'd need reconstructive surgery after I had the skin cancer removed. ALL OF IT WAS COMPLETE BULLCRAP. I have a small scar on my nose from the black salve treatment that I did myself. As for the eczema, I started taking between 3 and 4.5 grams (yes, grams) of plain old Vitamin C (with rose hips) per day and it went away. Totally gone. You better be sitting down for this one: My mom was given a maximum of six months to live (inoperable colon cancer, metastasized to liver and lung) back in July. They said there was nothing they could do. Chemo wasn't even an option (not that we would have done it anyway). They said she would have to be on a morphine drip by this stage. I just nodded politely, smiled and thought, "I'm on to you swindlers!" Turns out, she is up walking around, going places and doing things just fine. She is not in any pain at all. Is this a miracle? Maybe. Although, I think it might just have something to do with the Protocel I put her on as soon as she left the hospital. If you want to know more about what Protocel is, read this. Same stuff, different name. Hint: If you think that you or someone you know needs to be on Protocel, ask the Renewal & Wellness people about the graviola tincture when you call. They're very nice, helpful and supportive people. NOTE: I do not work for, or have any financial interest in, any of the companies mentioned. What follows below is a disclaimer, but don't stop reading: The ideas expressed here are not intended to and cannot be used to diagnose, prescribe, treat, cure or prevent any disease. Your mileage may vary. Batteries not included. I feel the need to include that ridiculous disclaimer, even though I have personally CURED MY OWN SKIN CANCERS and seen miraculous results with my mom. The sad fact is that the FDA is a dangerous Gestapo hit squad for the pharmaceutical industry. If medical doctors had to disclose JUST THE THINGS THAT COULD KILL OR SERIOUSLY INJURE YOU while under their "care" you would be signing forms until the end of days. For some reason, though, medical doctors don't have to tell you that they are the third leading cause of death in the U.S. Hmmm. That might be bad for business. Anyway, I've digressed: It took an airport metal detector to give a Canadian woman a clue to why she was suffering from persistent stomach aches four months after having abdominal surgery.
Despite the detector's beep, airport security guards in Regina, Saskatchewan, were unable to find any metal on her body before the woman's October flight to Calgary, Alberta.
Several days later the woman had an X-ray.
It showed a 30-centimeter (11.7-inch) long, 5 cm wide surgical retractor, used to hold incisions open, had been left in her abdomen after surgery four months earlier at the Regina General Hospital.
posted by Kevin at 3:37 PM
NIH: Bio-Terror Disaster in the Making :.The National Institutes of Health is moving ahead with plans to build three large laboratories for research on the deadliest known microbes, despite warnings from some scientists that the facilities will increase the odds that a disease like Ebola could escape - or be deliberately released - into the general population.
"This is a recipe for disaster," Eileen Choffnes, a program manager at the National Academy of Sciences Committee for International Security and Arms Control, declared last month in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.
"These laboratories might become a pathogen-modification training academy or a biowarfare agent 'superstore,'" Choffnes wrote. "The physical tools and technology of bioterror are relatively cheap. It's the knowledge and experience of working with pathogens that's priceless."UPDATE: NIH Hit to CryptogonA user at the National Institutes of Health was searching Google with the search argument "deflector iraq biological weapons": Wed Dec 18 02 at 11:05:16 AM cryptogon.com/2002_08_18_blogarchive.html Go : www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=deflector+iraq+biological+weapons 128.231.155.181 nichd10b181.nichd.nih.gov Can anyone provide insights as to what this search might be about? Research Credit: EG
posted by Kevin at 12:38 PM
U.S. Military Wants Wi-Fi Limitations :.The Defense Department, arguing that an increasingly popular form of wireless Internet access could interfere with military radar, is seeking new limits on the technology, which is seen as a rare bright spot for the communications industry.Related: Feds Label Wi-Fi (802.11) a Terrorist Tool
posted by Kevin at 11:27 AM
Los Angeles: Another Deadly Gang on the Street :.Federal authorities, answering a call from Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton to help fight violent street gangs, pledged on Monday to commit more officers, agents and resources to that battle.
Debra Yang, U.S. Attorney for three southern California counties, emerged from a meeting with Bratton and Los Angeles Mayor James Hahn to tell reporters that her office would use federal laws to crack down on out-of-control gang members.
posted by Kevin at 11:00 AM
U.K.: Cops Install Video Cameras in Private Residences :.I thought this story was a joke. HAHA! This is a joke, right? Are you Brits that far gone? Serial burglary victims have had tiny spy cameras fitted in their homes in a bid by police to catch thieves in the act.Research Credit: TR
posted by Kevin at 10:55 AM
Hussein's End Game Nears, Bush and Blair Move Death Star Into Position :.The USUK imperial armada will include five or six carrier battle groups and 300,000 troops. The Persian Gulf will be almost unavigable due to the number of war ships packed into it. Hey, at least the record will show that Saddam Hussein rated several dozen nuclear powered war ships, hundreds of fighter aircraft and bombers and hundreds of thousands of troops when it came time for his take down. That's a hell of a lot more than any of us would rate if THEY came to punch our tickets. While I have no respect for Saddam Hussein at all, I understand him. There's something liberating about fighting when you have absolutely no chance of winning. At that point, you have nothing left to lose. Weeks or months from now, a U.S. general, maybe Franks himself, will be escorted to a flagpole somewhere in downtown Baghdad by a group of Navy SEALs, Delta and maybe some SAS operators. Cobra and Apache gun ships will be wump wump wumping overhead. Snipers will be festooned atop buildings (or the remaining rubble). What will go through your mind as they raise the American flag? I will be wondering if the stench of decaying Iraqi civilians will be present as they raise Old Glory over their oil prize. A HUGE force of at least 300,000 Allied troops will be sent to Iraq to topple Saddam Hussein, The Sun can reveal.
And the build-up to war will be launched by the Ministry of Defence TODAY.
Allied military chiefs have advised US President George Bush and PM Tony Blair that Iraqi forces must be swamped if Saddam is to be deposed.
They urged the preparations as US Secretary of State Colin Powell announced �problems� with Iraq�s arms declaration.
He added that early scepticism had proved �well founded�.
The MoD will hire ships to transport tanks to the Gulf. A Government figure said: �We�ll have a very firm footprint.�
posted by Kevin at 10:45 AM
Some .mil Visits to Cryptogon from YesterdayGreetings, gentlemen: Mon Dec 16 02 at 05:49:55 PM 198.26.118.36 WCS1-MOFFETT.NIPR.MIL Mon Dec 16 02 at 05:38:16 PM 131.120.124.221 he124-221.he.nps.navy.mil Mon Dec 16 02 at 05:37:48 PM 198.26.118.37 WCS2-MOFFETT.NIPR.MIL Mon Dec 16 02 at 05:02:15 PM 198.26.74.100 WCS2-PENT.NIPR.MIL <--Pentagon. Mon Dec 16 02 at 04:16:21 PM WCS2-SCHRIEVER.NIPR.MIL I wonder if they're trying out some kind of new Information Awareness Office spider that shows up from a non-descript domain. You know, so in the log it looks like some jackball on AOL, but it's really serving as a proxy for the IAO, Cheney's Secret Organ Bank, or worse! Then it emails some actual analysts or watch officers who take a look through their slightly-less-black NIPR gateways. Pure speculation. I have no idea. Let's do a test to see if I can get them to come back again in some predictable way. Yesterday's barrage roughly followed a post about Pentagon PSYOPS teams bribing reporters. Let's generate something else tasty by using the handy Echelon BS Generator. This one is far superior to first generation Echelon BS generators which simply spit out lists of words: From: mfa@smip.sv.gov.yu
To: dfoisr@osd.pentagon.mil
Subj: SZIGOR'UAN TITKOS (TOP SECRET - Hungary)
Lt Gen Michael V. Hayden, Director of the National Security Agency (NSA), told North Korea Reconnaissance Bureau about Saint-Laurent de la Salanque (Oriental Pyrenees) frenchelon station : a money launderer sent UKUSA (United Kingdom - USA Security Agreement)`s civil rights anonymous remailers logs to Al-Jihad (a.k.a. Egyptian Islamic Jihad, Jihad Group, Islamic Jihad) !
Ask 634th Military Intelligence`s contact of Goldman Sachs marketing 'n advertising 'n wasting Dpt via http://www.dsd.gov.au/ for Ref. Information Terrorism, Terrorism Defensive Information, Defense Information Warfare.That ought to do it. Now, let's see if they come back. UPDATE 12/18/02: Different .milsI don't know if my experiment worked or if I just have a few fans: Wed Dec 18 02 at 08:08:02 AM 144.18.124.85 cld07.nwsy.navy.mil Wed Dec 18 02 at 07:51:40 AM 198.26.123.37 BU-WCS2-KELLY.NIPR.MIL Tue Dec 17 02 at 05:22:23 PM 198.26.125.13 WCS2-SCOTT.NIPR.MIL
posted by Kevin at 5:20 AM
Gold Hits $340 Per OunceIs the War Premium baked in, or are we headed higher? Gold has broken through five year overhead resistance levels. Is this just war jitters, speculation or does someone REALLY know something here? I'm not asking for generic information on gold in times of war, etc. I want to hear from people with theories about a dollar collapse or Japan going in the tank. Stuff on that kind of scale. The Venezuela crisis is driving oil prices, is it also driving gold prices? You guys at BofA, Deutsche Banc and Forbes who read Cryptogon regularly, it's time to come clean. Let's hear it. Your anonymity is assured, if desired. My PGP key is here, at the bottom. NOTE: Using PGP will attract Federal Government attention, but it will keep your PHB and your younger sister from reading your mail. Actually, the fact that you visit this site at all probably attracts Federal Government attention.
posted by Kevin at 5:04 AM
WLAN AP with Phased-Array Antennas Extends Wi-Fi Range to 7km! :.Normal Readers Should Ignore This PostOh happy day! WOW! If you use the Pringles can technology on the client side, the last mile discussion might now be a last 10 miles discussion. No word yet on prices, but even if your local band of freaks has to pass the hat to pay for one of these, it would definitely be worth it. I can see it now, wireless micro ISPs, run by guys like Foon, springing up in places where bandwidth has never gone before. The WAN link could be satellite, cable, DSL, another Wi-Fi provider or even dialup in a pinch. Imagine the off grid applications for this!!! Weatherproof models available. Shipping in early 2003. GPRS/3G networks charging per minute or per kilobyte for slow connections? HAHA! That's a good one. Tmobile charging $30 per month for a 100 foot radius around Starbucks? HAHAHAHA! Think again, gentlemen. Although, if Starbucks upgrades to these Vivato APs, well, nevermind. (Wink, blink, nod.) Using planar phased-array antennas and a single switching box, startup Vivato Inc. (San Francisco) will launch an 802.11-compliant wireless-LAN solution this week that promises an outdoor range of up to 7 km and an indoor range of up to 2 km. Touting low-cost deployment, scalability, wide coverage, centrally located management, high data rates and mobility, the company said its WLAN solution not only shreds the business model of current 802.11 networks but also undermines that of certain 2.5G/3G and fixed-broadband wireless deployments.Related: Check out TR's dream house. Related: PH invites Cryptogon readers to check out Planet P, his "personal liberty with technology" blog: I try to cover all the issues, or at least point to relevant stories, and the my occasional rant against the machine. I cover everything from wi-fi to hydrogen economics to space migration.
posted by Kevin at 4:41 AM
12/16/2002
It's Back: Pentagon Propaganda Office :.PSYOPS forces would pay bribes to reporters to write propaganda. The most difficult task will be to figure out which reporters aren't already compromised by the CIA. No double dipping on Uncle Sam's BS dole, lads: Pentagon officials are debating whether to use the military to conduct covert propaganda operations in allied nations, 10 months after disbanding a controversial office that had the same goal.
Tasks could include such things as paying journalists in European nations to write favorable stories about American policies or secretly financing books or schools to counter radical Islam taught at some of Pakistan's madrassas, or religious schools, defense officials said Monday, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The proposal to use the military to influence public opinion in friendly nations has simmered for a year, with both uniformed and civilian officials split on the idea, the officials said.Research Credit: JP
posted by Kevin at 1:23 PM
PIRA Internal Security Chief Was Elite British Soldier! :.WOW! What's next, will Gerry Adams be outed as a member of the SAS? For those of you who missed it over the past thirty years, the British government used the sectarian violence in Northern Ireland as an excuse to turn the U.K. into a police state. The interesting thing is, many members of the IRAPIRARIRAUVAUVF etc. happened to be British intelligence operatives. In this case, the Provisional IRA guy in charge of fingering informers was working for the British!?!? Unbelievable. Incredible. Keep the Irish/British experiences in mind as Bush, Ashcroft and Poindexter try to convince you that al Qaeda will be stealing your wife and blowing up your local WalMart any minute. IT IS ALL BULLCRAP: HE was one of the most feared men inside the Provisional IRA. To rank-and-file 'volunteers', a knock on the door from John Joe Magee was the equivalent of a visit from the Angel of Death.
However, court documents leaked to the Sunday Herald show that Magee, head of the IRA's infamous 'internal security unit', was trained as a member of Britain's special forces. The IRA's 'torturer-in-chief' was in reality one of the UK's most elite soldiers.
The documents, lodged as part of a court action being taken against the British government by a disgruntled military intelligence agent, name Magee as a 'former member of the Special Boat Squadron'.
The SBS is the marine equivalent to the SAS, with many in its ranks drafted from the Royal Marines, as in Magee's case. IRA sources say that Magee had left the SBS by the time he joined the Provisionals. However, the public disclosure of his time as a member of the special forces will fuel speculation that Magee was an informer for the British.
Magee died recently in Dundalk, Ireland, from a heart condition. Since his death, the IRA has been embroiled in a catalogue of disclosures that some of its most respected members were working for British military intelligence.
Magee led the IRA's internal security unit for more than a decade up to the mid-90s -- most of those he investigated were usually executed.
posted by Kevin at 12:16 PM
Future Blade Runners Better Like China :.I wrote an extended essay on the implications of cloning research in China: From organ harvesting, to forced abortions, to interspecies cloning, China doesn't even bother maintaining the appearances of justice or morality. The most populous country in the world is run by a large, well established and openly fascist regime. And by all indications, China's primacy in the critical areas of stemcell research and cloning is virtually guaranteed because there are no moral, ethical or legal constraints to anything related to the development of the new wetware. The Chinese regime knows the future of just about everything, including computers, lies in biotech, and they are not going to be impaired by rational voices of caution from anywhere. China's narrow self interests, however, may just begin to explain the large allocations of resources to stemcell and cloning research. There may be a much darker explanation.
posted by Kevin at 10:18 AM
Aftermath: Unanswered Questions from 9/11 :.I realize that Cryptogon is too much for most people to handle, and that part of my responsibility is to provide you guys with tools you may use to wake up those individuals who are---shall we say?---beginners on the path. Well, I found just the thing. NO READING REQUIRED! Guerilla News Network has produced a short video documentary of stunning quality on the nature of the 9/11. The video provides a broad overview of JUST SOME of the discrepancies associated with the official version of what happened on 9/11, and the true U.S. motives in Central Asia and the Persian Gulf. More importantly, the piece is professionally produced, visually appealing and doesn't use too many big words that are difficult for most Americans to understand. In other words, IT IS PERFECT FOR YOU TO SHOW ANYONE who needs an introduction to the fact that the entire thing is an egregious fraud. Many of the speakers on the video will be familiar to you guys. Well done GNN!
posted by Kevin at 4:10 AM
Cut Out the Middleman :.Generally speaking, the system is structured so the results of your productive output are sent up an invisible pyramid to benefit the people who quietly run the show. In the final analysis, you get virtually nothing in return but stress, chronic disease and a painless, almost unnoticeable lobotomy. Increasingly, this is the definition of a fulfilling life in the West (including Japan). And why worry about the rest of the world? All of those "other" places (the base of the pyramid) are to be liquefied into a sort of nutrient auger that fuels the West (including Japan) and empowers that notorious 1%. Increasingly, those who take the time to carefully examine the situation are figuring out that the best solution to our dire state of affairs lies in empowering individuals to live happy, independent and less stressful lives. If any number of us were to start doing that, the main pole would get knocked out from under this freak show and the tent would come crashing down in very short order. How do we do that? Simple: CUT OUT THE MIDDLE MAN AND START LIVING. (Stay tuned.) Even though Salon is written by and for wealthy Northern California Democrats, an especially useless demographic, this article is interesting. It focuses on the phenomenon of people doing things BECAUSE OF JOY AND DEDICATION TO IDEALS, rather than because of a motivation to get rich. (GASP!) Whether these people realize it or not, they are talking about enlightened anarchy; the very non-system which will allow us to emerge from the neo-dark age that is befalling the planet. Increasingly, people are realizing that the system in which we currently exist is about to smack the wall and that change will NEVER come from within that system. The only way to change things is if we all take direct action in creating OUR OWN SYSTEM. (I am writing a small book that will be focused exclusively on this.) But for the moment, I'm happy to see that even wealthy Northern California Democrats can see the writing on the wall: Conference organizer Kevin Werbach admitted that his "decentralization" label was "ugly," but suggested that its very awkwardness was a sign that we were dealing with an underlying trend rather than a "marketing-concocted theme." And he was right: The phenomena this event focused on, a grab bag of new technologies that have bubbled up from the humbled high-tech world in the post-crash era, are mostly geek driven and grassroots spread: Wi-Fi (802.11b), the wireless high-speed Net access method; blogs; and "Web services," a fuzzy term to describe new methods of directly and quickly connecting software applications and data across the Net.
These disparate boomlets share an "end to end" design: They rely on the power of individual users' computers -- there's no big, centrally operated piece of software or hardware mediating. The users connect across an open, "stupid" network -- the Internet itself, today -- that simply moves information without worrying about what it is. The resulting software is ad hoc, impromptu, flexible, "lightweight." Empowered individuals at the ends of the network try out new ideas and build myriad new services. It's geek heaven.No, Mr. Rosenberg, it's not geek heaven. It's the biggest threat to the established order since the invention of the printing press. And I would encourage all of you folks reading this to let your own imaginations run wild as to how you can use this stuff, and anything else you can think of, to participate in the liberation process.
posted by Kevin at 3:36 AM
Cops and Building Inspectors: Just Checking :.This is it. I think this is the most shocking article posted so far on this site. I'd tell you to read about the 4th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, but we are ALREADY living in a police state: Belleville inspectors and armed police officers show up without search warrants to check for occupancy code violations, and ticket people who don't let them in -- a practice experts say is unconstitutional.
Invite friends over, babysit your grandchildren or allow relatives to spend the night in Belleville and you risk an armed police officer turning up at your door to search your home and give you a ticket.
Enforcement teams consisting of a housing inspector and a police officer do not obtain search warrants before showing up to check for occupancy code violations, a Belleville News-Democrat investigation found.
Most residents give their permission to come in, although reluctantly, and those who don't usually are charged. Sometimes they simply walk in.
Jim Reese said he was standing in his kitchen when he heard a noise at 7 a.m. and found a housing inspector and police officer standing in his living room.
"I wanted to know who walked in without permission," he said. "They didn't answer me. They just started walking through the place."
posted by Kevin at 3:31 AM
12/15/2002
Total Poindexter Awareness: Drudge Gets Fat, Lazy and Slow :.Cryptogon brought you this information 11 days before Mister Cutting Edge got around to it.
posted by Kevin at 11:51 AM
Does al-Qaida Have 20 Suitcase Nukes? :.Don't blame me if you have nightmares. I just work here: A new book by an FBI consultant on international terrorism says Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida terrorist network purchased 20 suitcase nuclear weapons from former KGB agents in 1998 for $30 million.
The book, "Al Qaeda: Brotherhood of Terror," by Paul L. Williams, also says this deal was one of at least three in the last decade in which al-Qaida purchased small nuclear weapons or weapons-grade nuclear uranium.You guys will love this part: Bin Laden succeeded in buying the 20 suitcase nukes from Chechen Mafia figures, including former KGB agents. The $30 million deal was partly cash and partly heroin with a street value of $700 million.
"After the devices were obtained, they were placed in the hands of Arab nuclear scientists who, federal sources say, 'were probably trained at American universities,'" says Williams.Also, keep this (retracted) story in mind.
posted by Kevin at 11:28 AM
Start 'Em Young with the Bio-Scan Room Security System :.One of the keys to creating a pervasive fascist system is corrupting the minds of children. Their indoctrination begins very early, and it comes from many different sources. This one definitely belongs at the front of the "I Shit You Not" file. If someone would have just told me about this, I wouldn't have believed it: Keep your room safe from prying eyes and curious little brothers and sisters using cutting edge security technology! Mount this high-tech device on your door, program in your own private security code, and let the alarm alert you if anyone unauthorized tries to pass. The talking system includes an electronic eye, finger switches to enter your code and a sensor pod to detect intruders plus your choice of four alarm settings. Requires three AA batteries (included). Ages 5 and up.
posted by Kevin at 11:14 AM
Bush: Assumes al-Qaeda in U.S. :.Homeland Security General: No Imminent al-Qaeda Threat :.I would suggest that General Ralph Eberhardt avoid air travel for the foreseeable future. Unfortunate accidents seem to befall people in positions of power who don't play the game. Besides, it wouldn't come as any big surprise if bin Laden himself was here, considering the fact that the southern border of the U.S. is wide open. I find the border situation interesting, since drivers all over the U.S. are finding themselves lined up in "random" police checkpoints: THE head of the US military's new homeland security command said in an interview published today he saw little evidence of an imminent terrorist threat inside the United States from al-Qaeda.
General Ralph Eberhardt's comments to the New York Times seemed to contradict repeated statements from President George W. Bush and others in his administration that the Islamist militant group is active in the United States.
"I am not aware of a significant threat to this nation" from al-Qaeda sleeper cells, Eberhardt said. "But to say that we're not aware of it is not the same to say that it doesn't exist."Research Credit: BW
posted by Kevin at 3:51 AM
12/14/2002
Drones to Watch Over You :.Swarms of sensors, cameras and microphones everywhere: An increasing number of federal agencies are pursuing plans to use pilotless surveillance aircraft to help patrol the Mexican and Canadian borders, protect the nation�s major oil and gas pipelines and aid in other homeland security missions.
Incoming Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John Warner, R-Va., said in an interview Tuesday that he will ask President Bush to explore the possible deployment of such aircraft, known as unmanned aerial vehicles or drones, by civilian agencies responsible for homeland security.
The drones would be similar to those used in high-profile missions by the CIA and U.S. military to target suspected Taliban and al Qaeda operatives in Afghanistan. But unlike many of the UAVs deployed overseas, such as the one that fired a missile at a carload of suspected terrorists in Yemen last month, the drones flown for homeland security operations would not be armed with weapons, only cameras or sensors, several federal officials said.
posted by Kevin at 6:48 AM
12/13/2002
Victory: Kissinger Scurries Away Like a Cockroach :.The light of the truth is a terrible thing, if you're a despicable and evil creature. (Would you say I was being a bit hard on cockroaches, Dr. Kissinger, by comparing them to you?) Who is Bush going to appoint to head the independent commission now, Oliver North? HAHA. Oh, maybe I shouldn't joke around like that: Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger stepped down Friday as chairman of a panel investigating the Sept. 11 attacks, citing controversy over potential conflicts of interest with his private-sector clients."It is clear that, although specific potential conflicts can be resolved in this manner, the controversy would quickly move to the consulting firm I have built and own," Kissinger wrote in a letter to President Bush, who appointed him. "I have, therefore, concluded that I cannot accept the responsibility you proposed."
posted by Kevin at 4:49 PM
Senators Want Kissinger's Client List :.The appointment of someone of Kissinger's almost unbelievably corrupt, compromised and evil nature indicates that the current U.S. regime is desperate to cover up the events of 9/11. Bush and the gang are willing to bet big with open and egregious fraud in order to keep the lid on this thing. Kissinger's stench, however, is more than even the lapdogs in the U.S. Senate can tolerate. What does that tell you? The White House has told lawmakers that former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, President Bush's choice to head a commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks, is not required by law to disclose his business clients.
Senate Democrats want the list to determine whether Kissinger's clients pose conflicts of interests.
A White House official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said federal law guiding presidential appointments does not require such disclosures when the appointee is not paid. Kissinger is drawing no salary.
Senate Democrats claim all 10 members of the commission are required to submit financial disclosures, which would include naming clients. That opinion was supported by a report issued last week by Congress' research arm, the Congressional Research Service.
The White House position wouldn't prohibit Kissinger from turning over the client list on his own. The former secretary of state was not immediately available for comment.
The confrontation came to a head as former Sen. George Mitchell resigned from the commission.
posted by Kevin at 3:39 AM
Total Information Awareness: Expect the Next Attack Soon :.The ultimate goal for the THEM is to make you beg to be imprisoned. Get ready: In the Pentagon in Washington, a team is working on plans to collect as much information about every single aspect of everyone in America as they can.
This includes everything from doctor's records to bank deposits, e-mail to travel tickets, phone conversations to magazine subscriptions.
The reason, according to the Under Secretary of Defense Pete Aldridge, is to catch people intending to carry out terrorist crimes.
"The bottom line is that this is an important research project to determine the feasibility of using certain transactions and events to discover and respond to terrorists before they act."
Backers of the project, known as Total Information Awareness, admit that it sounds Orwellian.
A reluctant supporter of the Pentagon's plans is Frank Gaffney, a former assistant defense secretary.
He says that it would only take one more terrorist attack and public support is assured.
"At that point there will not only be a willingness to submit to those sorts of infringement but a demand that they be infringed upon in the hope of trying to protect us.
"If there were no war on terror, this is not something that we would want to do."Well, that last sentence is interesting, considering everything we know about government involvement with terrorists.
posted by Kevin at 3:35 AM
U.S. to Attack Iraq No Matter What :.There's growing indication now that a massive US attack against Iraq is practically set for January, no matter what is contained in Iraq's weapons declaration and no matter what United Nations inspectors find out on the ground. An ambassador to the UN who insisted on remaining anonymous assured Asia Times Online that "at any moment we could be facing an official statement from the White House saying Iraq is in material breach of Resolution 1441. We are all helpless against it at the UN."Note: I happen to think this article is accurate, but sharp readers will notice that it was written by the same guy who floated this thing, which was retracted by AsiaTimes.
posted by Kevin at 3:29 AM
Iraq Bought Anti-Nerve Gas Drug with U.S. Approval :.The U.S. made a big deal about stopping a large shipment of atropine headed to Iraq from Turkey a few weeks ago. Well, check this out: With Washington's approval, Iraq has bought more than 3.5 million vials of atropine since 1996 even though the drug can be used to protect against nerve gas attacks, U.N. officials said on Thursday.
The United States has made an issue in recent weeks of its current inability to block Iraqi attempts to import the drug, saying it wants to quickly add atropine to a new U.N. Security Council restricted list.
posted by Kevin at 3:19 AM
White Cloud Surveillance System :.For those of you thinking about sailing away to the promise land, uh: U.S. intelligence officials said White Cloud is a "constellation" of three satellites that can intercept any electronic emission from a ship, "triangulate" its exact location, and then beam the coordinates back to a U.S. Navy control room at the National Maritime Intelligence Center in Suitland, Md.
The network, officially known as the Ocean Surveillance Information System, was designed during the Cold War to keep track of Soviet military and cargo vessels, said James Bamford, author of several books on U.S. intelligence.
posted by Kevin at 3:14 AM
Activists Use Wi-Fi to Build Communications Network :.For the past four weeks, the group of self-described geeks has been working on a plan to provide tree-sitters in the Headwaters Forest region of Northern California with access to an 802.11b wireless network.
posted by Kevin at 3:07 AM
Crucial World Trade Center Records Destroyed :.Thousands of key Word Trade Center building records, considered crucial to helping explain why the towers collapsed, were likely destroyed in the catastrophe, officials acknowledged yesterday.
Construction logs, maintenance records and early drawings - originals and copies alike - were among the documents that probers had hoped to use to help solve the collapse "puzzle" and are now presumed lost, the National Institute of Standards and Technology said.
Furthermore, many of the site's designers, contractors and insurers say they lack backup files of their plans, leaving probers in even more of a quandary.
posted by Kevin at 2:57 AM
12/12/2002
Al Qaeda Version 2.0 :.This is the type of nonsense that created bin Laden in the first place: President George Bush has formally approved $92m (�60m) to train a pan-Iraqi militia to help fight a war against Saddam Hussein. Over the past few weeks the Pentagon has been scouring countries looking for bases. A Nato airbase in southern Hungary emerged yesterday as the favourite site.Research Credit: BW
posted by Kevin at 10:10 AM
Remote-Control for Bacteria :.This is the most frightening thing I have read in a long time. I only took Biology 101 in college, but you don't need much more knowledge than that to imagine some of the possible uses of this: Remote-controlled bacteria could be just around the corner. Researchers have found a way to switch cell processes on and off with radio waves.
The goal is "microbial machines", Joseph Jacobson of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge told this week's Materials Research Society meeting in Boston.
Cells, he explained, could be equipped with a toolbox of 'software' - such as the ability to glow periodically. Remote-controlled enzymes could cut and paste these modules as if downloading a particular program into the cells.Related: Bill Joy's, Why the Future Doesn't Need Us: Part of the answer certainly lies in our attitude toward the new - in our bias toward instant familiarity and unquestioning acceptance. Accustomed to living with almost routine scientific breakthroughs, we have yet to come to terms with the fact that the most compelling 21st-century technologies - robotics, genetic engineering, and nanotechnology - pose a different threat than the technologies that have come before. Specifically, robots, engineered organisms, and nanobots share a dangerous amplifying factor: They can self-replicate. A bomb is blown up only once - but one bot can become many, and quickly get out of control.
posted by Kevin at 2:46 AM
12/11/2002
Back UpObviously, the site is up again. With traffic to the site falling, things getting worse by the day and lack of contributions, I thought: Why bother with this? But after reading the messages from some of you, one thing became clear: My metric for measuring success was flawed. I realized that, while the site was not attracting large numbers of people, it was attracting small numbers of people who might actually make a difference. Some of you are actively trying to wake people up, and you are using the information presented here to form part of your knowledge base. That was amazing to me. That was what convinced me to keep going. Dozens of people expressed interest in a newsletter, but after further consideration, I thought that this is not the time to be locking the information up in the form of private and privileged communications. I thought about dharma and karma (call it whatever you want) and decided that I have an obligation to do what I can, if I am at all able, regardless of what comes of it. Amazingly, just as I decided to drop the standard notions by which success of the site could be measured, two readers made financial contributions. (One contribution paid for the hosting of this site for a year. The other one was enough to buy gas for a week. Thanks guys!) I was stunned, amazed, touched and encouraged by this. This medium of exchange, of interaction, allows all of us to route around the barriers to understanding of our world. It allows us to support those voices which we find interesting and enlightening. And it allows individuals to contribute to causes in several different ways. Wow. That is humbling and incredible. The wave of the future does not lie in hierarchical organizations, but rather in decentralized networks of peers. What we, as individuals, lack in terms of military power, we more than make up in adaptability, intelligence and personal conviction. By empowering ourselves and each other, by routing around the corporate, governmental and ideological barriers to understanding, we have a chance to create a planetary information network that is resistant to attack from all forms of tyranny. And if we can do that, without firing a shot, is there anything we can't do? I am honored to stand as a node in this network of peers. Let's do everything we can to turn the current political and economic crises into opportunities.
posted by Kevin at 12:33 AM
Israel: Do-It-Yourself Al Qaeda Cell :.We know that states routinely use terrorism as a tool to drive domestic and foreign policy. NO terrorist organization exists in a vacuum, wholly outside of influence from the governments they allegedly threaten.* In many cases, government operatives may be found in the command and control echelons of terrorist organizations. Surely, if Karl von Clausewitz was alive today, he would revise his most famous passage to read, "Terrorism is merely the continuation of policy by other means." We know the U.K. was involved with many of the most notorious IRA bombings and shootings in recent decades, including the Omagh outrage. We know the CIA played a key role in the genesis of Al Qaeda. We must note that this type of thing continues to be standard operating procedure for fascist regimes everywhere: Palestinian security forces have arrested a group of Palestinians for collaborating with Israel and posing as operatives of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda terrorist network, a senior official said yesterday.
The arrests come two days after Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon charged al-Qaeda militants were operating in Gaza and in Lebanon.
"The Palestinian Authority arrested a group of collaborators who confessed they were working for Israel, posing as al-Qaeda operatives in the Palestinian territories," said the official, on condition of anonymity.
He said the alleged collaborators sought to "discredit the Palestinian people, justify every Israeli crime and provide reasons to carry out a new (military) aggression in the Gaza Strip."* Listen (mp3) to FBI informant, Emad Salem, who secretly recorded a conversation with his handler. He says, words to the effect: We have started building the bomb...It was built with supervision of the FBI and the DA. Start listening at 3 minutes 40 seconds. Salem was inside the terror cell that would go on to bomb the World Trade Center, and his handler was telling him to fill out pink forms and blue forms and to get a job and to only hang out with the terrorists on weekends. Oh, by the way, the FBI did nothing to stop the World Trade Center bombing. They nickel and dimed Salem on a $500 per week request. After the World Trade Center bombing, the FBI had to pay him over $1 million for his information. For more info on the British government's connections to the IRA, start here, here and here. Then see: The Committee: Political Assassination in Northern Ireland by Sean McPhilemy (banned in the U.K., rare and hard to find elsewhere) to learn about how the British played the other side of the fence at the same time. Recent revelations on CIA support of Italian terrorist operations: Gen Maletti, comannder of the counter-intelligence section of the military intelligence service from 1971 to 1975, said his men had discovered that a rightwing terrorist cell in the Venice region had been supplied with military explosives from Germany.
Those explosives may have been obtained with the help of members of the US intelligence community, an indication that the Americans had gone beyond the infiltration and monitoring of extremist groups to instigating acts of violence, he said.
"The CIA [Central Intelligence Agency], following the directives of its government, wanted to create an Italian nationalism capable of halting what it saw as a slide to the left and, for this purpose, it may have made use of rightwing terrorism," Gen Maletti told the Milan court. "I believe this is what happened in other countries as well."Research Credit: BW
posted by Kevin at 12:32 AM
Iraqi Weapons Declaration :.They're saying this thing needs to be kept secret because it amounts to a cookbook for weapons of mass destruction. HA! Several U.N. member states want it kept secret because it is no doubt littered with references to U.S., British, French and German companies that have been supplying Iraq with weapons technology for decades. Hint: Several countries knowingly and unknowingly served as trans-shipment points for weapons and equipment that could not be legally exported directly to Iraq. The intelligence services set up cut out operations that handled these transactions in order to subvert domestic export laws. No merchants of death want to be outed in public. Woops, the dealers, in this case, happen to run the world: The huge document appeared to contain the names of foreign arms suppliers in a long declaration on Iraq's past weapons programs -- something that could prove embarrassing for the countries involved, including members of the Security Council.
In the index, Iraq listed procurements for its nuclear programs as well as imported chemical precursors and foreign technical assistance for its chemicals weapons programs.
"There are lots of pages devoted to procurement information," said Gary Milholling, director of the Washington-based Wisconsin Project on Nuclear Arms Control, commenting on the dossier's information on suppliers.
"If they have listed all their suppliers, that is quite important and should be made public. If you expose this network, it means it is harder for them to continue."
In the past such information has been submitted but not disclosed by U.N. weapons inspection units. Companies around the world that co-operated with the United Nations did so on condition they would not be publicly identified.
It is not known whether the United States or other council members might try to suppress this part of the Iraqi report, but after distribution to all of the Security Council's 15 member states, there is a good chance it will leak to the media.
posted by Kevin at 12:22 AM
The Microwave Phaser :.Is this the same death ray emanating from Poindexter's IAO eyeball? Official propaganda on the device is that it makes one's skin only lightbulb hot, enough to force a person to run but not enough to cook him. Of course, there is no proof this can be achieved, because the results of tests on people are classified. It's safe, insist the inventors, the air force's Directed Energy Directorate in Albuquerque.
But anyone with first-hand experience broiling hot dogs and other non-robust meats in their tabletop microwave might be chary of such an assertion. Struck by the heat ray, "Sssss," went the eyeball.
What is the microwaver's target? It must be unarmed civilians, because as described, the VMAD wouldn't seem to offer much against terrorists or regular soldiers ready to fire back with conventional weapons. What is certain is that the Pentagon's microwave projects lack oversight and common sense. In one manic, grandiose claim, the Defense Department calls VMAD "the biggest breakthrough in weapons technology since the atomic bomb."
posted by Kevin at 12:19 AM
U.S. and Canada Enter Bilateral Military Agreement :.Well, several of us were thinking about Canada... Maybe we should re-think that option: TORONTO - Canada and the United States have signed a new military cooperation agreement that allows troops of each country to enter the other in an emergency, Canadian officials announced Monday.
Faced with threats such as the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the North American neighbors expanded their military cooperation beyond their partnership in NATO and Canada's role in NORAD, the North American Aerospace Defense Command.
Under the agreement, either country can request military help from the other. Any U.S. troops operating in Canada would be under the command of a Canadian officer, while any Canadian troops operating south of the border would be under U.S. command.
posted by Kevin at 12:17 AM
12/7/2002
Photographer Arrested for Taking Pictures of Vice President's Hotel :.An amateur photographer named Mike Maginnis was arrested on Tuesday in his home city of Denver - for simply taking pictures of buildings in an area where Vice President Cheney was residing. Maginnis told his story on Wednesday's edition of Off The Hook .
Maginnis's morning commute took him past the Adams Mark Hotel on Court Place. Maginnis, who says he always carried his camera wherever he went, snapped about 30 pictures of the hotel and the surrounding area - which included Denver police, Army rangers, and rooftop snipers. Maginnis, who works in information technology, frequently photographs such subjects as corporate buildings and communications equipment.
The following is Maginnis's account of what transpired:
As he was putting his camera away, Maginnis found himself confronted by a Denver police officer who demanded that he hand over his film and camera. When he refused to give up his Nikon F2, the officer pushed him to the ground and arrested him.
After being brought to the District 1 police station on Decatur Street, Maginnis was made to wait alone in an interrogation room. Two hours later, a Secret Service agent arrived, who identified himself as Special Agent "Willse."
The agent told Maginnis that his "suspicious activities" made him a threat to national security, and that he would be charged as a terrorist under the USA-PATRIOT act. The Secret Service agent tried to make Maginnis admit that he was taking the photographs to analyze weaknesses in the Vice President's security entourage and "cause terror and mayhem."
When Maginnis refused to admit to being any sort of terrorist, the Secret Service agent called him a "raghead collaborator" and a "dirty pinko faggot."
After approximately an hour of interrogation, Maginnis was allowed to make a telephone call. Rather than contacting a lawyer, he called the Denver Post and asked for the news desk. This was immediately overheard by the desk sergeant, who hung up the phone and placed Maginnis in a holding cell.
Three hours later, Maginnis was finally released, but with no explanation. He received no copy of an arrest report, and no receipt for his confiscated possessions. He was told that he would probably not get his camera back, as it was being held as evidence.
Maginnis's lawyer contacted the Denver Police Department for an explanation of the day's events, but the police denied ever having Maginnis - or anyone matching his description - in custody. At press time, the Denver PD's Press Information Office did not return telephone messages left by 2600.
The new police powers introduced by the USA- PATRIOT act, in the name of fighting terrorism, have been frightening in their apparent potential for abuse. Mike Maginnis's experience on Tuesday is a poignant example of how this abuse is beginning to occur. It suggests that a wide range of activities which might be considered "suspicious" could be suddenly labeled a prelude to terrorism, and be grounds for arrest.
We will continue to post updates to this story as we learn them.
posted by Kevin at 12:45 AM
12/6/2002
Feds Label Wi-Fi (802.11) a Terrorist Tool :.Of course, I just emphatically urged all of you to learn about and adopt Wi-Fi gear a couple of days ago. It makes sense that this technology would be associated with terrorism. Anything that allows US to resist THEM is terrorist technology. The THEM really hate the fact that Wi-Fi is allowing people to gain access to the Internet anonymously. THEY REALLY HATE THAT. Do you understand? THEY REALLY REALLY REALLY HATE THAT. They want everyone on a wireless network to be a trusted client. Trusted meaning fully compromised with no privacy. You better go out and buy guns. You better go out and buy ammunition. And you better go out and buy Wi-Fi access points and interface cards: Attention, Wi-Fi users: The Department of Homeland Security sees wireless networking technology as a terrorist threat.
That was the message from experts who participated in working groups under federal cybersecurity czar Richard Clarke and shared what they learned at this week's 802.11 Planet conference. Wi-Fi manufacturers, as well as home and office users, face a clear choice, they said: Secure yourselves or be regulated.Research Credit: ST
posted by Kevin at 12:27 PM
United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit:
"The Second Amendment does not confer an individual right to own or possess arms." :.If you're not arming yourself RIGHT NOW, you ought to have your head examined. Here we go: In 1999, the State of California enacted amendments to its gun control laws that significantly strengthened the state�s restrictions on the possession, use, and transfer of the semiautomatic weapons popularly known as "assault weapons." Plaintiffs, California residents who either own assault weapons, seek to acquire such weapons, or both, brought this challenge to the gun control statute, asserting that the law, as amended, violates the Second Amendment, the Equal Protection Clause, and a host of other constitutional provisions. The district court dismissed all of the plaintiffs� claims. Because the Second Amendment does not confer an individual right to own or possess arms, we affirm the dismissal of all claims brought pursuant to that constitutional provision.BW writes: I don't EVER see this being seen by the U.S. Supreme Court as the "most pro-gun Attorney General in recent history" John Ashcroft had already written briefs to the USSC NOT to hear Emerson or Haney (both 2nd Amendment cases) earlier this year. It's just one more nail in the coffin of the Republic. Woo hoo! --- TR has been reading some of the texts related to the foundation of the United States Government. If you ever have any doubts about what the intent of the 2nd Amendment is, check out the following. TR writes: Disarming law-abiding citizens is typical of the criminal court system that only exists to legitimize this tyranny we live under. So only state militias are able to bear arms, huh? Well, maybe they should read the Pennsylvannia Minority Paper; written during the Constitutional Convention Debates by the same people who demanded that a Bill of Rights be added to that document of despotism known as the US Constitution. These quotes, I believe, help set the context for determining exactly who is supposed to bear arms and whose interests the Bill of Rights are intended to serve. ----- 7. That the people have a right to bear arms for the defence of themselves and their own state, or the United States, or for the purpose of killing game; and no law shall be passed for disarming the people OR ANY OF THEM, unless for crimes committed, or real danger of public injury from individuals; and as standing armies in the time of peace are dangerous to liberty, they ought not to be kept up: and that the military shall be kept under strict subordination to and be governed by the civil powers.
8. The inhabitants of the several states shall have liberty to fowl and hunt in seasonable times, on the lands they hold, and on all other lands in the United States not inclosed, and in like manner to fish in all navigable waters, and others not private property, without being restrained therein by any laws to be -passed by the legislature of the United States. ----- Further down in the same document they talk of the dangers of a state militia and standing army/state police force: The absolute unqualified command that Congress have over the militia may be made instrumental to the destruction of all liberty, both public and private; whether of a personal, civil or religious nature.
Thirdly, the absolute command of Congress over the militia may be destructive of public liberty; for under the guidance of an arbitrary government, they may be made the unwilling instruments of tyranny. The militia of Pennsylvania may be marched to New England or Virginia to quell an insurrection occasioned by the most galling oppression, and aided by the standing army, they will no doubt be successful in subduing their liberty and independence; but in so doing, although the magnanimity of their minds will be extinguished, yet the meaner passions of resentment and revenge will be increased, and these in turn will be the ready and obedient instruments of despotism to enslave the others; and that with an irritated vengeance. Thus may the militia be made the instruments of crushing the last efforts of expiring liberty, of riveting the chains of despotism on their fellow citizens, and on one another. This power can be exercised not only without violating the constitution, but in strict conformity with it; it is calculated for this express purpose, and will doubtless be executed accordingly.
As this government will not enjoy the confidence of the people, but be executed by force, it will be a very expensive and burthensome government. The standing army must be numerous, and as a further support, it will be the policy of this government to multiply officers in every department: judges, collectors, taxgatherers, excisemen and the whole host of revenue officers will swarm over the land, devouring the hard earnings of the industrious. Like the locusts of old, impoverishing and- desolating all before them.http://www.constitution.org/afp/pennmi00.htm ----- Also, Jefferson, in a draft of the Virginia Constitution made it clear what he had in mind: Note: Arms
No freeman shall be debarred the use of arms [within his own lands]. -- Thomas Jefferson, Draft Constitution for Virginia [June, 1776.] FAIR COPY Research Credit: BW and TR
posted by Kevin at 11:48 AM
12/5/2002
White House Touts 'Solid' Evidence on Iraqi Weapons :.The U.S. is actually in a great position to know what Iraq has, since the U.S. supplied much of it in the first place. That imbecile Ari Fleicher probably won't mention this: The White House said Thursday it possesses solid evidence that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction, and rejected Baghdad's denials, saying they have no credibility.
President Bush, asked if the United States was headed toward war, said: "That's a question you should ask to Saddam Hussein."
White House spokesman Ari Fleischer declined to say what evidence the administration has on Saddam's weapons, but said the United States will provide intelligence to United Nations inspectors.
posted by Kevin at 3:44 PM
Kissinger: In His Own Words :."Today Americans would be outraged if U.N. troops entered Los Angeles to restore order; tomorrow they will be grateful. This is especially true if they were told there was an outside threat from beyond, whether real or promulgated, that threatened our very existence. It is then that all peoples of the world will plead with world leaders to deliver them from this evil. The one thing every man fears is the unknown. When presented with this scenario, individual rights will be willingly relinquished for the guarantee of their well being granted to them by their world government."-- Henry Kissinger speaking at Evian, France, May 21, 1992 Bilderburgers meeting. Unbeknownst to Kissinger, his speech was taped by a Swiss delegate to the meeting.
posted by Kevin at 12:52 AM
12/4/2002
Operation TIPS Plan Fails :.This is somewhat encouraging. One positive story for every thousand negative ones. Hey, I'll take it: A controversial government initiative to recruit Americans to spy on each other in an attempt to prevent terrorist attacks was quietly killed with the passage of the Homeland Security Act.
First announced by the Justice Department in January, Operation TIPS (Terrorism Information and Prevention System), was initially designed as a nationwide reporting system that would enlist one million workers � ranging from postal employees to truck drivers � to tattle on any "suspicious activity" by people along their routes.
The program was met with vehement opposition from privacy groups, newspaper editorialists and even conservative legislators. Some likened TIPS to an operative of the East German Stasi, the secret police that used citizen informants to spy on ordinary Germans for more than 40 years.
posted by Kevin at 3:15 PM
Total Information Awareness Demonstration for John Poindexter :.Do you feel like letting Mr. Poindexter know where he can shove his depraved Information Awareness Office? Somewhere out of view of the all seeing eye and illegal private power structure, perhaps? John M. and Linda Poindexter
10 Barrington Fare
Rockville, MD, 20850
+1 301 424 6613Some people are suspicious that the degenerate Poindexter's Total Information Awareness system will be used to harass and track the activities of people who some significant fraction of society disagree with. They fear a replacement of today's general tolerance (and official blindness to one's Bill-of-Rights-protected activities such as speech and association), with specific harassment of those whose names pop up in the database. Such harassment of people who are not reasonably suspected of criminal activity would destroy much of value in our society, such as the presumption of innocence and the "live and let live" philosophy that encourages diversity. Offering dissidents "a death of a thousand cuts" by constantly harassing them and denying them the privileges of ordinary life would be far worse than charging them with a (bogus) crime, which they could clear up merely by demonstrating their innocence in court.This is a very popular topic on search engines lately so I'm going to throw in some food for bots (humans can ignore this): Scientia est potentia, IAO, TIA, DARPA. Hmmm: CHENEY SECRET ORGAN BANK. HaHa!
posted by Kevin at 2:16 AM
Mike Ruppert Issues Solemn Message :.The tone in dissident circles is becoming increasingly grim, but I think this is a time to celebrate! Yes, the show is winding down, but that's ok! You will soon get a chance to choose, overtly, between black and white, good and bad. Take the vaccination, don't take the vaccination. Get on the truck to go to the camp, refuse to get on the truck to go to the camp. I'm tired of all this messing around. Let's get this show on the road. Perhaps this will turn out to be a crisis of opportunity instead of just a crisis. I feel that our best chance of emerging from these troubled times would come if the system, as we know it, did fall apart. My only hope is that, when it comes down, it doesn't come down in the form of mushroom clouds. Hopefully, the physical base, the dirt, will still be usable. If that's the case, individuals will need to build locally based political and economic systems from the ground up. They should also make a point of not allowing federal governments back onto the stage. We've seen that they're only good at collecting taxes and killing people. Local governments. Local economies. Local industries. Local agriculture. Planetary consciousness. This thing, this situation we all face, cannot be changed by mass protests, gradual applications of pressure or any legislative process. Realize the fact that WE HAVE ALREADY LOST. Say it with me, "We have already lost." Everyone reading this site knows it, whether you want to admit it or not. We all know that the actors in control are in a position to take this thing to its logical conclusion, which is the enslavement of the remaining population of the planet. After you get over the fear, these concepts become liberating, actually. Start making a plan. Start imaging how you, your family, your friends and a few other people could grow food, make clothes, raise children and enjoy life without surveillance cameras, checkpoints and all of the other nonsense. These people already did it. Oh yeah, drop the word "job" from your vocabulary. You won't be needing it anymore: Rather than fear what we will be told is a heinous plot by Saddam to kill us all, we should be more afraid of the well-planned dark night of tyranny, death and suffering that is about to descend all over the globe. This story and the linkage that it represents are the ringing of the doorbell from an uninvited visitor who plans to steal away with whatever vestiges of civil liberty remain in this country.
posted by Kevin at 2:09 AM
U.S. Government Can Execute Americans Anywhere :.If the fine people running the show decide that you are an enemy combatant, well, you better get your affairs in order. If you aren't killed, you will disappear into some nameless, placeless American gulag. Whether you're ever heard from again, well, those are details to be worked out later, I guess: U.S. operatives have already killed one American enemy combatant and they can legally do it again, according to the rules of war devised by the Bush administration.
President Bush signed a secret directive after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks that directs the CIA to covertly attack Al Qaeda anywhere in the world. And the directive doesn't discriminate � meaning, there is no exception for Americans working for the terror group.
Permission to strike, however, is more like a quiet understanding rather than an outright prescription.
posted by Kevin at 2:06 AM
Harassment of Homeschoolers :.The public education system in the U.S. is actually a fascist indoctrination program designed to produce grunting imbeciles fit for either prison cells or cubicles. Study any fascist regime and you will find that state run indoctrination in schools is an integral component of governance. The U.S. Civil War was fought partially because cheap labor was needed to work in the new industrial factories coming online at the time. Productive labor may be extracted from employees at a much lower cost than is possible from slaves. A slave owner had to feed and house slaves. Allegedly "free" employees, however, are left to recover from the work day on their own dime. Dehumanizing, repetitive work for penury was the new economic miracle of industrialization. This is the point at which a substandard form of public education became necessary. The children (future employees) need to be kept stupid and made to follow rigid rules, so they don't start wondering why "freedom" seems so much like slavery. Take a look at this interesting tidbit from the article: Homeschooling � teaching children in the home instead of sending them out to a public or private educational institution � was the norm in the U.S. until about the mid-1800s, when there was a national movement toward establishing a public school system.In other words: The public school system was established right about the time industrialization was sweeping across the land. Hmmm. And so what happens when you choose to educate your children at home? Increasingly, cops are showing up. Never mind the fact that the homeschooled kids turn out to be brighter than any of the teachers they are likely to encounter in the public schools. Never mind that the homeschooled kids routinely score in the very top echelons of all aptitude assessments. You see, when you educate your children at home, they're going to be able to look at something and say: "That's BS, I'm not going along with that. In fact, I might like to have a go at tearing that thing down and replacing it with something much less corrupt." The problem is that they may be saying those words about local, state and national governments and the corporations they serve. No wonder cops are getting involved.
posted by Kevin at 2:05 AM
12/3/2002
Lockdown :.This article is excellent. It sums up the entirety of the difficulties we face. Luckily, the Them have terrorists to blame for everything that ails ya. They know that fear of _____<--- (fill in the blank) helps to keep people from asking the right questions: Through inequities in trade abroad and iniquities of social policy at home we are creating a local and international underclass with little stake in our immediate society. Through our immigration legislation and enhanced security networks we seek to contain them. Through our criminal justice system and foreign policies we seek to police them. From gated communities we move inexorably to gated countries and continents. Our prisons are full, our borders fortified, our embassies armed and global summits take place behind cordons of riot police - the private affluence and public squalor of the Thatcher years gone global.
"There is nothing so dangerous as a man who has nothing to lose," wrote James Baldwin, the African-American writer. "You do not need 10 men, only one will do."Research Credit: DG
posted by Kevin at 5:13 PM
Give Books Instead of Video Games :.Video games are gifts that keep on giving, but probably not in ways you have considered. They breed stupidity and violence: Hours of playing violent video games can affect the way the brain works on a cellular level, causing misfiring of signals between nerve cells or slowing brain activity, researchers reported Monday.
The researchers said the adverse effects are most apparent among teens that are diagnosed with a condition called disruptive behavior disorder or DBD. These kids, according to Dr. Vincent P. Mathews of the University of Indiana Medical School in Indianapolis, are the ones most likely to "act out by harming animals or property or fighting with other kids."
posted by Kevin at 5:11 PM
12/2/2002
Wi-Fi: Insurgent Technology :.The day may come when those of us concerned with freedom will HAVE to build our own networks. This article provides introductory level information about how individuals are using 802.11 devices to, well, give the bird to telecos and PHBs pushing expensive and stupid technology (3G). If you want to learn more, here are some resources to get you up and running FAST: If you want to find wireless networks to use: Read the wardriving HOWTO. Then choose a sniffer. Since most of you are Windows users, netstumbler is excellent. Of course, it's free. If you want to build your own wireless network: http://www.wirelessanarchy.com/ (There may be a group near you.) http://www.oreillynet.com/topics/wireless/802.11 (Many articles.) http://www.freenetworks.org/ (News and discussion.) Especially useful for infrastructure construction purposes: Food containers (Pringles cans, etc.) and the Ethernet DC power injector, or do-it-yourself style. Have fun!
posted by Kevin at 1:10 PM
The Dismantling of the U.S. Legal System :.What else is there to say, folks? We're in a tyranny: The Bush administration is developing a parallel legal system in which terrorism suspects -- U.S. citizens and noncitizens alike -- may be investigated, jailed, interrogated, tried and punished without legal protections guaranteed by the ordinary system, lawyers inside and outside the government say.
posted by Kevin at 1:21 AM
Israel to Escalate War in Wake of Kenya Attacks :.Wake the sleepers: LONDON The Mossad has activated "sleeper" agents in Saudi Arabia and Yemen after Prime Minister Ariel Sharon ordered Mossad head Meir Dagan to track down the planners and perpetrators of last Friday's twin attacks in Mombasa.
Quoting one source, the London Sunday Times reported that Sharon summoned Dagan to a meeting following the attacks and told him: "War has been declared on the State of Israel by the global Islamic terror syndicate. Change your priorities and get them, one by one."
posted by Kevin at 1:20 AM
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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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