The Soldiers At My Front Door :.

Preaching to Saruman's orcs:

But I was surprised the following morning to hear 75 soldiers singing, shouting and screaming as they jogged down Main Street, passed our St. Joseph�s church, back and forth around town for an hour. It was 6 a.m., and they woke me up with their war slogans, chants like �Kill! Kill! Kill!� and �Swing your guns from left to right; we can kill those guys all night.�

Their chants were disturbing, but this is war. They have to psyche themselves up for the kill. They have to believe that flying off to some tiny, remote desert town in Iraq where they will march in front of someone�s house and kill poor young Iraqis has some greater meaning besides cold-blooded murder. Most of these young reservists have never left our town, and they need our support for the �unpleasant� task before them. I have been to Iraq, and led a delegation of Nobel Peace Prize winners to Baghdad in 1999, and I know that the people there are no different than the people here.

I decided I had to do something. I put on my winter coat and walked out the front door right into the middle of the street. They stopped shouting and looked at me, so I said loudly, publicly for all to hear, �In the name of God, I order all of you to stop this nonsense, and not to go to Iraq. I want all of you to quit the military, disobey your orders to kill, and not to kill anyone. I do not want you to get killed. I want you to practice the love and nonviolence of Jesus. God does not bless war. God does not want you to kill so Bush and Cheney can get more oil. God does not support war. Stop all this and go home. God bless you.�

Their jaws dropped, their eyeballs popped and they stood in shock and silence, looking steadily at me. Then they burst out laughing. Finally, the commander dismissed them and they left.
posted by Kevin at 3:34 PM

Herds of Fat Troglodytes Commence Orgiastic Binge, WalMart Sets Sales Record :.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said Saturday it hit a single-day company sales record during the traditional day-after-Thanksgiving shopping sprees, taking in more than $1.52 billion nationally.



More: Woman Trampled by Rampaging Mob Seeking Cheap DVD Players :.

In my opinion, the collapse of this society seems as natural and unstoppable as the sun rising in the morning. I now view it as a beautiful thing, a spark of hope. I dream about it, actually.

Gaze upon it. Marvel at it. Look at what we have become. At a minimum, you can watch the barrel of monkeys outside your window and you won't feel the need to ever pay for entertainment again:

A 41-year-old woman was knocked unconscious and then trampled by a mob of shoppers who continued to step over her as she suffered a seizure during a Friday sale at Wal-Mart in Orange City, Fla., according to Local 6 News.

Authorities said that Patricia Van Lester arrived at Wal-Mart at 3 a.m. for an early sale on a DVD player for her mother. When the store's doors opened at 6 a.m., Van Lester grabbed the DVD player but was quickly overcome by hundreds of shoppers rushing into the store.

The woman was knocked to the ground, slammed her head on the ground and suffered at least one seizure, according to Local 6 News.

Her sister watched the incident and tried to stop the crowd as they made their way to the merchandise.
posted by Kevin at 3:44 PM

Federal Reserve/IRS Audio Files :.

Tired of reading about it? Hear it for yourself...

Research Credit: NF
posted by Kevin at 3:29 PM

Assassinated Reuters Camaraman Uncovered Evidence of Mass U.S. Casualties in Iraq :.

When journalists point cameras at the "wrong" subject matter, they are taking their lives in their hands. Usually, the truth will be aborted and thrown in the trash by the editor/producer before the "story" is released. Perhaps U.S. PSYOPS controllers were not willing to take chances with the veracity of the Ministry of Truth and executed Dana as a result:

Mazen Dana, the Award winning Reuters camera man, shot dead by US troops whilst filming outside Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison in August - with full permission and press accreditation from the US Authorities in Baghdad - told his brother Nazmi, a chilling tale days before he died.

"Mazen told me by phone few days before his death that he discovered a mass grave dug by U.S. troops to conceal the bodies of their fellow comrades killed in Iraqi resistance attacks," Nazmi said.

"He also told me that he found U.S. troops covered in plastic bags in remote desert areas and he filmed them for a TV program. We are pretty sure that the American forces had killed Mazen knowingly to prevent him from airing his finding."
posted by Kevin at 2:28 PM

Wal-Mart "Eats" More U.S. Manufacturers :.

LaRouche material is about 80% good stuff, 20% rat poison.* This article is pretty good:

As EIR has shown in a series of articles (Nov. 14, Nov. 21), Wal-Mart is a driving force for America's implementation of the Imperial Rome model: Unable to reproduce its own population's existence, the United States has, for the past two decades, used an over-valued dollar to import goods from abroad. Wal-Mart markets an immense volume of these goods, many of which are produced under slave-labor conditions. It pays below-subsistence wages to its American workers, and drives down the wages of competing retail stores.

* From Who Is LaRouche and What Does He Want?

Mae Brussel, who for the better part of 17 years (1971-1988) conducted a weekly 60-minute radio program on KAZU in Pacific Grove, California, unraveling the full ramifications of the assassination of JFK, stated off camera that the LaRouche material is about 80% "deeply factual" (comparable to the information found in Covert Action Quarterly ) and about 20% "rat poison." In other words, at the core of the NCLC (as with other political cults) probably 20 members or less actually see the "big picture," while 95% of the group-true-believer types, the "drones"-man tables and phone lines, do research, write stories, and believe they are on the side of the angels "fighting the Oligarchy." Meanwhile, a monkey wrench gang in the editorial department determine the party line and put a spin on the aggregate to make it unpalatable with 90% of the public.

posted by Kevin at 2:13 PM

Billions for Bankers--Debts for the People :.

Online version of a great book:

History reveals nations can be conquered by the use of one or more of three methods.

The most common is conquest by war. In time, though, this method usually fails, because the captives hate the captors and rise up and drive them out if they can. Much force is needed to maintain control, making it expensive for the conquering nation.

A second method is by religion, where men are convinced they must give their captors part of their earnings as "obedience to God." Such a captivity is vulnerable to philosophical exposure or by overthrow by armed force, since religion by its nature lacks military force to regain control, once its captives become disillusioned.

The third method can be called economic conquest. It takes place when nations are placed under "tribute" without the use of visible force or coercion, so that the victims do not realize they have been conquered. "Tribute" is collected from them in the form of "legal" debts and taxes, and they believe they are paying it for their own good, for the good of others, or to protect all from some enemy. Their captors become their "benefactors" and "protectors".
posted by Kevin at 2:05 PM

Dubya to Jeb: $8.5 Million for Fascist Pig Operations

Full text follows because this will slide down the memory hole pretty fast:

Iraq bill includes millions for Miami meeting

By Alex Navarro Clifton, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, November 4, 2003

Buried in a bill that provides money for the war in Iraq is an $8.5 million federal boost for Miami to host the Free Trade Area of the Americas conference later this month.

Passed in the House last week and the Senate Monday, the FTAA money is a single line within the massive Iraq bill.

But for the 40 local communities expected to provide extra police officers and equipment at the conference, it helps ease the financial burden on already strapped cities and counties.

Between 20,000 and 100,000 protesters are expected to flood downtown Miami during the conference set for Nov. 17-21.

"The money enables the city of Miami and Miami-Dade County in particular to go the extra mile in security," said Charles Cobb, chairman of the nonprofit Florida FTAA Inc., which is helping organize the conference. "It gives them much more comfort to do whatever is necessary to provide good security and do it in a friendly, positive way."

The FTAA would establish a free-trade zone among the nations of the Americas and the Caribbean, excluding Cuba. It would be the world's largest free market, with a combined gross domestic product of nearly $13 trillion and nearly 800 million consumers.

U.S. Rep. Clay Shaw, R-Fort Lauderdale, said Miami can't be expected to shoulder the entire security burden, especially since violence and protests have erupted at free trade meetings in Seattle and Cancun, Mexico.

"I think we can be sure we'll have the same problem in Miami," Shaw said. "It's certainly to the United States' advantage to show the world we can have a successful conference in the U.S., protect civil liberties and maintain order."

U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings, D-Miramar, also supports federal money for the FTAA.

"Congressman Hastings is supportive of having the meeting in South Florida and that obviously costs money," said Hastings' spokesman, Fred Turner. "As far as the federal government can help with funding, he's happy it was included."

Cobb said it's important for Miami to make a good impression on the foreign ministers attending the conference.

"Security is a critical element," said Cobb. "Doing it firmly, but friendly."

Research Credit: TR
posted by Kevin at 7:54 PM

Phoenix Sounds Death Knell for BIOS :.

If you're planning on stockpiling motherboards, you might want to think about getting them soon. Or not. I mean, what will the stockpiling of motherboards accomplish?

Personally, I will never use DRM enabled hardware. I will simply scale back my use of computers as DRM systems become ubiquitous. I'm sure that a handful of the nerds/freaks/propellerheads etc. will squeal and eventually roll their own networks and maybe even bring back the BBS as a form of communication. These people will represent the same social strata as the weirdos who show up to Apple ][ user groups wearing aluminum foil hats.

What it all boils down to is this: Either you are going to be in this system, or you are going to be outside of this system. I hate to say it, but it's not going to be easy either way:

If all goes according to plan, a new product the company dubs Core System Software (CSS) will serve as the foundation of PC architecture.

By design, Phoenix's CSS transfers digital security, network management and disaster recovery away from the control of software to hardware, truly differentiating itself from legacy BIOS.

For developers, Phoenix's Device-Networked Architecture (d-NA) serves as a structured framework, and is composed of a set of interoperable software building blocks designed to allow for the construction of highly differentiated solutions.

As part of the "trustworthy computing" model established by Microsoft, Phoenix d-NA will leverage support for Redmond's CryptoAPI (CAPI) to deliver intrinsic security on systems running Windows and .NET applications. In addition, a variation of digitally signed core system software will allow the integration of devices serving as network endpoints - a step the company bills as the "critical first link in a 'chain of trust'."

See My Other DRM Coverage:

Microsoft Ramping Up to Total DRM Lockdown

Microsoft Moving Windows Into BIOS

Phoenix Developing DRM-Equipped BIOS

1984 Telescreen: Microsoft Athens

One Generation Away from Intel DRM CPUs

Microsoft Sneaks in DRM Trojan Horse as Critical Update
posted by Kevin at 7:09 PM

Smack My Bitch Up :.

Poppy cultivation in Afghanistan doubled between 2002 and 2003 to a level 36 times higher than in the last year of rule by the Taliban, according to White House figures released Friday.

The area planted with poppies, used to make heroin and morphine, was 152,000 acres in 2003, compared with 76,900 acres in 2002 and 4,210 acres in 2001, the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy said in a statement.
posted by Kevin at 5:52 PM

Buy Nothing Day :.



WalMart Dungeons :.

In my opinion, if you shop at WalMart, you're with the terrorists. The U.S. government spent billions of dollars and killed (directly and indirectly) millions of people to make the world safe for corporations like WalMart to rape and plunder. This obscene system must collapse, it can't continue like this:

When Wal-Mart Stores demands a lower price for the shirts and shorts it sells by the millions, the consequences are felt in a remote Chinese industrial town, at a port in Bangladesh and in Honduras, under the corrugated metal roof of the Cosmos clothing factory.

Isabel Reyes, who has worked at the plant for 11 years, pushes fabric through her sewing machine 10 hours a day, struggling to meet the latest quota scrawled on a blackboard.

She now sews sleeves onto shirts at the rate of 1,200 garments a day. That's two shirts a minute, one sleeve every 15 seconds.

"There is always an acceleration," said Reyes, 37, who can't lift a cooking pot or hold her infant daughter without the anti-inflammatory pills she gulps down every few hours. "The goals are always increasing, but the pay stays the same."

Reyes, who earns the equivalent of $35 a week, says her bosses blame the long hours and low wages on big U.S. companies and their demands for ever-cheaper merchandise. Wal-Mart, the biggest company of them all, is the Cosmos factory's main customer.
posted by Kevin at 12:45 AM

WTF?: Millions of Dollars Found in Truck in Texas :.

Authorities found boxes filled with millions of dollars when they searched an 18-wheeler after its paperwork "didn't add up" during a routine inspection.

Eleven boxes filled with packaged money were found in the truck Wednesday among its regular load, boxes of heat-and-serve dinner rolls, authorities said. The total was estimated at $6 million US.
posted by Kevin at 5:27 PM

Euro and Dollar: Maybe They Will Both Collapse :.

Oops:

The EU decided Tuesday to let Germany and France, the eurozone's two biggest economies, respectively, off the hook for repeatedly breaking the EU's Stability and Growth Pact, the set of rules underpinning Europe's single currency.

The accord, endorsed by ministers from all 15 EU nations, temporarily suspended the pact's disciplinary measures against Germany and France for failing to get their public deficits under 3.0 percent of gross domestic product (GDP).
posted by Kevin at 6:04 PM

When Cash Is Only Skin Deep :.

Oh sure. Why not?

A Florida company has announced plans to develop a service that would allow consumers to pay for merchandise using microchips implanted under their skin.

Applied Digital Solutions CEO Scott Silverman said he believes the company's VeriChip -- a subdermal microchip that uses radio frequency signals to broadcast an identification number to a scanner -- could someday replace credit cards. Under Silverman's plan, rather than swiping a bank card to make purchases, micro-chipped customers would scan themselves using special readers.
posted by Kevin at 10:39 AM

Flurry of Hits from Singlestep.com

Hello, ladies and gentlemen. To what do I owe the honor?
posted by Kevin at 3:34 PM

Peace Activist Shot in the Back :.

The sequence below shows with practically no doubt that Nikki was hit while running away from the approaching police, who gave no order to disperse and no warning that they were about to open fire.

Here's why dealing with cops on this level is dumb.
posted by Kevin at 3:20 PM

Complete Idiot's Guide to Visualizing Bill Gates' Personal Wealth

Sent in by TR:

Step 1. Sit down, remain calm, have a very strong drink at arm's reach.
Step 2. Go to www.lcurve.org.
Step 3. Click on the "Zoom in" and "Zoom out" buttons.
Step 4. After you regain consciousness, swig down your medicine.
Step 5. Go to www.pathtofreedom.com and get out of this con game.
posted by Kevin at 2:54 PM

Can I Get Some Freedom Fries with My Purple Pills :.

Usually, I find the San Francisco Chronicle to be rag used by Berkeley Democrats to flog the familiar and dumb Left vs. Right mantra. This article, however, is pretty good. Mark Morford's level of insubordination is insane.*

Most of you know how I feel about the pharmaceutical industrial complex. Conventional medicine amounts to medical fraud at best and genocide at worst. This article does a good job of describing how the decendants of Dr. Mengele use perception management to create artifical demand for dangerous, toxic and expensive drugs. Good stuff:

A swarm of giant purple pills gently fall from the azure sky, rotating slowly as they fall, like a rain of Skittles, like manna from the gods of Merck. A well-drugged housewife happily bakes cookies with her children as a bird sings on the windowsill. Happy narcotized citizens of America go about their business, usually in slow motion, always grinning calmly, the colors of the world oversaturated and utopian and creepy.

* This is an inside joke. Most of you know regular Cryptogon contributor, TR. Well, TR and I used to work together at the same company. As that company was about to go down, do to gross managerial incompetance, TR started telling a co-worker that our PHB (known affectionately as, The Gimp) needed to go. We wanted to fire the PHB, in effect. That co-worker, a dutiful computer programmer with two PhDs, who wore sensible sweaters, kept engineering notebooks and taught Bible study classes told TR, "Your level of insubordination is insane!"

HAHAHA!

The entire thing collapsed in the end, but, to this day, TR and I still like to say, "Your level of insubordination is insane!" Keep this phrase in mind the next time someone dares to speak the truth about a situation.
posted by Kevin at 2:20 PM

M.A.T.R.I.X. Almost Operational :.

My suggestion would be to place every executive and member of the board of Seisint under direct physical surveillance. Watch them shop. Watch them fill up their minivans with gas. Take pictures of them beating their children. Video tape them taking drugs and consorting with prostitutes:

The most massive database surveillance program in history, the Multistate Anti-Terrorism Information Exchange could soon offer authorities extensive information on the lives of New Yorkers.

Potentially more information than they'd ever expect: past addresses and phone numbers; marriage and divorce records; arrest records; real estate information; photographs of neighbors and business associates; car make, model and color; hunting and fishing licenses; and more.

Much more.

The database, created by Seisint, a small Florida high-tech company, offers law enforcement officials access to a centralized database capable of combing through data for patterns or suspicious traits.

"It's going to save lives," Seisint vice president Bill Shrewsbury boasted. "It's not Big Brother - it's a life-saving investigative tool."

Seisint Senior Executives:

Paul S. Cameron
President & Chief Executive Officer

Mr. Cameron joined Seisint in the spring of 2000, following a 14-year career with Accenture. As a Partner in the firm, Mr. Cameron built a reputation for leading large, highly complex operations engagements with Fortune 500 clients, including Delta Airlines and Ford Motor Company. While at Accenture, Mr. Cameron was responsible for building the firm�s Customer Contact group, a global team responsible for generating over $300 M in revenues and which focused on call center strategy, solutions and outsourcing. Mr. Cameron earned his B.A. in Economics and Computer Studies from Northwestern University.

Christiane Breton
Chief Financial Officer

Ms. Breton joined Seisint in 1999 and has served as the Company�s CFO since December 2002. Prior to that, Ms. Breton served as Seisint�s Vice President of Finance. Before joining Seisint, Ms. Breton served as the CFO of Database Technologies, Inc. Database Technologies became a public company, trading first on the Nasdaq as DBTO and then on the NYSE as DBT. The company later merged with ChoicePoint, Inc., a NYSE-listed company. From 1985 to 1992, Ms. Breton served as Controller of several companies in diverse industries and was an accountant for a regional public accounting firm.

Armando Escalante
Chief Operating Officer

Mr. Escalante joined Seisint in December 2001 with more than 20 years in the high-tech industry, most recently from Diveo Broadband Networks, where he served as Vice President of Engineering and Operations. Prior to Diveo, Mr. Escalante served as Vice President for one of the fastest growing divisions of Vignette Corporation, an eBusiness software leader. Mr. Escalante holds a B.S. in Electronic Engineering from USB in Caracas, Venezuela; a Master's degree in Computer Science from Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, New Jersey; and an M.B.A. from West Coast University in Orange, California.

Kenneth J. Schwartz
General Counsel

Mr. Schwartz is the General Counsel for Seisint, Inc. Mr. Schwartz came to Seisint in July 2000 from Schwartz & Riddle, P.A., where he specialized in the areas of corporate law, commercial transactions, intellectual property and trade secrets, trademark protection and employment law and employment defense. Mr. Schwartz earned his B.A. from Washington University and his J.D. from the University of Miami.

James P. Swift
Executive Vice President

Mr. Swift joined Seisint in May 1999 from Modus Operandi, Inc., a management and technology consulting firm, where he spent nearly a decade leading business process improvement efforts with a portfolio of Fortune 500 clients. As Senior Vice President, Mr. Swift was responsible for directing the Business Solutions practice, including business development, project delivery and software product development. Mr. Swift earned his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering at the Rochester Institute of Technology.

Seisint Board of Directors:

Jack Hight
Chairman

Mr. Hight has more than forty years experience creating and leading information technology companies. This includes thirty-four years as president or chairman of four corporations, three of which were merged into companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Mr. Hight is chairman of the board at Modus Operandi, Inc. and was founder and chairman of the board at Intec Systems, Inc. Mr. Hight was a co-founder and president of Electronic Data Systems Federal Corporation, which merged with Electronic Data Systems Corporations (EDS) in 1968.

Martha Barnett

Ms. Barnett is a partner in the Florida-based law firm of Holland & Knight LLP, and chair of the firm's Public Law Department. In addition to her work for the firm, she is also a past president of the American Bar Association, a former member of the Board of Governors and a former chair of the American Bar Association House of Delegates. Among the boards Ms. Barnett has served on are the Martindale-Hubble Legal Advisory Board, the American Judicature Society Board, and the Lawyer�s Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.

Bruce Barrington

Mr. Barrington is the founder of Clarion Software Corporation. In 1992, Clarion was merged with Jensen & Partners, International (JPI) to form TopSpeed Corporation, a leading provider of database software development tools and services. In 1974, Mr. Barrington co-founded Huff, Barrington, Owens & Company (HBOC), a leading provider of enterprise-wide healthcare information systems, which merged with McKesson Corporation in 1999. Prior to co-founding HBOC, Mr. Barrington held various management positions with McDonnell Douglas Corporation and Caterpillar Tractor Company.

Leon Brauser

Mr. Brauser brings to the board more than 50 years of experience in launching and growing businesses. His first venture originated with a New York-based car dealership, Brauser Motors, which was quickly complemented with a daily car rental and leasing company. In 1972, Mr. Brauser acquired Kertz Security Systems, Inc. and developed it into the region's leading security systems provider. It was purchased by Wayne Huizenga's Republic Industries in 1995.

Joel Friedman

Mr. Friedman is a partner at Accenture. During his 29 years with the firm, Mr. Friedman has held many leadership roles, including establishing the firm's strategy consulting practice, which has grown to become the second largest strategic consulting group in the industry, and worldwide leadership for the banking and financial markets industry, the largest industry segment served by the firm. He is a member of the Board of Directors of Calico Commerce and of the Accenture Worldwide Board of Partners. Mr. Friedman also serves as a member of the Dean's Advisory Council at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Paul S. Cameron

Mr. Cameron joined Seisint in the spring of 2000, following a 14-year career with Accenture. As a Partner in the firm, Mr. Cameron built a reputation for leading large, highly complex operations engagements with Fortune 500 clients, including Delta Airlines and Ford Motor Company. While at Accenture, Mr. Cameron was responsible for building the firm�s Customer Contact group, a global team responsible for generating over $300 M in revenues and which focused on call center strategy, solutions and outsourcing. Mr. Cameron earned his B.A. in Economics and Computer Studies from Northwestern University.

Ira Siegel

Mr. Siegel held various executive positions during his 26-year tenure at Reed Elsevier, Inc., one of the largest publishing companies in the world. In addition to serving as a member of its U.S. Board of Directors, Mr. Siegel served as president and CEO of LEXIS-NEXIS, one of the world's largest and most sophisticated commercial online delivery services; president and CEO of R.R. Bowker, publisher of reference materials for libraries; and president and CEO of Martindale-Hubbell, publisher of the definitive legal biographical directory.
posted by Kevin at 1:31 PM

Teamsters Stiff Striking California Markets :.

Gentle hint for California readers: You might want to grab some food. Ahh, nevermind, I'm sure there will always be freedom fries available:

Southern California truckers announced Monday they would halt deliveries to three major supermarket chains involved in an ongoing labor dispute.

The Teamsters' Joint Council 42 announced in El Monte that its drivers would honor picket lines set up at nine regional distribution centers used by Ralph's, Albertson's and Vons.

Los Angeles television station KABC said grocery clerks who struck Vons and were subsequently locked out at Albertson's and Ralph's last month had extended their picket lines to the distribution centers.
posted by Kevin at 1:26 PM

Congress Expands FBI Spying Power :.

This thing is totally down. It's a matter of running for the hills at this point:

Congress approved a bill on Friday that expands the reach of the Patriot Act, reduces oversight of the FBI and intelligence agencies and, according to critics, shifts the balance of power away from the legislature and the courts.

A provision of an intelligence spending bill will expand the power of the FBI to subpoena business documents and transactions from a broader range of businesses -- everything from libraries to travel agencies to eBay -- without first seeking approval from a judge.
posted by Kevin at 1:21 PM

The Guns of November: JFK, 40 Years Later

Not much to say... That incident was the last nail in the coffin. In reality, the entire thing was down long before the JFK murder.
posted by Kevin at 2:56 PM

Genetically Engineered Pet: GloFish :.

The folly of average humanity will become incomprehensible as we approach The End:

The genetically engineered pet appears to have arrived.

In a development that is likely to inspire both fascination and alarm, a Texas company said yesterday that it would soon start selling a genetically engineered aquarium fish that glows in the dark.

The GloFish, as it is called, is a zebra fish containing a gene from a sea coral that makes the fish bright red under normal light and fluorescent under ultraviolet light. Zebra fish, about an inch and a half long, are normally silver and black.
posted by Kevin at 2:52 PM

Idiots on the Street Slowly Figure It Out: The Cops Are in Control :.

These protests do nothing. Never have. Never will. Wake up:

When the police advanced, we were trapped inside the lobby of the Hotel Continental Riande on the corner of Biscayne Blvd and NE 2nd Avenue with union members, reporters, protestors, employees and bystanders.

We all witnessed undercover police move freely through the line of riot cops, and walk unmolested within the tightly controlled perimeter the police had created. One cop was dressed in all black and wearing a balaclava, another wore a blue bandana and casual clothes. Others wore camoflage clothes and many had backpacks with "FTAA: No Way" stickers and other protest signs.

It seemed clear to many of us that some of these undercovers were involved in inciting the violence that they then responded to with irrationally overwhelming force.

FBI: Protests Now Subject to Counter Terror Ops :.

Here's a hint to the pink tutu/Birkenstock/black watch/weekend activist crew: the pigs are better at counter insurgency operations than you are at insurgency. If you think mass demonstrations are useful for accomplishing anything, you better get used to hanging out with cops and COINTEL agents. Oh yeah, your organization, if you're in one, is probably run by someone who's on some cop payroll or another:

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has collected extensive information on the tactics, training and organization of antiwar demonstrators and has advised local law enforcement officials to report any suspicious activity at protests to its counterterrorism squads, according to interviews and a confidential bureau memorandum.

The memorandum, which the bureau sent to local law enforcement agencies last month in advance of antiwar demonstrations in Washington and San Francisco, detailed how protesters have sometimes used "training camps" to rehearse for demonstrations, the Internet to raise money and gas masks to defend against tear gas. The memorandum analyzed lawful activities like recruiting demonstrators, as well as illegal activities like using fake documentation to get into a secured site.

F.B.I. officials said in interviews that the intelligence-gathering effort was aimed at identifying anarchists and "extremist elements" plotting violence, not at monitoring the political speech of law-abiding protesters.
posted by Kevin at 5:02 PM

Silent, Subtle Desperation :.

Look at this example of how people are using a mass produced gadget to find meaning in their lives. Life in the so-called information age:

During his regular evening walk, software executive Steve Crandall often nods a polite greeting to other iPod users he passes: He easily spots the distinctive white earbuds threaded from pocket to ears.

But while quietly enjoying some chamber music one evening in August, Crandall's polite nodding protocol was rudely shattered.

Crandall was boldly approached by another iPod user, a 30ish woman bopping enthusiastically to some high-energy tune.

"She walked right up to me and got within my comfort field," Crandall stammered. "I was taken aback. She pulled out the earbuds on her iPod and indicated the jack with her eyes."

Warily unplugging his own earbuds, Crandall gingerly plugged them into the woman's iPod, and was greeted by a rush of techno.

"We listened for about 30 seconds," Crandall said. "No words were exchanged. We nodded and walked off."

The following evening, Crandall saw the woman again. This time, she was sharing her iPod with another iPod regular Crandall had spotted on his walks.
posted by Kevin at 4:32 PM

Halliburton Bailout :.

Americans are languishing under the most dangerous and overtly corrupt regime in the history of the world:

A congressional effort that may limit the cost of asbestos litigation gave shares of Halliburton Co. a boost on Wednesday, since such a plan could cut the oilfield service firm's current $4.25 billion liability by more than 75 percent, according to a Reuters report.

If the plan is approved by Congress, the company, which has agreed to pay $4.25 billion to settle claims, would pay no more than $675 million to a proposed trust fund for victims...

Senate Bill Would Take All Asbestos Claims Out of Court :.

The Senate has taken a major step toward setting up a national fund to compensate people whose health has been ruined by asbestos, but the first and biggest beneficiaries of the plan may be companies such as Halliburton -- the Texas oil services firm -- which could save $3.5 billion of its pending liability for asbestos claims.

Research Credit: TR
posted by Kevin at 3:36 PM

Bill Joy: Hope Is a Lousy Defense :.

It's one thing when I say these things. I'm essentially a bag person with a web site. Who cares? One would think it's a different matter when a guy like Bill Joy says them. It's interesting, though, that a guy with his wealth, who knows about this stuff and is concerned about it, refuses to do anything substantive about it. One has to wonder, is he as powerless as I am? A bum and a billionaire trapped on the same sinking ship... I think he's right. (I've been saying the same thing for years!) The solutions require restraint on the part of the individual. And because the concept of "enough" has been bred out of us, we are doomed:

>>>You did once say that we shouldn't "let the future just happen." Haven't laissez-faire and free markets won out over planned economies?

Our problem is no longer "going faster," getting to the future as fast as possible, but rather dealing with limits - limiting our own greed to avoid disaster in the environment and limiting what rogue individuals and states can do. Market mechanisms don't address these problems. Things that aren't accounted for in the cost equations - especially catastrophic events, the value of our survival - don't get dealt with.

>>>Are you any more at peace with what you see coming?

Not when the forces at play are so powerful that we have such strongly negative possible outcomes. Do we care whether we get a police state without civil liberties because the government's "protecting us" from terrorists? I think we do care. Are people paying enough attention to stop it? I don't think so.

>>>Meanwhile the markets continue to pour money into the fields that worry you - genomics, nanotechnology, and robotics.

Because they don't have to pay the bill.

>>>You mean the damages if something goes wrong?

Right. But I'm afraid we're not going to have this discussion until there's a really big accident, and maybe not even then. Assuming any of us are still around to have the discussion.

>>>But you've said aspects of the war on terrorism infringe on civil liberties. Aren't you calling for something similar with respect to technology?

I'm not saying the government should do it. Centralized strategies - things like Admiral Poindexter's Total Information Awareness program - don't work. What I'm saying is "physician, heal thyself." People in the various scientific communities have to police themselves.

>>>Like the Russell-Einstein Manifesto from 1955 - where we get the phrase "weapons of mass destruction."

I certainly think a Hippocratic Oath for scientists would be useful. And I think an essential part of getting control of technology will be for international organizations to take a lead in promoting ethical scientific behavior. The Pugwash organization's work on sensible nuclear policy is a strong example.

>>>But what will get the scientific community to accept being told what to do?

Catastrophe. We have scientists saying they want to publish pathogen gene sequences on the Net. One consequential accident and we'll want to throw those researchers in jail.

>>>So much for progress.

What are we in such a hurry for?

>>>Easy for you to say. You live in Aspen.

We don't need a lot of economic growth to address the problem of the world's poor. We put subsistence farmers out of business because that's our choice. Clean water would do more to alleviate disease than high tech medicine.

>>>Downsizing expectations? That's pretty pessimistic.

I'm not a pessimist. Democracy is about individuals giving up the ability to do whatever they want so that everybody can have some rights. We may have to give up some of the power of high technology if we want to keep our civil liberties. And that is a choice, whether we realize it or not.
posted by Kevin at 3:28 PM

Gen. Franks Doubts Constitution Will Survive WMD Attack :.

You see, you will want to be outside of this thing before "the event" occurs. They're telling you what is going to happen. If you're capable of getting out, for God's sake, do it now. Don't look back:

Gen. Tommy Franks says that if the United States is hit with a weapon of mass destruction that inflicts large casualties, the Constitution will likely be discarded in favor of a military form of government.

Franks then offered �in a practical sense� what he thinks would happen in the aftermath of such an attack.

�It means the potential of a weapon of mass destruction and a terrorist, massive, casualty-producing event somewhere in the Western world � it may be in the United States of America � that causes our population to question our own Constitution and to begin to militarize our country in order to avoid a repeat of another mass, casualty-producing event. Which in fact, then begins to unravel the fabric of our Constitution. Two steps, very, very important.�
posted by Kevin at 2:43 PM

David Kelly: Rockingham Cell? :.

Now we're getting somewhere:

David Kelly, giving evidence to the prime minister's intelligence and security committee in closed session on July 16 - the day before his suicide - made a comment the significance of which has so far been missed. He said: "Within the defence intelligence services I liaise with the Rockingham cell." Unfortunately nobody on the committee followed up this lead, which is a pity because the Rockingham reference may turn out to be very important indeed.

Rockingham was, in fact, a clearing house for intelligence, but one with a predetermined political purpose. According to Ritter, "Britain and America were involved [in the 1990s and up to 2003] in a programme of joint exploitation of intelligence from Iraqi defectors. There were mountains of information coming from these defectors, and Rockingham staff were receiving it and then selectively culling [picking out] reports that sustained the [WMD] claims. They ignored the vast majority of the data which mitigated against such claims."
posted by Kevin at 2:34 PM

Potential Scenario: WMD Before Election? :.

Is this even necessary, with all the electronic voting systems out there? Maybe:

Absolutely positively, in the months leading up to the next presidential election, a clandestine military/intelligence operations group linked to George Bush Sr. will execute a strategic pre-election terrorist attack in America designed to kill Americans and send this country into martial law. This strategic pre-election attack will be perpetrated by the same group of clandestine military/industrial/intelligence terrorists, linked to Bush Sr., who perpetrated the September 11th attacks. The preparatory memes are surfacing everywhere. Bush Sr. and the military/industrial/intelligence cartel he fronts for, knows that America has had enough of this retarded jerk son of his, he knows that America has had enough with the Bushes and their type, and their murderous war profiteering looting rampage, and so in order to survive, this cartel will execute a strategic pre-election attack on Americans and as usual, make it look like Islamists did it. Then of course their allis (scum) in the media will once again trumpet this idiot son of his as a hero who has once again "come into his own" as he bravely visits the contamination zone live on the CIA controlled disinformation network, CNN.
posted by Kevin at 2:30 PM

Donkeys: Asymmetrical Threat? :.

HAHA! As Mike, over at What Really Happened, put it, "Donkey carts versus F-18 and 1000 pound bombs. Donkeys winning." Nice one:

Rockets launched from donkey carts. Explosives hidden in the carcasses of roadkill. Land mines taken apart and converted for attacks. Insurgents in Iraq are borrowing tactics used by Palestinians, Afghans and others to press their fight against the U.S.-led occupation.
posted by Kevin at 2:18 PM

Reader Appreciation Letter, Also Tells It Like It Is

I really wish I didn't live thousands of miles away from most of my readers. I would like to meet some of you guys in person:

Hi,

I hate to use clich�d dialog, but here goes. I�ve never written to the owner of a website, regardless of my appreciation of its contents.

However, I�m just sending along this email to provide a little support for your excellent work on cryptogon.com.

Specifically, I find that the selection of information and data which you provide is incredibly prescient, and your writing and commentary is by far the most concise and well balanced that I�ve come across during my frequent travels around the �net. I find that many news sites become too skewed by the latest and greatest in conspiracy theories, or by the adoption of such a singular approach that the �big picture� gets buried. I was very impressed when you actually quoted some biblical scripture on your site a little while back. The reason this impressed me was because of your admission that you aren�t a religious individual. I have absolutely no interest in religion beyond its historical significance, but it think its invaluable to try and understand where other people are coming from.

I am a 26 Canadian guy who, like the majority of our population, lives within 100 miles or so of the US border. I quit my job at an insurance company a few months back because personally, I could no longer accept being such a hands-on participant in the total celebration of ignorance that most office/career types seem to enjoy. I have become utterly convinced that we, as a western society, are victims of our own laziness, which is encouraged and programmed into us from the moment we are born. We seem to be enrolled in a life-long course on how to deaden any attempts at higher thought processes. If a 4-year old child can be taught to play a piano concerto, how is it that our so-called leaders are not held criminally liable for the fact that most people cannot spell correctly or perform simple mathematical calculations upon �graduation� from high school? Instead, it seems that we are all more encouraged to accept that we have all reached our potential as human beings when we have submitted to the notion that we are �productive� employees/members of society. Truth is a liability masked by a corporate-encouraged sense of guilt in nearly every aspect of life. Celebrate your individuality by purchasing happiness! And to what end? To consume, to reproduce/provide more fodder units, and to grease the wheels for a select few to live in sickening decadence.

A personal example: My father in-law was just laid off from his 14 dollar (Canadian) an-hour job working at Air Canada, effective December 6th. Merry Christmas! The company has been �struggling� to avoid receivership for the last two years. Lots of job cuts, etc�Meanwhile, chief executive of Air Canada Robert Milton and chief �restructuring �officer Calin Rovinescu have the audacity and total moral bankruptcy to have given themselves what they call �retention bonuses � worth $21 million worth of shares EACH. This news came across the wire this past Monday here. I haven�t seen anything really mentioned about this since.

And what do the people who lose their jobs, and therefore their ability to provide themselves with say�shelter and food� do? Well, most of them shrug their shoulders, go home, watch TV to find out why Britney Spears spent 3 million dollars to decorate the living room in one of her mansions, and look for another job that won�t pay for what they need or think they want. The rare few will, unfortunately, have total breakdowns and kill themselves and maybe others. So�where are the groups firebombing the shit out of the people who live and play in the blood and misery of others? Why is it that people have to look to something like the movie �Fight Club� to get �inspiration�?

*Sigh*

I apologize. I was ranting there for a moment. Thanks again for providing people who are searching for the truth with such an invaluable aid.

Cheers,

E
posted by Kevin at 2:04 PM

John Kokal Searches: 20% of Cryptogon Hits

At the moment, approximately 20% of hits to Cryptogon are coming from people searching for information on the death of State Department employee John Kokal. I wish there was more information to report. Unfortunately, this story has already slid down the memory hole. Please see the piece I wrote about submitting information related to this incident.

Update: FTW Story on Kokal :.

A former INR employee revealed that some one-third to one-half of INR officials are either former intelligence agents with the CIA or are detailed from the agency. He also revealed it would have been impossible for Kokal to have gained entry to the roof on his own. INR occupies both a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF) on the sixth floor that has no windows and a windowless structure on the roof that has neither windows nor access to the roof, according to the former official. The other windows at the State Department have been engineered to be shatter proof from terrorist bomb attacks and cannot be opened.

INR and other State Department officials report that a "chill" has set in at the State Department following Kokal's defenestration. A number of employees are afraid to talk about the suspicious death. It also unusual that The Northern Virginia Journal, a local Arlington newspaper, has not published an obituary notice on Kokal.

Research Credit: MR
posted by Kevin at 11:26 AM

War Chimp Photo Caption Competition :.

Must see.
posted by Kevin at 12:53 PM

Forget India: Corporations Want to Eliminate Employees to the Extent Possible :.

It figures that FedEx is doing this research. I was a FedEx courier (driver) for five years (1990s). During a workgroup meeting, the manager told us all about how we sucked, how bad our productivity was and how much the "numbers" needed to improve, etc. This was the typical, "Be afraid about losing your job," pep talk to squeeze a couple more drops of blood out of us. This took place near the end of my stint at FedEx so I didn't care what happened to me. I started saying the things other people were thinking, but were afraid to say. I looked the PHB in the eyes and said, "Why don't you just ship all of our jobs to Mexico? Maybe that will improve the numbers." HA! Get it? Ship local driving jobs to Mexico... Anyway, everyone laughed. Except the PHB.

Well, they have big plans for the employees over at FedEx. Big plans. While I'd imagine that the Holy Grail would be to fire all the drivers, they'll do away with everyone else first. One wonders: What do they have in mind for the rest of us? If these guys are planning on firing everyone from customer support people to pilots, where will that leave the low to mid level PHBs? In the gutter with the rest of us, I guess:

Artificial intelligence, for example, might someday replace those pesky live customer service representatives who have basic human needs.

"In the future, customer service agents will literally be there 24-7, and won't need light or health insurance," said Jim Phillips, the institute's director and executive chairman.

Researchers at the new center -- which opens Wednesday, and is a collaboration between FedEx and the University of Memphis -- already are working with computer engineers and psychology experts to develop a "conscious software agent," Phillips said.

Customer service agents aren�t the only ones who might need to look for a new line of work -- pilots might be in trouble, too. Airplanes in FedEx's large fleet already employ AI when they're on autopilot, and researchers at the new center will be working to advance the technology.

Then, of course, you have the requisite corporate/military collaboration:

These materials also might make missiles go faster -- hence a collaboration with the U.S. Navy.

And taking a page from the Japanese keiretsu playbook, you find this little gem:

"One very unselfish thing that FedEx has done from the beginning is to encourage us to bring in other corporations and develop symbiotic relationships with corporations interested in the research that goes on here," Phillips said.

Unselfish. HA! The only company publication I used to read was the thing that announced FedEx employee deaths that occured on the job. This was small print, buried in some corporate drivel/newsletter. It didn't say how they died, but I had a pretty good idea, having seen the operation at all levels... They get crushed by containers, run over, burned alive, vehicle accidents. Oh yeah. FedEx is very unselfish. I thought it was pretty unselfish of them to let us know that the thing was eating our co-workers alive.
posted by Kevin at 2:08 PM

Security Cockup at Buckingham Palace :.

Bin Laden himself could have been serving the royals and the War Chimp tea and crumpets. Did the IRA ever manage such a coup?

A SHOCKING royal security scandal has been exposed by a Mirror reporter working secretly as a footman.

Ryan Parry infiltrated the heart of Buckingham Palace for two months as police and senior staff prepared for the state visit of George Bush.

Parry, who used bogus references to get the job, was still in the Palace lastnight as Mr Bush arrived. He watched unchallenged as the president and his wife Laura were met by the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh in the Palace garden at around 8pm.

He had a full view from a pitch by the state dining room through a net curtain. Had he been a terrorist hell bent on assassinating the royals or Mr Bush, nothing could have stopped him.

Parry, who infiltrated the Palace two months ago, would have served breakfast today to the president�s chief aides, including national security adviser Condoleezza Rice and US Secretary of State Colin Powell.

Bush�s exact itinerary had been handed out to staff more than 90 minutes before he arrived.

In the wrong hands the details could prove devastating.

More: U.K. Tabloid: Security Breach at Buckingham Palace :.

Nice one:

"We keep being told this is the biggest security operation of all time and it seems to me to beggar belief that we could get to a situation, as we did last night, where our journalist was detailed with serving breakfast on the presidential floor this morning and at the state banquet tonight," Mirror editor Pierson Morgan said.
posted by Kevin at 3:37 AM

U.S. Levels Houses of Iraqi Insurgents :.

Hmm. This sounds familiar. The next thing you know, the U.S. military will be killing young American women with bulldozers:

The U.S. military has begun leveling houses and buildings used by suspected Iraqi guerrilla fighters in a new tactic which is part of a more aggressive strategy aimed at crushing the anti-American insurgency, Pentagon officials said Tuesday.

Pentagon officials rejected any comparison to the tactics employed by the Israeli military in the West bank and Gaza, saying the U.S. actions are not aimed at punishing sympathizers, but rather are aimed at eliminating legitimate military targets.
posted by Kevin at 10:39 PM

Federal Law Enforcement Officers Raid Offices in Foreign Exchange Scandal :.

This must be part of the final looting before the collapse. Then again, "money laundering," "fraud," and "swindling," all sound like routine activities in lower Manhattan:

Federal Bureau of Investigation agents arrested 48 foreign exchange brokers late Tuesday in connection with a lengthy probe into securities and currency fraud.

The FBI swarmed on New York City's Two World Financial Center shortly after 3 p.m. ET and took away the traders in handcuffs, people on the scene told CNNfn. The building is mainly occupied by Wall Street brokerage Merrill Lynch, but Merrill Lynch was not home to the arrested brokers.

"It's currency fraud, securities fraud," an agent at the scene of the arrests told Reuters. "It's been a long investigation." The agent asked not to be identified.

The FBI sources said the Wall Street traders will be charged with swindling retail investors of an undisclosed amount of cash over the past year. One source said those arrested would be charged with money laundering and fraud.
posted by Kevin at 5:18 PM

Dollar at Record Low Against Euro :.

The dollar fell to a record low against the euro on Tuesday as data showing sharply weaker capital flows prompted new fears over the funding of the US current account deficit.

Treasury figures showed net capital inflows into the US fell from about $50bn (E42bn) in August to $4.2bn in September, the lowest since the near-collapse and bail-out of the Long Term Capital Management hedge fund rattled markets in 1998.
posted by Kevin at 5:14 PM

Freddie Mac Hires Bullshit Slingers Ahead of Restatement :.

Do you think there is any correlation between this and the fact that the markets have been down for days? Return seatbacks to their upright position and fasten your seatbelts:

Freddie Mac, which is being investigated by federal regulators for accounting irregularities, is preparing damage control.

The nation's second-biggest buyer of mortgages has retained Rowan & Blewitt, a Virginia-based consulting firm that specializes in corporate crisis management. The consulting firm has been quietly working behind the scenes with Freddie for the past several months.

The firm's Web site says Rowan & Blewitt has a "distinguished track record" of helping "major corporations and organizations deal with threats to corporate reputation, brand value, market value and profitability." In the past, Rowan & Blewitt worked with Exxon, following the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill.

Rowan & Blewitt is on hand as Freddie prepares to release a long-awaited restatement of its earnings for the past three years. The restatement, originally scheduled to be released by PricewaterhouseCoopers and Freddie in September, could be made public by the end of this week.
posted by Kevin at 4:27 PM

"Free Trade" Meeting in Town: Armored Vehicles Patrol Quiet, Empty Streets :.

The first day of the Free Trade Area of the Americas convention was relatively quiet, but there was still a large police presence in downtown Miami.

Several hundred officers patrolled the mostly empty streets on Monday. The city even rolled out its fleet of armored personnel carriers in the ghost town.

A command center for police operations has been set up at the city of Miami police headquarters. There, city and police leaders can keep constant watch on downtown and coordinate the 40 agencies that are working together to keep the peace.
posted by Kevin at 1:53 PM

Mobile Phones Going Down In London? :.

Scotland Yard last night refused to comment on reports that mobile phones could be blocked during George Bush's visit.

A secret plan was said to have been drawn up to cut all calls in the areas the president visits to prevent a terrorist attack.

Security chiefs fear a mobile could be used to detonate a bomb. But the move would infuriate people unable to use their phones.

How dumb do They think we are? They want to take down a mobile phone network that serves millions of people with the excuse that it could be used to trigger some type of explosive device!?!? Sorry, folks, that makes no sense. Any number of devices could be used to trigger a bomb by remote: remote control units for model planes and cars, walkie-talkies, wireless phones intended for home use, satellite phones, etc.

My guess as to the real reason for this: The cops don't want protestors to be able to coordinate their activities, etc. using their mobile phones.
posted by Kevin at 1:45 PM

Epson Develops World's Smallest Flying Microrobot :.

Seiko Epson Corporation ("Epson") has developed the FR ("Micro Flying Robot"), the world's smallest flying prototype microrobot. Epson developed the FR to demonstrate the micromechatronics technology that it has cultivated in-house over the years and to explore the possibilities for microrobots and the development of component technology applications.
posted by Kevin at 12:44 PM

CIA Says Experts See 'Darker Bioweapons Future' :.

No shit. I'm going to have to come up with a new metric for stating concepts such as The End. That just doesn't cut it anymore. Maybe The End X 100 will do:

A panel of outside experts told the CIA that advances in technology due to genomic research could produce the worst known diseases and the "most frightening" biological weapons, a CIA report said on Friday.

"The effects of some of these engineered biological agents could be worse than any disease known to man," the panel told the CIA.

The unclassified two-page CIA report dated Nov. 3, 2003, and titled "The Darker Bioweapons Future," was posted on the Federation of American Scientists Web site at http://www.fas.org/irp/cia/product/bw1103.pdf.

It summed up a January workshop of a panel of non-government science experts who discussed with the CIA the potential threat from new biological weapons.

Growth in biotechnology and a knowledge explosion due to the genomic revolution which provided an understanding of genes and how they work could be used in unpredictable ways, the panel warned.

"The same science that may cure some of our worst diseases could be used to create the world's most frightening weapons," the report said.
posted by Kevin at 4:44 AM

War Chimp U.K. Visit

I've been reading all the stories. This entire thing is a bunch of schlock. It's ridiculous. The War Chimp goes to Europe. Everyone laughs. Everyone cries. People ask the fascist cops for permission to yell and wave signs at the War Chimp. Give me a fucking break. If those Brits were smart, they would burn down Buckingham Palace and send their air force to meet the War Chimp... prevent that thing from landing on their soil.

But I guess that won't happen. Darn.

Any speculation on what the War Chimp and the royals are going to get up to in the palace? Is there a crypt? Personally, I think the activities will involve human organs, some type of transdimensional portal and the phrase, "Squeal like a piggy!"
posted by Kevin at 4:23 AM

Sharon's Top Aide 'Sure World War III Is Coming' :.

"Where the CIA goes, the Mossad goes as well. Israeli and American interests have come together in the dominance of the Central Asian region and therefore, so have liberal ideology, the Beltway set, neo-conservatism, Ivy League eggheads, Christian Zionism, the Rothschilds and the American media. Afghanistan through the Caspian Sea through to Georgia, Azerbaijan and into the Balkans (not to mention pipelines leading to oil-hungry China), have become one single theater of war over trillions of dollars in oil and gas wealth, incorporating every single power center in global politics. The battle against the New World Order is being decided in Moscow."

Research Credit: NF
posted by Kevin at 4:02 AM

The End: It Might Be The Weather :.

PROF BILL MCGUIRE: I can only describe it as catastrophic. It�s clearly going to influence every single one of us every day of our lives.

Dr RICHARD WOOD: You could expect to see sea ice off the coast of South East England, probably several miles off shore.

BOB GASGOSIAN: The implications are huge. The economic implications, the political implications, and the national security implications, for all countries.

NARRATOR: If these scientists have it right forget the Riviera, Britain could be heading for a climate like Alaska�s. And it could all happen in the just the next twenty years.

Research Credit: DG
posted by Kevin at 3:52 AM

$28 Million to get DRAFT READY BY JUNE 15, 2005 :.

Oh, so there are "no plans" to re-instate the draft? No, there are just EXERCISES and $28 million extra to get the whole Selective Service ready and open for business by June 15, 2005!!
posted by Kevin at 3:33 AM

Fund Scandal Widens, Morgan Stanley Fined $50 Million :.

Morgan Stanley on Monday agreed to pay $50 million to settle federal charges of mutual fund abuses as the industry scandal widened amid further withdrawals of funds by investors in Putnam Investments.

Morgan Stanley (MWD) settled charges that it failed to tell investors about compensation received for selling certain mutual funds, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and National Association of Securities Dealers said.

The deal followed an SEC settlement with Putnam on Thursday that it had allowed some portfolio managers and certain clients to break company rules by buying and selling mutual fund shares very quickly to profit from stale prices.
posted by Kevin at 1:31 PM

Very Large, Very Grim Update Today

Take it with a grain of salt. Take it any way you can. Hell, don't take it at all. It doesn't matter anyway.
posted by Kevin at 11:45 AM

City's Educrats Can't Get it Write :.

Yep, daz rite, and if you keeps ur kidz home from sk00l, day b sendin cops to ur houz to bust ur ass. u gots 2 b sendin ur kids 2 skool to gets dem an edukayshun:

City schools are going from bad to badder.

Highly paid educrats at the Education Department shocked the city's 80,000 teachers this week by handing out barely literate curriculum guides riddled with grammatical gaffes, spelling errors and misused words.

Flashback: Father Investigated for Educational Neglect :.

"I'd rather go to jail than send my daughter to high school," he said.

Research Credit: TR
posted by Kevin at 11:28 AM

Deal on 9/11 Briefings Lets White House Edit Papers :.

BAAA HAHAHAHA! You would be able to learn more about the true nature of 9/11 by watching the behavior of your cat:

The commission investigating the Sept. 11 terror attacks said on Thursday that its deal with the White House for access to highly classified Oval Office intelligence reports would let the White House edit the documents before they were released to the commission's representatives.
posted by Kevin at 11:18 AM

Dear U.S. State Department Readers

I have noticed that several of you are looking for information related to the death of John Kokal. I don't have anything more to offer besides what you have read in the mainstream news outlets. If you happen to be in a position to reveal any information related to this incident, Cryptogon is read widely and information presented here will spread rapidly. If you choose to contact me, do not use your computer system at the State Department. If you have real information, and would like to share it with the world, here are a couple of tips that could save your life:

1) Obtain a "clean" laptop computer. This is a computer that is not associated with you in any way. Example: You paid cash for it at Goodwill, or some other place that sells used computer equipment.

2) Obtain a "clean" 802.11 (wi-fi) wireless network adapter for the laptop. This is a wireless network adapter that is not associated with you in any way. Example: You paid cash for it at Goodwill, or some other place that sells used computer equipment.

3) Find an open access point using netstumbler or some other sniffer tool. WARNING: THE T-MOBILE NETWORK IN STARBUCKS AND BORDER'S STORES DOES NOT COUNT. NOTE: The Them, if they choose, will knock on the door of the person/company who is running the open network you use to connect to the Internet. Often times, people/companies don't know they are running open wireless networks.

4) Obtain a throw-away email address (hotmail, yahoo, etc.).

5) Encrypt your message to me using PGP. Here is my public key.

6) Never use this laptop and wi-fi card on any network that is associated with you in any way. Never use this laptop and wi-fi card on the same access point twice. The Them might think you will return to that location and They will put it under physical surveillance. Because They will have the MAC address of your wireless card (every network device has a unique number), they will actually be able to pinpoint your physical location to within a few feet. My guess is that a white van would pull up and you would be gone. End of story.

If all of this is too much trouble, type your message and send it to me in plain text. I obviously don't care what They do to me. It's you I'm worried about.
posted by Kevin at 9:44 AM

Virus Built From Scratch, Becomes Bioactive, Replicates :.

It's so far gone, I don't even know why I bother doing this anymore. Pray. Pray that this system comes down and that these maniacs are not allowed to continue this work. This stuff makes nuclear weapons look like children's toys. This story will soon get lost in the thousands of other stories I've posted, but, hear me: This is how the world ends, not with a bang, but with....

It is the stuff of science fiction and bioethical debates: The creation of artificial life. Up until now, it's largely been just that.

But an important technical bridge towards the creation of such life was crossed Thursday when genomics pioneer Craig Venter announced that his research group created an artificial virus based on a real one in just two weeks' time.

When researchers created a synthetic genome (genetic map) of the virus and implanted it into a cell, the virus became "biologically active," meaning it went to work reproducing itself.

But the questions ethicists have raised about such work are numerous: Should we be playing God? Does the potential for good that new life forms may have outweigh the harm they could do?

Arthur Caplan, who heads the University of Pennsylvania's Center for Bioethics, says yes. This technology "is impressive. It's powerful and it should be treated with humility and caution," Caplan says, "But we should do it."

More: Amazing Coincidence :.

This work, "was conducted at the Institute of Biological Energy Alternatives in Rockville, Maryland, by Dr Craig Venter and colleagues."

That's interesting. Would you believe that Fort Detrick is only 30 miles from The Institute of Biological Energy Alternatives? What's Fort Detrick, you ask... Oh, that's where they made this thing. From U.S. DoD Appropriations for 1970 Hearings, 91st Congress, Part 6, p 129:

Dr. MacArthur (U.S. Bioweapons Researcher): Within the next 5 to 10 years, it would probably be possible to make a new infective organism which could differ in certain important aspects from any known disease-causing organisms. Most important of these is that it might be refractory to the immunological and therapeutic processes upon which we depend to maintain our relative freedom from infectious disease. A research program to explore the feasibility of this could be completed in approximately 5 years at a total cost of $10 million.

Some people call it AIDS.
posted by Kevin at 9:38 AM

What Do They Know?

Berkshire Hathaway Cuts Level 3 Stake

This could be interesting because Level 3 IS the Internet. Most Internet (and many telephone calls via VoIP) sessions utilize Level 3 infrastructure. Buffett is a made man. He's one of Them. He might even know if the fix was in, if you know what I mean. And, just maybe, the next big terror hit will involve a takedown of the Internet at the physical layer. Any such attack would, by definition, have to focus on Level 3 optical fiber paths and data centers.

Berkshire Hathaway Inc., the holding company run by billionaire Warren Buffett, slashed its stake in Level 3 Communications Inc. by about 92 percent, according to a regulatory filing made public on Thursday.

Cisco CEO Chambers Dumps to the Tune of $38 Million

Yeah. I wonder if these rat bastards know something. Anyone feel like taking a survey of the rats selling here as the media tries to swindle people into going long? If this bullshit jobless recovery is so great, why are some of the fattest rats onboard jumping ship?

Cisco Systems Inc. Chief Executive John Chambers sold 2 million shares of the network equipment maker's stock, netting more than $38 million, according to regulatory documents filed on Thursday.

In Other Financial News....

SEC Charges Gateway Executives with Fraud

Wouldn't it just be easier to refer to the CEO, the CFO and the controller as, "The Usual Suspects?"

Gateway's former chief executive, finance chief and controller were charged with fraud for manipulating the personal-computer maker's results to meet analysts' expectations. The company settled accusations that it broke federal accounting rules.

ExxonMobil Committed Fraud, Jury Awards $11.8 Billion to Alabama

An Alabama jury Friday awarded the state $11.8 billion in a lawsuit against Exxon Mobil Corp. over royalties for offshore natural gas leases, an Exxon spokesman said.

The jury also awarded the state $63 million in compensatory damages. Exxon expects to appeal the decision, which spokesman Bob Davis called "unjustified and excessive."

Former Dynegy Exec Found Guilty of Fraud

A federal jury in Houston found former Dynegy Inc. tax executive Jamie Olis guilty of six counts of fraud in connection with charges that he illegally disguised a $300-million debt as income to inflate his company's finances.

Olis, 37, faces as many as 35 years in prison when he is sentenced Feb. 19.
posted by Kevin at 6:58 AM

Are There Masters of the Universe? :. (RealPlayer Required)

This is a great video by Daniel Hopsicker about the international banking elite and the Federal Reserve fraud. This is basic information. While there is nothing new in this video, it would be excellent for waking up newbies. If you're having a conversation with someone about some "weird" topic and they start to look at you like you're nuts, play this video for them. I've noticed that most people won't read. It helps if there are moving pictures.

A note on waking people from their comas:

When you unplug someone from their corporate, manufactured reality, and they start to grasp what has happened, they will become frightened. They may cry. They may run from the room. If you have been studying this stuff for any length of time, you have to remember to go easy on newbies. Troglodytes aren't evil. Usually, they're just ignorant. They seem to know that there is something wrong, they want to be unplugged and are looking for a way to go about it. Others, however, like living in the dream, even if it's killing them and the rest of us. So, choose the ones you want to wake up carefully. Try to spend your time on the ones who have doubts about this or that. Never try too hard to wake someone up. And know that most will never wake up.
posted by Kevin at 5:39 AM

Gore Vidal Unfurls :.

An American citizen can be fingered as a terrorist, and with what proof? No proof. All you need is the word of the attorney general or maybe the president himself. You can then be locked up without access to a lawyer, and then tried by military tribunal and even executed. Or, in a brand-new wrinkle, you can be exiled, stripped of your citizenship and packed off to another place not even organized as a country � like Tierra del Fuego or some rock in the Pacific. All of this is in the USA PATRIOT Act. The Founding Fathers would have found this to be despotism in spades. And they would have hanged anybody who tried to get this through the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. Hanged.
posted by Kevin at 3:56 AM

U.S. Open Border Madness :.

HAHA! This is just great. Yes, friends, Bin Laden could walk across the border, pick up an ID card from any number of Latin American consulates and be sipping lemonade in Denny's by noon. Well, not that Bin Laden would do that, but doesn't it make you feel a little weird that it would be easier for him to do that than it would be for you to get a building permit?

Several Latin American countries plan to follow Mexico's example by issuing consular identification cards to illegal immigrants in the United States, despite FBI warnings that the cards pose a security threat, officials said on Thursday.

Mexico has issued around two million of the cards, known as the "matricula consular" to its nationals, whether they are in the United States legally or illegally, in the past two years. Guatemala began offering a similar card last year.

Ecuador recently started issuing cards to its nationals. Honduras expects to begin a program soon while Nicaragua, El Salvador and Brazil are studying the issue.
posted by Kevin at 3:55 AM

Universal National Service Act of 2003 :.

Ladies, get ready for U.S. military issued bras and tampons. Hmm, unfortanately, They haven't invented anti-rape armor for when you become a prisoner of war. You don't have any problem with getting raped and beaten to within an inch of your life so that Dick Cheney's investments can skyrocket, do you? Good girl. Here's your gun and some freedom fries:

The Universal National Service Act of 2003 "amends the Military Selective Service Act to authorize the military registration of females" and declares "that it is the obligation of every U.S. citizen, and every other person residing in the United States, between the ages of 18 and 26 to perform a two-year period of national service, unless exempted, either as a member of an active or reserve component of the armed forces or in a civilian capacity that promotes national defense. Requires induction into national service by the President. Sets forth provisions governing: (1) induction deferments, postponements, and exemptions, including exemption of a conscientious objector from military service that includes combatant training; and (2) discharge following national service."
posted by Kevin at 3:54 AM

Things To Do On The Net When You're Dead :.

This is pretty weird:

A new service designed to send emails out to your loved (or loathed) ones after you die went live this week.

Mylastemail.com enables subscribers to set up a series of final messages online which it promises will be forwarded only when they are dead.
posted by Kevin at 3:53 AM

Rachel Corrie :.

I heard Rachel's dad, Craig Corrie, on the radio a couple of nights ago. I still can't believe a) this incident happened in the first place, and b) Israel hasn't been compelled to answer for it.

You think, this beautiful, brilliant woman wasn't savagely murdered by one of America's closest allies. It can't be. Then the horror sets in. Indeed, Israel does this kind of thing every day, and much worse, with U.S. taxpayer money. The victims, however, aren't usually blond American women.

Previous Cryptogon coverage of Rachel Corrie. (WARNING: GRAPHIC IMAGES)
posted by Kevin at 3:52 AM

Troglodytes Running Low on Cash: Wal-Mart Warns On Spending Recovery :.

Wal-Mart yesterday sounded a warning over the strength of the recovery in US consumer spending, saying its shoppers remained cautious, favoured cheaper goods and had little spare cash.
posted by Kevin at 3:51 AM

Wal-Mart, P&G Involved in Secret RFID Testing :.

Wal-Mart and Procter & Gamble conducted a secret RFID trial involving Oklahoma consumers earlier this year, the Chicago Sun Times revealed on Sunday. Customers who purchased P&G's Lipfinity brand lipstick at the Broken Arrow Wal-Mart store between late March and mid-July unknowingly left the store with live RFID tracking devices embedded in the packaging. Wal-Mart had previously denied any consumer-level RFID testing in the United States.
posted by Kevin at 2:37 AM

8 out of 10 Americans Want to Quit Their Jobs :.

Well, there's always the IC. HAHAHA!

Ready to quit? You have plenty of company.

Many employees are overworked, stressed out, fed up -- and eager to quit their jobs once the economy picks up. In fact, worker angst is so pronounced it has surprised even the most tuned-in human resource professionals. They say employee anger is now almost palpable.

More than eight in 10 workers plan to look for a new job when the economy heats up, according to a survey by the Society for Human Resource Professionals. While there's a difference between looking for a new gig and actually jumping ship, that kind of number is "very, very high," says SHRP spokesman Frank Scanlon.
posted by Kevin at 1:36 AM

Russia Ready to Vaporize Israel :.

This came out a while ago. I forgot to post it:

About one month ago, Russia discreetly invoked MAD again, but this time in the Middle East in direct response to hysterical Israeli threats to nuke Iran with submarine-launched American Harpoon missiles. Quietly and with the minimum of fuss, Russia deployed its most advanced tactical nuclear missiles and crews to both Syria and Iran, thereby sending an unmistakable diplomatic signal that if Israel attacked Tehran or Damascus with nuclear weapons, Russia would in return instantly and anonymously vaporize the Jewish State.
posted by Kevin at 11:59 PM

Khodorkovsky: Carlyle Group Adviser :.

Believe it or not:

The arrest of two of Russia's top businessmen in recent months was more than a distant headline for Washington's well-connected private equity firm, Carlyle Group.

Carlyle, known for the glittering roster of former statesmen among its partners and advisers, has ties to both Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev, the jailed Russian tycoons.

Khodorkovsky, 40, Russia's richest man and former chief executive of Yukos Oil Co., serves as an adviser to Carlyle's Energy Group. He is among 15 luminaries who help the firm sort through investment opportunities in energy industries, along with former secretary of state James A. Baker III, former British prime minister John Major and Pulitzer-Prize-winning author Daniel Yergin.
posted by Kevin at 11:23 PM

U.S. Wants Ban on Protests During Bush Visit :.

Anti-war protesters claim that US authorities have demanded a rolling "exclusion zone" around President George Bush during his visit, as well as a ban on marches in parts of central London.

The Stop The War Coalition said yesterday that it had been told by the police that it would not be allowed to demonstrate in Parliament Square and Whitehall next Thursday - a ban it said it was determined to resist. The coalition says that it has also been told by British officials that American officials want a distance kept between Mr Bush and protesters, for security reasons and to prevent their appearance in the same television shots.

More: Al Qaeda Mixed in with Peace Protesters :.

HAHAHAHA!

Al-Qaeda terrorists using the cover of anti-war protests are a real threat to the safety of US President George W. Bush during his state visit to London next week, Britain's most senior policemen have warned.

"We are not so concerned about some anti-war protester throwing rotten fruit at the president. Our worry now is the more dangerous elements who may be here," said a senior Scotland Yard source quoted in The Times newspaper Wednesday.
posted by Kevin at 11:10 PM

The U.S. Has Been Training Terrorists at a Camp in Georgia for Years :.

This is a pretty good article about the School of the Americas:

For the past 55 years it has been running a terrorist training camp, whose victims massively outnumber the people killed by the attack on New York, the embassy bombings and the other atrocities laid, rightly or wrongly, at al-Qaida's door. The camp is called the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, or Whisc. It is based in Fort Benning, Georgia, and it is funded by Mr Bush's government.

Until January this year, Whisc was called the "School of the Americas", or SOA. Since 1946, SOA has trained more than 60,000 Latin American soldiers and policemen. Among its graduates are many of the continent's most notorious torturers, mass murderers, dictators and state terrorists. As hundreds of pages of documentation compiled by the pressure group SOA Watch show, Latin America has been ripped apart by its alumni.
posted by Kevin at 10:35 PM

What Is The Meatrix? :.

This is great! Thought provoking, without being too shocking. Useful for waking up newbies.

Research Credit: NF
posted by Kevin at 9:49 PM

Was the U.S.S. Liberty Atrocity an Attempted Israeli False Flag Op :.

Blame it on the Arabs, drag the U.S. into the conflict (Six Day War)?

The evidence was clear. Both Adm. Kidd and I believed with certainty that this attack, which killed 34 American sailors and injured 172 others, was a deliberate effort to sink an American ship and murder its entire crew. I am certain that the Israeli pilots that undertook the attack, as well as their superiors who had ordered the attack, were aware that the ship was American.

I saw our flag, which had visibly identified the ship as American, riddled with bullet holes, and heard testimony that made it clear that the Israelis intended that there be no survivors. Not only did the Israelis attack the ship for over two hours with napalm, gunfire and hundreds of rockets and missiles, Israeli torpedo boats machine-gunned three life boats that had been launched in an attempt to save the crew � a war crime.
posted by Kevin at 6:01 PM

Woman Who Accused George W. Bush of Rape Shot Dead :.

This appears to be a total black-out item:

Paper: Houston Chronicle

Date: Saturday 09/27/03

Section: A

Edition: 3

SCHOEDINGER

MARGIE D. SCHOEDINGER expired Monday, 9/22/03 . Visitation: Friday, 9/26/03 , 7 to 9pm, McCoy & Harrison Chapel. Funeral Service: Saturday, 9/27/03 , 1:30pm, McCoy & Harrison Chapel. Interment, Houston Memorial Gardens.
posted by Kevin at 5:53 PM

Nuclear Weapons Lab's Keys Are Lost :.

I'm practically convinced that divine intervention is the reason behind why humanity hasn't been wiped out:

A U.S. nuclear weapons laboratory must replace up to 100,000 locks at a cost of more than $1.6 million, after staff lost several sets of master keys to the complex, then failed to notify superiors, it emerged Friday.

The extraordinary series of security blunders at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is outlined in a scathing report by the U.S. Energy Department's inspector general.

According to the report, officials at the laboratory have lost nine master keys and three magnetic key cards to the top-secret research facility. In some cases, officials still do not know when or how the keys went missing.
posted by Kevin at 5:36 PM

Rothschilds Conduct 'Red Symphony': The 20th Century Unveiled :.

This is a pretty good article for those interested in grand theory:

War, depression and genocide in the past century were not accidental or inevitable but the result of a malevolent design.

Shocking evidence is a 1938 Stalinist police (NKVD) interrogation of a founder of the Communist International, Christian G. Rakovsky, 65, who was facing the firing squad for plotting to overthrow Stalin.

The 50-page transcript of his interrogation, dubbed "The Red Symphony," was not meant to become public. It confirms that the Rothschild-Illuminati planned to use Communism to establish a world dictatorship of the super rich.
posted by Kevin at 5:49 PM

Your Home: Worst-Case Scenario :.

Yawn. This is so long overdue. This thing needs to unwind:

John R. Talbott, a visiting scholar at UCLA's Anderson School of Business and author of "The Coming Crash in the Housing Markets," has a thesis that will leave you quaking from behind your picket fence.

He describes a worst-case scenario in which rising interest rates drive down home prices, leaving an alarming number of homeowners -- particularly those who've cashed out or borrowed against their equity -- holding more debt than their house is worth.

If they sell, they would actually owe money.

Under this scenario, foreclosure rates jump as high as 5 percent, pushing down home prices and wreaking financial havoc all the way to the top of the housing food chain at Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. With the collapse of these financial behemoths, investors would lose money, taxpayers would be stuck paying for a bailout, and confidence in the banking industry would be as good as gone.

And your home? A 30 percent drop in home values isn't inconceivable, said Talbott.

"It's 1929 all over again," said Talbott, a former Goldman Sachs vice president. "This is big Depression-type stuff." *

* This is not hyperbole! Check out this chart.

Research Credit: TR
posted by Kevin at 3:48 PM

"Terror" In Saudi Arabia

Back in August, I wrote the following:

Things would get very interesting if a real insurgency picked up steam in Saudi Arabia. The U.S. would have to invade in order to prevent the ascention of an Ayatollah Khomeini style theocracy on top of the world's largest oil reserve. But a not-real insurgency would be much better. Here's what I think They should do.

Get Osama bin Laden to ride into Riyadh with a sword in one hand and an AK47 in the other. How great would that be? Then it could be Dubya vs. bin Laden in a fight to the death over control of Saudi Arabia. HAHAHAHA. Hmm. Maybe I shouldn't joke around like this.

And now...

U.S. Promises Saudis to Help Fight Terrorism :.

Saudi Arabia received assurances of help in fighting terrorists on Monday after a suicide car bombing killed at least 17 people and injured dozens in Riyadh.

The Bush administration offered wider support for the kingdom. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, who arrived in the Saudi capital on Sunday, the day after the bombing, made the offer to Crown Prince Abdullah.

Armitage told the Saudi leader that "we will be full participating partners if that is the desire of the kingdom," the State Department spokesman, Richard Boucher, said in Washington.

Also, take a look at the handy map of the region I posted here:

Is there anyone out there who thinks that the establishment of U.S. Central Command less than three hundred miles from Riyadh is a coincidence?
posted by Kevin at 3:41 PM

Intentional Community

I was re-reading the October/November 2003 issue of Mother Earth News. The original publisher, John Shuttleworth, said, "Forget the problems. Concentrate on solutions."

A cracked, flickering light bulb formed over my head:

Do you guys have any interest in forming an intentional community? Since we have no chance of reforming our society, perhaps we can create our own. A handful of us could fire up a pretty good ecovillage based on mutual respect for each other and the environment. There would be no "leader," but governing decisions would be made by unanimous agreement. We could build our own yurts, geodomes, earthbag and straw bale structures, etc. Clean power would come from wind, solar, hydro, bio diesel, and aquafuel, etc. We would eat organic food that we grow/raise ourselves. Don't ask me how we would get the money/land to start it up. I'm just wondering if there is any interest in doing it. Let's worry about the impossible parts later.

My efforts to maintain Cryptogon are as useless for accomplishing anything positive as you reading these pages. I already get it. And if you've been reading Cryptogon for any length of time, you get it too. If we want to make tangibly positive changes, we must take bold action. We need to re-invent ourselves. It won't be easy, but then again, what is easy in this life? I'll mention one activity that leads nowhere: showing up to a nine-to-fiver from hell until the day I die. If I go down trying to live in a sane manner, so be it. I have a feeling that a change of venue to a place with trees, clean air, food and water would be a life altering experience for the better.

Let's start out with a simple head count. Send me an email if this sounds interesting. I estimate that Cryptogon has about 400 regular readers, spread all over the planet. I'd say that if 1% of you were serious, that might be enough to get started! You four folks, plus me, makes five like-minded people. That sounds like plenty to me.

Maybe you have no desire to be a part of this type of lifestyle in person, but have a piece of arable land somewhere that you're not using... Well, if you would like to support an experiment in sane living, open up your dirt to the presence of a yurt or two and a few of your fellow Cryptogon readers. I promise, we will respect your dirt and leave it in better condition than when we first arrive.

Now, I have a feeling that the people responding to this call to action will be men. Hopefully, you guys have wives/girlfriends who are receptive to this idea. Don't get me wrong, I'm willing to help set this thing up, women or no women. But it has been my experience that without women around, things get very crusty, very fast. That being said, I eagerly await your responses!
posted by Kevin at 3:02 PM

State Department Intelligence and Research Bureau Employee Found Dead :.

How long will it take before this one is called a suicide?

A State Department employee was found dead outside the agency headquarters in Washington, D.C., Friday around 5 p.m., Fox News has confirmed.

State Department sources told The Washington Post that John Kokal worked in a unit that dealt with intelligence and research. Sources said he handled classified documents regularly but was not involved in intelligence analysis.

Fire Department Spokesman Alan Etter said the man, a white male, was wearing a dress shirt, tie and slacks, but was not wearing shoes nor a suit jacket. He was found lying in the bottom of a concrete window well near 23rd and D streets, about eight stories below the top of the building. The well drops about 20 feet from ground level.

UPDATE: No Evidence of Foul Play :.

Imagine my shock:

D.C. Police are investigating the death of a State Department worker.

Police say it appears 58-year-old John Kokal of Arlington jumped from the top of the Foggy Bottom building to his death. Authorities found Kokal after 5 p.m. eight stories below the top of the building in a sunken terrace.

Police say there's no evidence of foul play. A medical examiner will determine the official cause of death.
posted by Kevin at 2:45 PM

Freeway Blogger :.

How long before people doing this are charged with homeland security violations under the Patriot Act?

When you put a sign on the freeway people will read it until someone takes it down.

Depending on its size, content and placement it can be seen by hundreds of thousands of people.

Keep the recent words of Donald Rumsfeld in mind:

"We are in a war of ideas, as well as a global war on terror," Mr. Rumsfeld said during an interview at the Pentagon with editors and reporters of The Washington Times.

"And the ideas are important, and they need to be marshaled, and they need to be communicated in ways that are persuasive to the listeners," he said.
posted by Kevin at 2:29 PM

County Sells Woman's Farm Over $572 Tax Bill :.

An 89-year-old woman could be evicted from her home of more than 50 years for missing one tax payment of $572 on her South Hanover Twp. property.

Helene Shue's red farmhouse and 41 acres of land along Route 39 -- about two miles from Hersheypark -- were appraised at $800,000, said her nephew, Jeff Arndt. The property was sold in September at a sheriff's sale for $15,000.
posted by Kevin at 2:09 PM

Gun-Wielding Cops Bust Entire High School... No Drugs Found :.

Mad pig disease is spreading to South Carolina:

A drug sweep Wednesday morning at a South Carolina school has some parents and students questioning police tactics.

Surveillance video from Stratford High School in Goose Creek shows 14 officers, some with guns drawn, ordering students to lie the ground as police searched for marijuana. Students who didn't comply with the orders quickly enough were reportedly handcuffed.
posted by Kevin at 3:05 PM

Europe May Allow GM Crops :.

I hope Europeans simply refuse to buy this crap. Burning the fields down wouldn't hurt, either. A check of IndyMedia BioTech shows that we are losing the war against GM foods in every country. But, hey, it's just food, who cares?

A bitter transatlantic trade row over gene-spliced crops may be nearing its end as the European Union considers ending a five-year ban on biotech products, starting with a type of sweetcorn.

Representatives of the bloc's 15 member states meet on Monday to discuss whether to approve a genetically modified sweetcorn variety, despite continued consumer skepticism about the technology.

If they vote "yes," the EU's unofficial blockade on new GM imports would end, clearing the way for a range of GM products and pleasing key EU trade partners like the pro-biotech United States.
posted by Kevin at 12:21 PM

Educating Troglodytes with Comics :.

This is great! I like comics! Especially ones that discuss hidden history. Pass this out to people who need a wake-up call.
posted by Kevin at 10:07 PM

Swiss Economics Professor: It's Coming Down :.

WORLD STOCK MARKETS ARE HEADING FOR A `CRASH-LIKE COLLAPSE,' states Swiss economics professor Fredmund Malik of St. Gallen University.

In his latest monthly newsletter he warns his customers, that in view of the developments on stock markets in the recent months, he views "a crash-like collapse of stock prices as very likely, actually within the next days or weeks."

All indicators are pointing in this direction, he says.

Among the investors and the financial media he recognizes an "extreme bullishness", typical for the last days before the bursting of a financial bubble.

"The mood is grotesque and in full contradiction to economic reality."

Investors and the media are revealing an incredible "blindness in respect to facts".
posted by Kevin at 12:15 PM

Educating Troglodytes: Activists Distribute Red Pill to Matrix Movie Goers :.

This is a pretty good idea. Hint: They probably didn't need to approach the trio of women dressed as Trinity. The freaks in full costume are usually the smart ones. (No, I've never dressed in a costume when attending a movie.):

A group of East Bay activists showed up at San Francisco movie theaters yesterday to distribute red pills, or New World Order matrix cards, to Matrix Revolutions� moviegoers. The activists, known as Neo, Morpheus, Trinity and Agent Smith, hit the Loews and the Coronet theaters with exhortations for people to �take the red pill� and �learn about the REAL matrix that we live in�.

The cards list twenty websites where people can learn about the New World Order -- the World Bank, the neo-cons, privatization, militarization, enemy creation and the corporate media -- and how these bodies and agents are working for social and structural control the world and crafting the scenarios to make it happen.

People in the lines enthusiastically started reading the cards including a Trinity Trio, three women dressed in patent leather and dark sunglasses, who instantly got the connection between the movie and the cards. �Oh, we know we are living in another matrix. These are wonderful,� one Trinity said about the cards.
posted by Kevin at 12:11 PM

American Fascism Unfurled :.

Fascism is an integration of state and corporate interests to the point where the two spheres serve the same master: Money. Just think, you can get your balls blown off in Iraq defending Cheney's investments and then have a nice job waiting for you in one of Dell's manufacturing dungeons. Spend the rest of your days assembling computers for penury. Shop at Wal-Mart for crap made in some other, far away dungeon, by other nameless, faceless slaves. Die broke. Hey, at least you didn't leave behind any spawn to grow up and repeat the process because you got your balls blown off long ago in an illegal and unjust war that everyone tried to forget...

Man oh man. Where do I sign up!? I can't even focus clearly enough to write any more about this. What else needs to be said, anyway? The Register pretty much said it all:

Prison industrial complex. Military industrial complex. It makes no difference to Dell. The company knows exactly where to look for a few able-bodies to drive its manufacturing lines.

Dell has joined the U.S. Army's PaYS (Partnership for Youth Success) program. It's one of the first hi-tech vendors to team with the military for this type of deal, which will see Dell grant interviews to Army personnel.

Only the best and the brightest can join the Dell team. The program limits PaYS enrollment to soldiers who score in the top half of their military entrance exam. We're guessing that means coughing really loud as opposed to whimpering when the doctor approaches with the rubber glove.

The Army characterizes this program as a triple win for truth, justice and the American way.

"We see this partnership as a win-win-win situation -- for Dell, for the Army, and for our nation," said Major General Michael D. Rochelle. "A young person who has served a tour of duty with the Army comes out with on-the-job skill training and experience, and demonstrates to American industries that they have learned a superlative work ethic. They are employees you can be proud of. We are also proud to partner with Dell in offering Army veterans the opportunity to interview with a premiere company."
posted by Kevin at 11:23 PM

Defend Yourself Go To Jail :.

An 80-year-old man fends off an attack and he winds up in jail!?

The elevator stopped on the third floor where the suspect ran out, and Campbell cried out for help. The thief made off with $262 in Social Security money. And now Campbell's eye is bloodshot, and his cheek is purple from injuries he received in the assault.

Police however arrested Campbell and charged him with misdemeanor criminal possesion of a weapon. While he admits he knew the gun was unlicensed, Campbell insists he did nothing wrong.

Lester Campbell: "He had no business doing that. I was minding my business. I don't bother nobody."
posted by Kevin at 11:16 PM

Matrix Based Alternate Reality "Game" Operating on the Internet

Apparently, the people who made The Matrix movies have set up some kind of extremely intricate alternate reality that involves a series of web sites. There are fake companies, fake people, and several different themes. It seems to go forever. I actually became a little weirded out and stopped reading. Too much time went into this, it seems, for it to be a PR stunt, although it may be that. Someone, or a group of someones, were paid a lot of money to build all of it.

Alex Jones thinks the entire Matrix series is some kind of trigger event. Well, you don't even have to go that far. What if people who are on the verge of going nuts start delving into this weird Matrix reality online? We've already seen shooters popping up who think The Matrix is real. Now, in addition to the movies, we find out that a massive and immersive alternate reality "game" exists on the Internet. This kind of thing will call to lunatics who may be very suggestible, vulnerable, etc. What will these "useful idiots" be compelled to do as a part of this game?

Maybe it's all just supposed to waste time. I have no idea.

More:

I called (206) 350-7100, the number I found on http://www.metacortechs.com/. It was busy at 2am. About twenty minutes has passed. The phone I used to dial that number just rang once. No caller ID. HAHA! That's a good one.

For those of you who wish to investigate this further, here's more. That includes a list of several of the cut out companies used in the game. I don't believe it, but there is a Yahoo! group with hundreds of people involved!
posted by Kevin at 2:29 AM

Go Commando: Sharon-Stone-Style Leg Crossing Stunt in Matrix Revolutions :.

I was admiring the super high resolution Matrix Revolutions trailer when I noticed something... I was trying to read the print on the side of the Beretta 92 handgun that Trinity is trying to catch. And then, I saw, is that?? Yes it is...

Take a look at the girl on the right side of the couch. Actually, take a look at her legs.

I tried watching that clip at normal speed in an attempt to notice THAT, but I couldn't see it, even knowing it was there. It's so brief. I could only consciously see it when the action was paused.

Now, why would I mention the presence of a subtle depiction of a woman's crotch in a few frames of a movie?

That was obviously done intentionally, but for what purpose? Is it just the filmmakers messing with our heads a little bit? Leaving a little signature on a complex special effects scene? Maybe.

The subconscious, however, sees stuff like that. Your brain assimilates that, whether you're aware of it, or not. I'm wondering what else one might find in these Matrix films... one frame at a time.
posted by Kevin at 1:06 AM

Possible Attacks on LA, New York, Washington DC :.

I'm posting this just in case something happens. Keep in mind, this story is sketchy at best:

Monday, November 3, 2003

A new message was posted in the last few hours by the Jeddah-based al-Qaeda-linked Al-Islah (Reform) society calling on Muslims to flee New York, Washington and Los Angeles in advance of major al Qaeda attacks in those cities. This is revealed by DEBKAfile.

The message accuses the United States of predetermining its end (doom) by its policies. �The Jews rule the Pentagon by remote control and (are the cause) of Muslims being killed in every corner of the world. The United States should therefore expect more blows.�

The message is signed on behalf of the al Bayan (The Threat) movement by �your warrior brother, Abul Hassan al Khadrami�.

Our Muslim expert identifies the name of the signatory as belonging to a Yemeni from Hadhrameuth, the Bin Ladens� place of origin where Osama enjoys substantial tribal support.

DEBKAfile�s counter-terror sources stress that warnings appearing on these forums are taken both very seriously and with caution by the intelligence services keeping track of the terrorist network�s electronic traffic.

Last November, Jeddah-based fundamentalist forums addressed a message to an Al Qaeda member, saying whoever understands � understands; whoever knows, knows, but we are marching towards an operation that will take us to Paradise. Three days later, the Mombasa Paradise hotel was blown up killing 12 Kenyans and 3 Israelis and a failed shoulder-launched Strela anti-air missile missed an Israeli airliner at Mombasa airport.
posted by Kevin at 12:06 AM

U.S. Military Draft? :.

The community draft boards that became notorious for sending reluctant young men off to Vietnam have languished sinced the early 1970s, their membership ebbing and their purpose all but lost when the draft was ended. But a few weeks ago, on an obscure federal Web site devoted to the war on terrorism, the Bush administration quietly began a public campaign to bring the draft boards back to life. Especially for those who were of age to fight in the Vietnam, it is an ominous flashback of a message. Even floating the idea of a draft in the months before an election would be politically explosive, and the Pentagon last week was adamant that the push to staff up the draft boards is not a portent of things to come. Increasingly, however, military experts and even some influential members of Congress are suggesting that if Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's prediction of a "long, hard slog" in Iraq and Afghanistan proves accurate, the U.S. may have no choice but to consider a draft to fullyDJvkff the nation's military in a time of global instability.
posted by Kevin at 11:43 PM

FBI Visits Cryptome Operator for a Chat :.

Cryptome received a visit today from FBI Special Agents Todd Renner and Christopher Kelly from the FBI Counterterrorism Office in New York, 26 Federal Plaza, telephone (212) 384-1000. Both agents presented official ID and business cards.

SA Renner said that a person had reported Cryptome as a source of information that could be used to harm the United States. He said Cryptome website had been examined and nothing on the site was illegal but information there might be used for harmful purposes. He noted that information in the Cryptome CDs might wind up in the wrong hands.
posted by Kevin at 7:14 PM

Khodorkovsky's Arrest and the Defenders of Billionaires' "Democracy" :.

The article doesn't add much to the "why" behind the current events in Russia, but it does provide an excellent background on Khodorkovsky's swindles and the looting of the former USSR in general. I think Bill Vann is spot on when he said, "The dispute with Khodorkovsky has the character of a falling out among thieves." Maybe there is nothing more to the "why" of it...

But sending masked gunmen to arrest Khodorkovsky... Is it possible that the ratfucking just got too far out of hand; that the situation just devolved into a street fight between crooks? Did the mad hydra just bite off one of its own heads during a feeding frenzy? In a situation with no protagonists, this type of activity should be expected; all fascist regimes do this. I don't know why I think that this case should be any different. I forget, sometimes, that Russia is essentially a third-world-style banana republic with nuclear weapons, and that Russians are not as good at maintaining appearances as Americans. In America, there would be court rooms and editorials and fat men in expensive suits would bloviate about this and that. Occasionally, someone would wind up in prison...

In Russia, however, "business" disputes are settled by gun toting men in ski masks. This has been the way of things in Russia for a long time:

When wholesale privatization was carried out in the 1990s, Khodorkovsky used these funds stolen from the state and unwary investors to make deals with his friends in the Kremlin to purchase huge blocks of formerly state-owned industrial enterprises and petrochemical facilities at a fraction of their value. In 1995, for example, he managed to buy Yukos�s assets from the state for $300 million. The company�s market value is presently estimated at $30 billion�a 100-fold increase.

Khodorkovsky was the biggest winner in a process that saw the transfer of some 70 percent of the wealth of the former Soviet Union into the hands of barely a dozen individuals. It involved the wholesale shutdown of industries, the wiping out of millions of jobs and the shipping out of the country of several hundreds of billions of dollars.

For the broad masses of working people in the former Soviet Union the process that made Khodorkovsky one of the world�s richest men was an unmitigated catastrophe, resulting in an unprecedented destruction of jobs and incomes.

Research Credit: NF
posted by Kevin at 2:52 PM

On Religion in The End...

More of my discourse with readers is taking on religious overtones, apparently as we inch closer to a major End-Days-type event. As you may know, I'm not religious at all. I consider myself to be a spiritual person, but I feel that religion has been used to enslave, mislead and swindle humanity. Ergo, I don't have much use for it, personally. I like Kant's categorical imperative, and I wish more people had paid attention in their basic philosophy classes to what they failed to pick up in church/temple/mosque/etc.:

"Act only on that maxim through which you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law."

I understand, however, that many people, including some Cryptogon readers, find religion useful and fulfilling. For the Christian variety of folks out there, TR has sent along passages from the Bible to keep in mind. I know there are genuine Christians out there, but I tend to find the most frightening, hypocritical and ignorant variety. If you feel like holding a mirror up to these peoples' faces, I can't think of a better way to do it than with these quotes:

No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. --Matthew 6:24

And he said to them, "Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions." --Luke 12:15

The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful. --Matthew 13:22

For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted. --Luke 14:11

For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? --Matthew 16:26

"Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal" --Matthew 6:19

Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you. --Matthew 5:42

"And forgive us our debts, as we have forgiven our debtors." --from the Lord's Prayer, Matthew 6:12

Jesus said to him, "If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me." --Matthew 19:21

But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is the root of all evil. -- 1 Timothy 6:9

Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God." --Matthew 19:24 and Mark 10:25

Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you." --Hebrews 13:5

But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court? --James 2:6

And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said: "Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. --Luke 6:20

They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life. --1 Timothy 6:18-19

But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. --Luke 14:13

and from the Old Testament:

Whoever oppresses a poor man insults his Maker, but he who is generous to the needy honors him. --Proverbs 14:31

A righteous man knows the rights of the poor; a wicked man does not understand such knowledge. --Proverbs 29:7

He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income; this also is vanity. --Ecclesiastes 5:10

Sweet is the sleep of a laborer, whether he eats little or much, but the full stomach of the rich will not let him sleep. --Ecclesiastes 5:12

"What do you mean by crushing my people, by grinding the face of the poor?" declares the Lord GOD of hosts. --Isaiah 3:15
posted by Kevin at 2:00 PM

Job Cuts More Than Double in October :.

As Americans, we are bombarded with terminology that is totally abstracted from reality and designed to prevent even the most basic understanding of what is happening around us. I don't think oxymoronic goes far enough to describe the depth of the absurdity present in the media at this time.

Jobless expansion.

What is a jobless expansion? Oh yeah, that is when corporate criminals fleece investors, fire employees, get loans that can't be repaid and ship remaining jobs to places with open sewers in the streets. Meanwhile, back home, people are going hungry and becoming homeless in record numbers:

Job cuts announced by U.S. companies more than doubled in October from the previous month, providing more evidence that the nation's economy is in a period of jobless expansion, according to a report from an outplacement firm.
posted by Kevin at 1:15 PM

Unfurled: Wal-Mart to Hold ID Tag Meeting :.

"Other than maintaining positive relationships with Wal-Mart, almost no company attending the symposium could readily identify immediate value in implementing the technology," the report states.

The immediate value? When you are in the paid service of pure evil, you don't ask questions.
posted by Kevin at 1:14 PM

Saving Seeds: Piracy :.

Why in God's name anyone would buy seeds from Monsanto is beyond me:

Homan McFarling has been farming here all his life, growing mostly soybeans along with a little corn. After each harvest, he puts some seed aside.

"Every farmer that ever farmed has saved some of his seed to plant again," he said.

In 1998, Mr. McFarling bought 1,000 bags of genetically altered soybean seeds, and he did what he had always done. But the seeds, called Roundup Ready, are patented. When Monsanto, which holds the patent, learned what Mr. McFarling had sown, it sued him in federal court in St. Louis for patent infringement and was awarded $780,000.

The company calls the planting of saved seed piracy, and it says it has won millions of dollars from farmers in lawsuits and settlements in such cases. Mr. McFarling's is the first to reach a federal appeals court, which will consider how the law should reconcile patented food with a practice as old as farming itself.
posted by Kevin at 8:25 PM

Drive Through Soup Kitchens :.

Vote Bush/Cheney 2004! I'm ready for this thing to come down:

The free food is handed out at nine, but the queue starts forming hours earlier. By dawn, there is a line of cars stretching half a mile back. In Logan, it is what passes for rush hour - a traffic jam driven by poverty and hunger.

The cars come out of the Ohio hills in all shapes and sizes, from the old jalopies of the chronically poor, to the newer, sleeker models of the new members of the club, who only months ago considered themselves middle class, before jobs and their retirement funds evaporated.

Research Credit: DG
posted by Kevin at 5:08 PM

Warren Buffett: U.S. Dollar Could Collapse at Any Moment :.

The corporate free trade agenda, says Buffett, has created a mess so serious that he is losing confidence in the stability of the U.S. dollar, and the economy it underpins. "I am crying wolf again and this time backing it with Berkshire Hathaway money," Buffett says of the assets of the investment conglomerate he created and controls. "Through the spring of 2002, I had lived nearly 72 years without purchasing a foreign currency. Since then Berkshire has made significant investments in -- and today holds -- several currencies."

Buffett says he is losing faith in the soundness of U.S. currency as an investment vehicle because the United States is running a huge trade deficit -- close to $500 billion, and rising rapidly -- that is causing income to flow out of the country at such a rapid rate that it will soon become unsustainable. In the November edition of Fortune magazine, Buffett warns that the rapidly mounting U.S. trade deficit could lead to a dramatic plunge in the value of the dollar and a host of additional economic consequences that could add up to disaster for American families.
posted by Kevin at 5:01 PM

Internet Take Down Possible :.

Those of you who read my essay, Cyberwar: How Terrorists Could Defeat the U.S. and Why They Won't, might think MSNBC used it as the primary source for their story.

When I wrote that essay, I didn't think the elite would attack the Internet because They needed it to move money around the planet. Well, what if we are approaching a major financial crisis? Is it possible that They would take down the Internet on purpose to get people to focus on that event rather than the years of swindling and fraud that have led up to this precarious point?

Even with the Internet, resistance to the dominant paradigm is feeble. What would happen to that resistance without the Internet?

I have more questions than answers at this point, and I apologize for that, but just keep in mind that if a motivated group decided to take down the Internet, it wouldn't be too difficult to do it:

THIS DRONE ARMY launches a silent and sustained attack on computers that are crucial for sending around the billions of packets of data that keep e-mail, the Web and other, more basic necessities of modern life humming. At first the attack seems to be an inconvenience�e-mail traffic grinds to a halt, Web browsing is impossible. But then the problems spread to services only tangentially related to the Internet: automated-teller machines freeze up, calls to emergency numbers fail to get routed to police stations and ambulance services, airport- and train-reservation systems come down. After a few hours, the slowdown starts to affect critical systems: the computers that help run power grids, air-traffic control and telephone networks. Call it the worldwide muddle�a level of confusion that sometimes occurs during storms and power outages, but never before on a global scale.

So far there�s no element of this plot outline that hasn�t already happened, at least in piecemeal fashion. Here�s where we enter the realm of speculation: what if such a cyberattack were accompanied by a physical one�perhaps a coordinated bombing attack on a few dozen buildings around the world that house computers essential for keeping the Internet working?
posted by Kevin at 4:02 PM

Lord Jacob Rothschild Takes Control of Khodorkovsky's Yukos Stock :.

In this almost unbelieveable development, we see a core member of the elite emerging from the shadows and getting directly involved with events. If Putin thinks he is going to go mano-a-mano with Rothchild financial interests, he is going to have a very bad end. But then again, could this be a a Putin/Rothchild engineered swindle designed to get Khodorkovsky, a relative upstart, out of the picture?

This is the biggest story to break in several months (at least) and it's virtually impossible to get a feel for what is actually happening.... and it's happening right in front of our eyes. Obviously, there has been a disturbance in the "order" of things and now one of the most powerful elites on the planet is involved. If anyone can offer any insights into just WTF is happening in Russia at the moment, please email me:

Control of Mikhail Khodorkovsky's shares in the Russian oil giant Yukos have passed to renowned banker Jacob Rothschild, under a deal they concluded prior to Mr. Khodorkovsky's arrest, the Sunday Times reported.

Voting rights to the shares passed to Mr. Rothschild, 67, under a "previously unknown arrangement" designed to take effect in the event that Mr. Khodorkovsky could no longer "act as a beneficiary" of the shares, it said.

Mr. Khodorkovsky, 40, whom Russian authorities arrested at gunpoint and jailed pending further investigation last week, was said by the Sunday Times to have made the arrangement with Mr. Rothschild when he realized he was facing arrest.

Mr. Rothschild now controls the voting rights on a stake in Yukos worth almost $13.5 billion, the newspaper said in a dispatch from Moscow.
posted by Kevin at 3:16 PM

RFID Won't Die :.

Yawn... When WalMart backed away from RFID a few months ago, remember what I said:

RFID is going to be everywhere. Do not doubt it for one second. But because so many people freaked out so fast over this, They realize that it's a no-go...for the moment. We will probably enter a "cooling off" period, as the people behind the RFID wait for angry consumers to forget about this. Then, guess what? After some period of time... It's back.

Well, it's back:

But low reliability and high cost aren't stopping Wal-Mart, the world's largest and most influential retailer, and the Department of Defense from pushing their hundreds of suppliers to use the technology, suggesting the tags could see wider adoption in the next few years.

With the ability to track everything from cases of razors to a car passing through a toll booth, analysts say the electronic tags are to this decade what the Internet was to the 1990s -- a promise of radical change in the way business is done.

"Everyone has a hunch there's something big here, but no one can articulate it," said Jeff Woods, a Gartner analyst.

No one can articulate it? What part of "electronic slavery" is so hard to articulate?
posted by Kevin at 2:49 PM

altcancer.com: Black Salve Distributor Shut Down by FDA :.

I personally used their black salve product to cure my own skin cancer. Their product worked. That's why they had to be shut down.

Here's some of the altcancer.com content. If you're interested, save the information. It will surely go away soon. Here's the black salve page.

Google: black salve skin cancer

Related: Clone Food, No Labels Necessary, Thanks FDA :.

The FDA, the same agency that just shut down a company that sells a skin cancer cure that works, a cure I have used personally, just decided that foods containing products from cloned animals do not require labels:

A LaFarge, Wis., organic foods coop Friday blasted a statement of support for animal cloning by the Federal Drug Administration.

"By allowing foods from cloned animals into the food system without proof of their long-term effects on human, animal and environmental health, the F.D.A. is not protecting the consumer," said George Siemon, chief executive officer of Organic Valley. "The F.D.A. is furthering their support of the abhorrent attempt by corporate interests to control the genes of our citizenry."

According to the F.D.A., products from cloned animals, like products that have been genetically engineered, do not need to carry a warning label on the package.

Siemon said that once man-made species are introduced into the environment there is no "calling them back. "Whether it's genetically engineered crops cross pollinating with wild weeds, genetically modified salmon breeding with wild fish, or future concerns with clone mammals, the risks to the balance in ecosystems worldwide are great," he said.

Research Credit: sunbakedbrains
posted by Kevin at 12:31 PM

Flacid Warnings On Nanotech :.

Do you think any technology with the potential to generate $1 trillion by 2015 will be stopped, no matter what the risks?

"When researchers fashion nanomaterials so small that their dimensions can be measured in molecules, the unusual and potentially valuable characteristics of those materials tend to show up immediately. But as businesses race to exploit those benefits, investors and policy makers are finding that pinpointing the potential environmental and health impacts of nanotechnology could take years."
posted by Kevin at 11:39 AM

Symantec Software Blocks Pro-Gun Sites :.

"A recent American Rifleman contained small column that said that Symantec's new Internet Security 2004 would block pro gun rights sites (i.e. NRA sites), while not blocking similar anti-gun rights web sites. Being the eternal skeptic, this claim was tested by downloading the trial version and running some tests against it. To my surprise I found the every NRA site was blocked and was in the category 'weapons.' This even included the NRA's Institute for Legislative Action. Some sites that were not blocked where such notable anti-gun rights site such as The Brady Campaign, and Good Bye Guns. The only anti-gun rights site that was blocked that I could find was Hand Gun Control's web site."
posted by Kevin at 12:18 PM

The Collapse of the Middle Class :.

Good basic article. Useful for introducing End Days economic principals to neophytes:

There are tens of millions of fully employed Americans who today earn, in inflation-adjusted dollars, less money than they received 30 years ago. In 1973, private-sector workers in the United States were paid on average $9.08 an hour. Today, in real wages, they are paid $8.33 per hour - more than 8 percent lower. Manufacturing jobs that once paid a living wage are now being done in China, Mexico and other low-wage countries as corporate America ships its plants abroad.
posted by Kevin at 12:11 PM